OPTIMISTIC OUTLOOK

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 887, 3 February 1930, Page 16

OPTIMISTIC OUTLOOK

BRITISH EXPERT’S ADVICE TO WOOL GROWERS NO NEED FOR PESSIMISM Wool prices are practically as low as they can go. There is no need for pessimism as far as the market is concerned at present. This is the , encouraging report brought to New Zealand by Sir Emmanuel Hoyle, governing director o£ Joseph Hoyle and Son, Ltd., who is visiting Auckland. Sir Emmanuel’s firm is one of the largest woollen manufacturing concerns in Great Britain, the weekly total output being 120,000 yards of cloth. “t advise growers to put all their supplies on the market,” said Sir Emmanuel this morning. “Wool prices are now nearing rock-bottom, and the chief thing to do is for growers not to withhold supplies from the market. Some growers are trying to regulate prices by withholding supplies, but all the wool which has been withheld must come on the market sooner or later, and the buyers know how much has been kept in the stores.” Sir Emmanuel points out that the only way the market can be stabilised is by absorbing all wool supplies by natural methods. The manufacturers desired to see the market stabilised and he, for one, did not want to pay an absurdly low price for wool. Sir Emmanuel considers that a fair price was more beneficial to the trade. He hoped that New Zealand growers would not make the mistake which had been made by some Australian growers of withdrawing a number of offerings at the early sales this season. NORMAL TREND Sir Emmanuel considers that the market today was only following a normal trend. After the war, during the boom period, all classes of the community bought woollen goods, and prices became inflated. When the slump came, and there was little money available, a surplus of raw materials accumulated, and this was only being exhausted today. Artificial silk had also helped to force down wool prices, and the fact that women wore fewer woollen garments. Manufacturers were now making lighter woollens for women’s needs, and these would recapture the trade because of their advantages over the artificial silk. “No artificial fibre can compare with natural wool,” said Sir Emmanuel. “The danger from artificial wool can be almost entirely discounted.” The visitor considers that New Zealand Merino wool has qualities possessed by no other wool in the world, not even that of South Australia. New Zealand crossbreds were second to none, and he considers that the halfbred is the wool of the future. Sir Emmanuel's firm has bought large quantities of New Zealand wool and lias always been satisfied with it. The firm of Joseph Hoyle and Son had not been bothered by labour troubles. Its mills have been working night and day for 25 years, and were at present working 110 hours a week. Some of the mills had reduced wages by 10 per cent, but Sir Emmanuel’s firm had not done this. He does not believe in low wages, and

considers that a greater spendingpower means a higher standard of living and tends to produce a better state of trade. There would be no cause for complaint once the wool market had been stabilised and prices had been adjusted to an economic level. When China and Russia became more settled, new markets would be available there, and the outlet for woollen goods would reach enormous proportions. Last year Sir Emmanuel visited the East and there he found a rapidly increasing demand for wool. Dr. Sun Yat Sen’s decree for the wearing of Western clothes in China was beginning to bear fruit. The Soviet law prohibited Russians from importing clothing, but Russia could never hope to clothe her millions from the products of her own mills. In all probability the Labour Government in England might give a guarantee for credit, as British manufacturers were not willing at present to extend credit to Russian firms. If this were done it would help the wool market considerably. Sir Emmanuel is making a tour of New Zealand, and will attend several of the wool sales. He also will make inquiries into the sale of manufactured goods.