Please wait. Contacting image service... loading

Article text

THE WOOL APrRAISEMENTS
EFFORTS FOE BETENMON
IMPORtANT LET1'ER FROM MR
GREGORY.
Important lexers with reisard to
?he .efforts b»ue made to . i*tiui -he
wool ' a2»praisenieiitB pennaneatly at
Geraldton. were* placed babro the
Council at its meeting last oigh^..
Mr H .GrarmvMJI.Rt wrarins- nn
July 9th to the Mayor, said :^-
'Un![ert«na*«ilyj Mr Wat? has been
Uia and recently JeSfib for Sydapy» and
hai not yet returned. I am leaviap
for Sydney myself to-day, so will not
be able to do much' until I gat back
bere again. However* a- re^iy that I
havie received -jhrqugh Lord Fort«sti
=»hows tha*- it is not *iip iotefojion of
the Board -.to 'make any aHieratfon
this year, and this will give me ample
Ijlmo to make .any move that J may.
consider necessary .ia. Parliament. T
enclose you a Wegram that I i^ccarved
from Lord Forredt* wfio through his
association with HiggjUvs Was able to.
go£ consideration that] I myself could
not obtain* th,« reasons for which I
can exrHdn personally. - Hbweven
when Partiamenl' meat?, it nothing
saijlsfadtory ii dome by 'the'GovB2-ii-
ntent# I will take such action as may
be necessary for our {turpoae. I en
close you cow., of a letter thafc I am
to-day sending to Mr Watt in coiinetv
wHi with the master.'
The telegram from Lord Forrest to
Mr Gregory* read as follows.. —
'1 h&v. .received a teleiii-aJj». iram
Sir J Higginis ciSairman of the Wool
Boardi uifonuiog me that the comiag
!?='asou'i? appraisement^ wilt be *coa
&iurd at Geraldton aiad Albany* but
that they will not t-e coniiaued alt
Gcraldt-on- ajt any rate, after this
season. Sir J Higgius goes o'-i to say
that the Director oi Raw Materials
dealt last week very strongly on the
sribject of appraising centres. From
thfct Lord Forrest added* it would
appear everything is ail light for this
season. bu£ jiot all rieht.next j?ea
soBi so that there will Ijg tune for
cup Gtraldbon friends to say what
they have to say. and use all their
endeavoui'o to previenb what,th$y ob
iec.t to bein^ donej'
Mr Gregory's letter to th« Acting
Prime Minister? Mr Wat^. read as fol
lows: —
'I am in receipt oi a let-«r fi'om
the Department stagngi ijt is aot th»
inteintioa of the Government -&
coultiiuia with a\iprai§enieat -afc Ger
aldton, W.A.» but siu.ee learj, thro
ugh Lord Forrest thiat; it is not the
intentica of the Central Board to make
any change this seaStfa. This wUl
give me an opportunity of. dealing
with the matjber later. In jthe meaiitfhie
I will be glad if you wi'A look into the
queotion» and advise what actioa tli«
Government -propose to take. la th«
^arly stages of tixe work of th« Central
Board? the Chairman advised me that
it was the iutoentjoii to have only
one appraising centre in Western Aus
(tralUi and the gi-eat advance we
would obtaiu would be the creatUm
ol a wpol exchange ther©. ».Kow- I
have no objection to the creatio'-i of
a wool exchaugt; at FreniautlBj aid
I bciieve it would b» Jn j-he b«st
injtc-i'ests of the Stat6 if that wei-e
$o» but I strongly protest against
the destruction of the trad6 of other
ports Ifor the purpose of centralising
all the trade of the Sfeat« svitJiin t3ie
Capital. This is a. vei-y Sound policv
so far as the interests of thi«e or four
big merchants are cquceiiuedj hat it
undoubtedly i^ detriineiitiil to th^ b&st
interests of the iiioducers, and the
State generally. Sui^iy* those who
p?;oduccthe wool should be Consulted?
Lu this iustaUcc* I waSj through the
kindly intervention of the Prime Mini
stev» enabled to have appraising Ctci
ijtc-o created at Geraldton and Aiua'.iy.
Th9 results particulaily as far «gtC« .-
aldton is concerned, has be4f §m
ln««jy eatisfacbory. I*s| year ap
troximatoly girflfi-au^t««r3 oj 9, a%- !
lion in value passed tlirougii Okat
f'lace, and this year it was estimated
a million pounds Worth' *would jba *
roeeivc-d. There i? fairly gwril ^or-_ -
age accommodation, and had it uot v
bjeu Yor the action of the Ceitea!
Vgatfi, fjrther accommodation would
hav? been provided; Dalgety's having -
cfEered to spend £8000 on furth«r ac-:^ ??'*
ccmzuodatioDf H assured that; im^gag ^
tlite operations of the Wodl QtiatgA
ay.pnuscment would be cotinLiHed at
that centre. On the other btfld Rte- -V-i;
mantfle had not sufficie'Jt accommo
dation to store last sea3ja's WifeV i ;
the TreasureTj Mr Oardiaer, liasiagj.^
advised me that at the tearae* Solfci- ~'A
taUon of the local boards lie haji ^
oluaned out. several large Gov^auneiai I
store- hou=es and -made them avpSIabki. ;-:: -:=
for this i«irp63e I am piven to nuder- ''
stand also* that it is flue inteifion
of the Central Board ta spend hxgB 4
sums iur providing furth!* accoBunDT 1 -v.;
dationi and while some tnrtts* se-::- :
Commodatiou may be necessary^ it:
deems to me to be 4 most impraper
use to make of other people's mottCv :
when storage aocommodatwn is a.v~ :
ailablc at the other fovts. One ne«$oa
for otorping the ai-praisement. ; «t i
Geraldton given M your last nan- ;
rc%nS?£*3Mi was that ?b 1fce shipping v
eperffied wools Jor London* a Tessq --'j.
was cousiderably delayed owing- lo \'~'.
this wool having to be brought down
from GeValdtoni whereas had.it be^h
stored -at Fremantlc th^e would lias?*J..
bt«n no such delay. Surely here, (ha -
Board ou-ly show their own incom
petencyj for even if boats bad mot
been available? there is direct EaS- -;
way communicatfion between G^afci- \
tou and FremaiiUe. and with'1 a litfje
care and Iforesijrh* any wool owPe- {
c3iy to complete the cargo could hive .;:,',:
boen eacilj^ broug-ht down in amde '
iSme for ail purposes. I trust y»a
will !ook into tills matftsn whisi fc
bwxming a very grave question fid^d
when an outside irresponsible Board
can use its powers for the d^stpn- .
fiou*o:i vested inteie3fc3. I «siel6^a
a .leuer from the Mayor of G-%aldtaa
dealing- witL. the niaafcer.'* x ? ; ~
- Kc-uator Keedlfatflj :i*%}i$iag-fS^tiB& :
Town Clerk's letter ot July 9th said^'
some little while agot as a xcsak.
of a Tetter from Mr WHicocfe JT.LJfc,
be made re,piie3ei3(bati3iis to tihP istt
thoiities urging that Geraldton ^u»uid
be retained. He would again btfJg
tiie matter before the authorities ma:
in» Geraldjtjo!n.*s claims» with whfei.
iio was ia entire evmnajdiv.
The Mayor said he did not tblak .
tiicy could do anything more duci
they were doing. They had gofc as
many influcatial people inteneSted as
l?o?=ibK. and they were working whole
hfaitedly.
Cr Cobeldick: The only thing to
do is to keep at it and not let i«
dron.
The Mayor said they would not 1&*-
the matter drop.. He turther sug
gested as there was a shortage of
storage accommodationj they should
consider the question of letftag file
old gaol for the purpose. . - .
Cr Cobeldick: How about the Town.
lTa.il? (Laughter') .
Cr Clarke: They have go% on* of
the wheat sheds 'empty -
If was decided to write and thank
Mr Gregory for the fight he is put
ting up on beiiaff of Geraldtoa.
A Fine War Picture.— There i= a
spucial attraction at the Theatre fo
nighh when the sensational battie
rictuio 'The Battle .of AiTas,' will
hi sho%ftl. Actual fijrhting is dej^fiej*
and in ,^rder to g-?t his picture fihe
or orator had l^ run the same risks. .
ad the soldiers. The |ni-*t«re real
istically shows what our brave iaJs
have to go through^ and its exljbitioA
is exf ccted to attract lar?« audience
to-iiiyiit and to-mori'ow uiyht- Xh?
j,ictuiv has been oiQcially apjirov^d by
the authorities. Half the n«tt \*o
creds . will be handei to the Begarj^s
$d Mdfe^* Agsooialloiia V'^.ii^It^
$