WOOL AND CLOTHING.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 February 1922, Page 7

WOOL AND CLOTHING.

COMING YEAR’S PRICES. MERINO SHORTAGE LIKELY. London, Jan. 3. While there has been during the past few months, a Bradford correspondent writes, a fall in the prices charged for clothing, especially in the lower qualities, the present indications are in the direction of a check in the downward tendency, and the probability is that there will be a gradual rise in 1922. It was stated recently by Sir Arthur Goldfinch, director of the 8.A.W.R.A., that the consumption of Merino wools—that is the better qualities —was greater than half a million bales, equal to about 150,000,000 pounds per annum. This being the case when only a part of the world’s textile machinery is running, it follows that sooner or later there will be a scarcity of these qualities.

A leading authority, speaking at a meeting of the Bradford Textile Society, predicted that the scarcity would come in the course of the present year, when, he further prophesied, the price of 70’s and 80’s botany wool would probably be double that of to-day. It is felt in the centres where wool is manipulated, however, that even so large an increase in the price of raw materials need not necessarily result in higher prices for clothes, a matter ' which seems to be regulated to some extent by the tailor or the shopkeeper. At the manufacturing end it is declared that all sections concerned have made considerable sacrifices in the hope of attracting trade. Wages have made a steep descent, and the charges for coml ig, carbonising, and spinning have come down appreciably. These cuts were made some months ago, and it is averred they made it possible for the retail price to have been reduced long ago. A Bradford writer said recently that Bradford was never a cheaper market for the finished article, and in comparison with the present price of wool, tops, and yarns, clothing was still much too dear. Giving what he describes as a concrete case in proof he adds: “Recently a Bradford merchant sold some cloth to a wholesale house at the very low price of Is o%d a yard, the fabric being a 40oz. all-wool serge. That cloth was sold to a retail firm at Is 9d a yard, which gave the wholesale house the modest profit of 2Ad a vard. It appeared in the shop window at just double the price charged by the wholesaler. and probably was regarded as a wonderful bargain by the public at that figure.” It would be easy to quote parallel cases, and while this sort of thing is going on a restoration of trade is sure to be retarded. While in the main the manufacturers’ case as stated above, is admitted by leading tailors to be accurate, the charge that the makers-up of clothing (especially tailors in the bespoke trade) have not given their customers the benefit of the cheapened cloth is denied.