HAWKE'S BAY AND WOOL CONTROL

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Volume 58, Issue 274, 20 December 1929, Page 6

HAWKE'S BAY AND WOOL CONTROL

j Should a board be established lo control and regulalo the marketing of wool Poseibly nothing that lias j happened in recent years in the j direc-tion of iniproving the lot o'f the man on the land should interest Hawke's II ay sheepfarmers more than the movement that has heen set 011 fcot liaving for its objective a bcller systcm for the disposal of the country's annual wool yield. Every Hawke's Bav sheepfarmer will be very interested in the announcement that earlv next year a .eonfercnee is to be held to go into the whole queslion, and it is hoped by many settlers that a solution will be found for what is considered an unsatisfactory position so-far as unccrtain and widely fluctuating prices are concerned. Itcpresentations made recontly to tho Minister for Lands urged that there should be some , system of orderly marketing whieh would enablc the sheepfarmers of the eountry to receive the best prices obtainahle. The opinion has been expressed by Mr W. J. Polson, M.P., wlio is president of the Xew Zealnnd h'armers' Vnion, thafc a wool board, with a reasonable franchise, would be ablo to do a lofc for the sheepfarmers, who are just now faced with falling prices. Possibly no better time could have been chosen for tlie promoters of this movement, for they will receive attention at the moment from the sheepfarmers when during more affluent times tlieir proposal may pass by unheedcd. Some of the suggestions put forward for tlie control and marketing of New Zealand's wool provide interest ing reading. Ifirst of all it is stated that the financial houses j are limiting the buyers to a certain maximum price and brokers' re'serves are always arranged to meet thc jnarkcfe. Moreover, if growers do not accept tlie price they cannot cntcr wool at the following sale on account of' pressure of wool to be offered wifchin the limited time of four xnonths. It is alleged that privale arrangemcnt bctween buyers J not to purchase and brokers not to j.offc'r wool privatelv have increased j the combinatiqn of buying interests. and more especially the comj mission buyer, to the detriment of the wool grower. It is beld. that this year's fall in September was largely due to financial houses forcing re-sale of all unsold purchascd wool on hand at that date, reacting 'on the present clip. Grouping of small clips should, it is claimed, be cncouraged just as is done with nieat, dairy produce, fruit and wheat. Eepresentations on these lines will be made at the cohference earlv in the year, at wbich it is to be hoped tlie important woolraising provinceof Hawke's Baywill bc fully represented. It is proposed that saies should be extended to about ten months, whieh is now being adoptcd in Australia. In this connection it will be proposed that the Customs should not give clearance of more than 70,000 bales per rnontli of wool sold or to Ipe.sold in London, thus extending the seliing season from four months, as now, to ten months in the future. Mr F. S. Bovven, of Gisborne, is responsiblc for thc suggestion that in actual practice, extending the saies a full nine or ten months would mcan that buvers need only lcan upon tlie English and Continental banking houses for about one and a half to one and three-quar-ter millions of money per monfh for the New Zealand clip, and he clailns that if this were extended by co-ordination with " Australian and South African wool growers it must redound to our credit to the extent of several pence per pound. These are some of the arguments that are being put forward ajb the present moment by those utrging the formatiqn of a Control Board for Wool. Anv effort at control that will secure-for thc wool producer a more satisfactorv rate of remuneration than he is at present receiving for his laboiirs, must mcet with a fair measure of support, and as the wool position is one that is just pow critical and vitallv affects eyerv scttler of Hawke's Bav we submit the above inforrnation for the enlightenment of our sheepfarmer readers. In any conference that i takes place we trust that Hawke's [Bav will have' slrong representation, I'or any move that is undertaken in conneclion with the control of marketing our primarv produce must have far-reaching effects to b.ring about the desired results. Will control mamtain better wool prices".' That is what every sheepfarmer in Hgwke's Bay will want to know.