The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 1918 PROFITS ON SURPLUS WOOL.

Taihape Daily Times, 13 August 1918, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 1918 PROFITS ON SURPLUS WOOL.

(With which is Incorporated The Taihape Post and Walnmnif N>wstV

Several communications drawing attention to a proposal by Mr. E. Newman, M.P. for Rangitikei have reached us through the courtesy of Mr. R. WSmith, M.P. for our own electorate. The proposal is that whatever profits over and above the fixed price paid, sheepfarmers may be entitled to for their wool that is sold by the B'ritisn Government for civilian use shall be devoted to a fund for the dependants of the brave sailors of the Royal Navy and Mercantile Marine, but for whose vigilant protection during the last four ' years this Dominion would probably have been under the dominion of a foreign flag instead of being in the enjoyment of unprecedented prosperity. We may state that Mr. Newman's proposal was enthusiastically adopted by Hawke's Bay sheep-men,, and also wherever else the subject has been broached. It would be stepping outside a public journal's province to tell any section of producers they should give any part of their legitimate earnings away; that is their own business, and, if sheepfarmers fully realise what the brave, intrepi'd, loyal men of the British Navy have done towards maintaining freedom from foreign yoke, and in keeping open such markets as have' contributed to a state of prosperity unprecedented, and they decide that the dependants of the brave fellows who have given their lives. or been permanently disabled, have any claim upon their sympathy, then the people of the whole British Empire will un- : doubtedly applaud their determination to acknowledge the sacrifices naval men are making in handing the profits on their/ wool they are justly entitlee to -receive as Mr. Newman proposes. The proposal has come from a sheepfarmer, and sheepfarmers are enthusiastically falling in with it, while all sorts and conditions of men, rich and poor, are profusely applauding the wool-growers' generosity. While it would be improper to urge sheepfarmers to give away their profits, it is quite proper and desirable that wo should discuss freely the British Government commandeer of New Zealand wool, and also comment upon the future of the wool industry as we see' it. We have already had occasion to point out that there are a few sheepfarmers who are dissatisfied with the Imperial Government's terms of the wool requisition, and at least one of those who favour doing their own marketing In their own way has completely eonfused the real issue in a multiplicity of words, fictitiously based. In the i first place, it is not improbable that price-fixing of the necessaries of life may continue for some long time after the war; this has been strongly indicated in a speech by Mr. Bonar Law in the Imperial Parliament. Before war was declared the very men who want freedom of wool markets were the loudest complainers against the vicious practices resulting from freedom in meat-marketing. There are men in every industry over-burdened with the speculative spirit, those who are ever ready to risk substance for shadow. These men find that into their meat-marketing an interloper has insinuated himself, who prevents prices improving for the producer while increasing them to a crimina» degree to the consumer, andlhey call for Government and any other interposition that is available to save them. Yet these very men are in the same breath almost clamourously calling for conditions which have all the possibilities of rendering their wool suoject to similar profiteering. We are of opinion that wool-growers would not go far wrong in their own interests in inviting the Imperial Government to requisition their wool on present terms for the next ten or twenty years were it practicable. At this distance

from market we are too often not so! well-informed of the wool prospects or the world as we ought t° * ae > we are prone to leave that part of our business to others whose interests uo not entirely run in the same channels as our own, and by so doing we are inviting trouble and loss. The future of wool-growing is undergoing the most earnest consideration in some quarters at the wool-marketing centres or the world, and, among l other aspects it is computed that within a very short time after peace -is ■ 'declared many additional millions of acres in various countries will be devoted to wool production; hundreds of thousands of square miles in various Russian provinces, land at present uncultivated, where the Urus still run wild; kept so for the spdrt of Czars ana Grand Dukes, must all be brought under careful cultivation to enable Russia to meet her after war obligations, to keep the lower classes from starvation and to repair war devastation. From producing almost nothing Siberia will be turning out wool and grain to an almost inconceivable extent. It is not only Russia, but other countries in Europe must cultivate the millions of acres hitherto held for pleasure and sport. Then, it is known that South Africa will figure largely amongst competitors In the wool markets of the world; Madagascar is ready to enter the wool arena as a wool producing country; South American States are vigorously increasing their possibilities for wool output; in fact, it is very difficult indeed to gauge the future of wool-production that any arrangement with the Imperial authorities, such as is offered, seems preferable to entering, the unknown and carrying risks that may terminate disastrously. Co-operation with.the British Government, will tend to Secure profitable markets, and our growers would be entitled to receive first consideration. The Departmental Committee on Textile Trades in England has- already, recommended the British Government to convene; a conference of representatives of .the Governments of Australia, New Zealand and South- Africa, to formulate a scheme for effective post-war control and distribution of all wool grown in their territories. Of course, such comprehensive proposals should first be discussed by a representative gathering of the men most interested in New Zealand and Australasia, but it is not our intention to discuss such a question in detail now; we only mention it so that it-m'ay' he kept in mind by those who would be most entitled to express their views at any such conference. •