WOOL INDUSTRY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 July 1938, Page 3

WOOL INDUSTRY

NEED FOR LINK BETWEEN PRODUCERS & USERS. Comment of value which is worth heeding was that of Mr Oliver Stanley when he opened the International Wool Conference in London. Wool, he said, is of the greatest importance to Great Britain, and it calls for a close link between primary producers and ultimate users. It was the divorce between the interests of producers and consumers that had reacted unfavourably on the wool industry to the detriment of both parties. Tariffs, quotas, and exchange restrictions were obstacles in the way of international trade, but a far greater problem lay in the hearts and homes of men. “It is the obstacles of fear and the oppressive clouds of doubts, suspicions, and fears for the future that sap initiative and enthusiasm and destroy the spirit of adventure and the sense of security that are essential to the prosperity of international trade,” added Mr Stanley. “I can think of no greater way of assisting the future of the. wool textile industry in any country than by removing fear and sus-

picion.” That about sums up the situation. It was just another way of saying that we should all strive to restore confidence, and then all should be well with wool. Sir Earle Page, who also addressed the conference, said that substitutes for wool that had been used during the depression had been the children of poverty, and clothes made of them had been paupers’ robes. All the delegates to the conference should continue to increase public knowledge about the real and valuable qualities of wool. Australia had built up a complicated, but on the whole, an efficient system of grow-

ing and marketing. It would welcome any international effort to improve the interest of manufacturers and distributors.

Wool, he continued, was not without serious competitors, but one good thing emerging from the competition was the fact that all parties in the industry were prepared to combine to increase the range of their goods, to maintain their values, and to improve the quality of their product to meet any threatened competition.