PROSPECTS FOR WOOL.
. PRIME MINISTER'S COMMENT. THE POSITION IN EUROPE. (From Our Parliamentary Reporter.) Wellington, Oct. 20. Wool was one of the topics dealt with by the Prime Minister during his speech on the Imprest $iH to-day. He knew, he said, t|iat it was very discouraging for the sheep farmers to have no profit to show for their year’s work. He had not dealt with this subject in the House before, but he wished to express an opinion similar to one to which he had given utterance on the platform since his return. It was perfectly true, as has been stated, that there were at least 100 million fewer sheep in the world at the. present time than there were in 19] 0. Mr. G. Witty (TTicearton): There had been a drop of 40 million previous to that. Mr. Massey said that he had gone to considerable trouble over (his matter and bad put a particularly good man to the task of hunting up the statistics. During the war period there were no statistics kept in the enemy countries, but we all knew that there were very many fewer sheep and cattle in those countries than there were before the war. There was another point, the falling of! in the purchasing capacity of our very best customers, the people of Britain. They had had very serious industrial trouble, including the mining dispute. There had been no coal produced for three months or more and the great manufacturing industries were closed down. That had very seriously affected the earnings of a great number of people and in consequence their purchasing power. Some of them had not yet quite recovered. x There was another factor governing the price of wool, which, up to the present year was our most important article of export.* Members would have noticed what had been done in the United States in regard to the tariff. They had passed what could only be described as a temporary tariff. It was in operation at present, but at the end of its term it would be revised. Its time was very nearly up. He had met a number of different buyers representing American manufacturers. There was no difference of opinion among them as to the effect of this tariff. It was not a matter of the duty. What did affect them was that they did not know what was going to happen. As 'fcooD as they knew what the tariff on wool was to be they would be able to buy. They would be able to make their arrangements and could pass on the amount of the duty to their consumers. The present state of affairs was no use to anyone. They were not bilying more than enough to keep the industries going until they knew what the tariff was going to be. That was a very serious factor. It would be found that as soon as the American people knew what the tariff on wool was going to be it would produce considerable effect on the wool producing countries. Further, regarding the American importations, it would have been noticed that the cotton crop for the past season was not up to the average. It was well known that the price of cotton governed to a certain extent the price of wool, and vice versa. The price of cotton had gene up and the effect would be to help restore the price of wool to what it had been some years ago.
While he was in England, continued the Prime Minister, he visited Bradford. The people there had proved willing to I tell him everything that he wished to know, and show hi-.n everything he wished to see. One thing that struck Trim particularly was that in the case of one large establishment doing- a huge business in manufacturing and exporting, particular!-/ to Russia and Poland, the stores were pr.ictical.y empty. There was just enough wool tc keep them going from hand to mouth. On asking what it all meant, he was told that everybody knew that there was an accumulatiop of wool in tjie hands of the Imperial Government. This wool was not as good as it ought to he, for it was well know that it had deteriorated by keeping. The Government was short of money and nobody knew when it might not be placed on the market at a sacrifice. The people of the Bradford were sincere and genuine in what thev had said.
The accumulation was a big one, said Mr. Massey, but was not so big as many people thought. There was very little more than one year’s clip of New Zealand wool in hand. If there were the same amount accumulated for the other places that would account for the whole amount. He did not think' that there was much more accumulated than they were in the habit of keeping in store lief ore the war. Then there was the Argentine. The people there had been in the business of producing meat, and for a time it appeared as if they would enter into competition with us in wool, mutton and lamb. But they were now attempting to get rid of their sheep. They were fattening them and sending them to the London market. Even that was going to make a difference. Another point was that most of our wool had been just the sort that the Government had needed for the manufacture of khaki. It had been the best war material that the Government could have in the way of wool. Before the war, however, our principal market, or the market to which the greater part of our wool had eventually found its way, was Northern Europe. Poland had been the manufacturing centre and much of the goods had been sent to Russia. Owing to the disturbances and the financial troubles between Russia and Poland, the trade aould not be carried on, and many of the manufactories were closed down. This was one of the causes of the trouble. Nobody could say when normal conditions would return there, and in the meantime it was impossible for them to deal in our wool. * He suggested that it would be a good thing to make an arrangement with the Polish Government, or the Russian people, because he believed that it would pay to hand that wool over, even if we did not get a eent for it. It would relieve the trouble here. He was perfectly certain too that it would help to adjust exchange and would assist trade in the United Kingdom itsc ’. That was the position so far as he had been able to ascertain it, concluded the Prime Minister. He had gone to a good deal of trouble to get to the bottom of it. The outlook did not appear <rood for the producer of wool, but he believed that the time would come when (he sheep farmer of this country would be able to obtain a remunerative price for what he produced. ;
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Taranaki Daily News, 22 October 1921, Page 8
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1,171PROSPECTS FOR WOOL. Taranaki Daily News, 22 October 1921, Page 8
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