SOAP TRUST.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81881, 5 November 1906, Page 4

SOAP TRUST.

A correspondent of a Sydney paper wi.ies:—Tlie London cablegram announcing the formation of a British so..p iiu-t is well wunh carefu. thought among all tho-e eng;:ged *n i.te treatment or animal products. Such a movement as thai now repolled does not suipii-e me at all. It ii.is bee.i well known for years that the consumption of -uapmakers' ma terials. animal and vegetab e, which mm ster to the wants of the soapmaker, namely, copra and tallow. Fifteen years ago Fiji copra waworth in Fiji £7 7, per ton ; to-day it brings in Fiji ,£l6. Ten years ago fine Australian beef tallow was worth only £l4 in Sydney; to-day it brings £-<)■ Meanwhi:e the graz ng areas of the world and suppl.es of fat decrease. America's increasing population will *oun consume all America's fat output, ;-pd within the next 20 years America will to a certainty be buying Australian tal'ow. The awakening of the East means th; acqu remtnt of the soap habit. For example. Japan some years ago took none of our tallow, but now take hundreds of tons, and in time will take thousands. China, India, and all the Eau will follow, and ultimately hundreds of millions of soap users w 11 help to increase the world's consumption. Australia has ceased to import British or any other houseliod soap, and ha, far more tallow than her own soapmakers can possibly use, but probably a long time hence she will export more soap than the rest of the world. Meanwhile, for many reasons, shi must remain as an exporter of talow. Australian exports of tallow are now the most important factor in the world s supply. To-day they are , worth about £1,000,000 but when the country is fully stocked the exports mav run up to .£2,000 000 and more, i Now the cable tells us that the new soap trust is not formed with a view to raising selling prices. But the ; history of al! such combinations shows that their programme from the start is:— (1) To rai'e the selling price of thj manufactured article. (2) To lower (he price of the raw } material. , Now there can be no question that : th' new trust will strike at Australia. ; What Australians will do I do not - know, but to me it appears clear that Australian meat canning and freexing . companies, and all melters should at once co-operate- otherwise they will e to a certainty become the prey of that 1 .£16,000.000 British trust. t Through Sydney all tallow could be sold for direct shipment to London - and all ports of the world. t In the past the melters of Australia have, by sending all to London, been 1 playing into the hands of the British 0 buyers, and foolishly competing with 1 each other in the same market. Now they may see what they have to » expect. Australian melters must come together or be slaughtered; there is no escape. The next step is to do what has been done by the Chicago packers in self-defence, to make soap ,if their own raw material, and against the world. It can and should be done, and tome day it will be done. There is no better country is no country better fitted for it than ou r own, but are we equal to the oc- '• casion ?