47a["Broome Pearlers", The Northern Times (Carnarvon, WA), Saturday 11 January 1913, page 8]

BROOME PEARLERS.

ASSOCIATION'S ANNUAL REPORT.

FAILURE OF WHITE DIVERS.

WARNINGS OF COMING STORMS.

The West Australian Pearlers' Association (Broome) committee's annual report reads as follows:--The output of shell for the 12 months to December 1 last amounts to some 990 tons, of which 328 tons were shipped to New York, and 662 tons to London...

...

During the period under review the following fluctuations occurred in the average in London gross prices obtained at the auctions:--

Rise and Yielding

Fall Gross

Price of

Per Ton. Per Ton.

£. £.

Nov. 1911--Rise . . 2 259

Jan. 1912--Rise . . 4 263

Mar. 1912--Rise . . 22 285

May. 1912--Rise . . 37 322

Jul. 1912--Rise . . 33 355

Sep. 1912--Fall . . 58 297

Nov. 1912--Fall . . 57 240

...

So long as shell is indiscriminately shipped to the London auctions without reserve and producers make no attempt to regulate the quantity submitted at each sale and do nothing in the direction of supervising the auctions, the handling and classification of shell, etc., so long will it remain impossible to forecast the future price of the commodity.

...

The following figures show the yearly average price per ton realised for M.O.P. shell f.o.b. Broome for 23 years:--1890, £110; 1891, £110; 1892, £100; 1893, £85; 1894, £90; 1895, £100; 1896, £105; 1897, £105; 1898, £110; 1899, £115; 1900, £125; 1901, £150; 1902, £175; 1903, £205; 1904, £105; 1905, £105; 1906, £115; 1907, £125; 1908, £140; 1909, £180; 1910, £200; 1911, £220; 1912, £255.

...

Though it is over a year since the Royal Commission on Pearling was appointed, it has not as yet paid Broome a visit. This is the more to be regretted because the employment of the nine white divers and three white tenders, who arrived last February from Great Britain to work in the industry, offered an excellent opportunity for the commission to obtain some valuable first hand evidence concerning the practicability of substituting white for Asiatic divers. As most of these men have determined their engagement and drifted to various parts of the Commonwealth, it is extremely doubtful whether their evidence will be available for the Commission. With the exception of a hurried visit paid to Queensland and Port Darwin, the sittings of the Commission have been confined to Melbourne, where some evidence has been given by various persons who have, at some time or other, been more or less remotely connected with the industry. During the year the Minister granted a further 12 months' extension of the period of exemption from the operation of the late Mr. Batchelor's decision relative to the employment of white divers, bringing the term of exemption up to 31st December 1914.

...

47b[Bailey, John, 2001, The White Divers of Broome, Pan Macmillan, Sydney, page 223]

[mid-1912 the price of shell reached £350/ton, more than double what it had been two years earlier]

47c[Bailey, John, 2001, The White Divers of Broome, Pan Macmillan, Sydney, page 248]

[august 1912: £530/ton, the highest price it would ever attain. by implication, that was just before the price crashed.]