YORKSHIRE LETTER.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1269, 26 October 1911, Page 3

YORKSHIRE LETTER.

« TOPS AND TOPMAKING. (From Our Special Correspondent.! Bradford, September 5, 1911. Tlio art of topmaking is only (o be learned by a practical acquaintance with, t.ho trade, ami it is a business which lias through various stage*s of evolution. It has often been said that tops aro like sausajes, no one Knows what is in them, except thoso who have mado them. There is more than a grain of truth in that statement, and without doubt the business of topuiaking has net only developed in extent, but ii'so in importance. We have- said for years that lopmaivoi.i pive tlio be.st support to tlto local wool trade of any .section, and but for these individuals tile tr.tdo to-day would 1>:; \nry dill'oreiit liMin v lint it is. It really is surprising the ■I'.ianiity of raw material whicii tspiuakors puicliase in a year, and it it was possible to obtain official iignros showing the iwight of wool which was put through the combing machines of Bradford, the aggregate tokil would be colossal. We were talking tlio other day to a well-known liradfoi'd tomnakor, who.-.- plant consists of about W combing niachiip-, and that firm is producing weekly 180.1)0011). of tops. This is a big total, and if we reckon the greasy wool that is put through yields 5!) ptr cent, clean, it repre.-ents an aggregate total ci ."HiO.BOOIb. of wool pr-r week; or, in other words, about KlilO balfs. There are several firms in Bradford putting through this weight of wool pc-r week, and it certainly i.s no small amount of material. One wonders what wo should havo done if the complex combing machine had not Hen evolvrd. Thero are still n few men living in the West Riding who well remember the old hand combing days, when every pound of word in Bradford was combed without the aid of machinery. That certainly form? a mo=t interesting chapter in tho history of the trade of Bradford, and in those days nothing but long English wool could be manipulated. Of course, the hand combing of merinos was unknown, fill the fine, Saxony wool and the early imports from Australia being uml in the production of tho old-fashioned woollen broad cloths. Titn-r-s have changed, and to-day it is possible to comb with machinery even six month! grown Capes, which are about the shortest wools that come into Bradford. AVe cannot say that commission w.-.olcombers relish having to manipulate such ,<ihort wools, but ail the same the work is done, though wc certainly cannot rscoimr.ciul or approve of the shearing of merino sheep twieo a year. V.'e have always maintained, and the o.xperience of the trade confirms the statement, that a merino sheep in twelve months produces a staple short enough for combers and spinners, and it is a lingo mistake for anyone 1o start shearing twice a year, and it is high time that this obsolete practice which obtains in no other part of the world but South Africa was a tiling of I he past. However, Iho combing machine has to-day reached such a standard of perfection that' with comparative ease every description of r»w- material from 'J3's to 100's o,uality can bo combed. TUBE WOOL OXLT COMBED. We have often been struck with tlio fact that in producing lops no other material can be blendfd but wool itself. In its closely-allied industry, i.e., the woollen trade, there is mixed with wcol such commodities as mungo, shoddy, and cotton, all of which is carded and spun in the production of good wearable fabrics. But in the production of tops, wcol is the Alpha and Omega, and in this way a very large opening is created for the consumption of the raw material. We do net know whether an attempt has ever been made to blend, say, long stapled cotton with wool, or whether tho experiment has ever been tried of combing pulled stockings-, for ins: ''nee, with wool. Possibly bci'h commodities could 1)0 combed, but it is to be hoped that (jpmakers will always stick to the combing of woo! itself, and we lhink they will. . Perhaps if the time ever arrives when there is a great sear- ity of the raw ■material in eonserjuenc-.: :jf a serious ) "'ought in Australia, and if prices get ', i..yond reason, an attempt may be made : at combing other commodities beside wool, but for the time being there aro no signs but what the pure article will go through the scouring bowls, to bo cavd'.-d mid then combed. HAVE TOPS DEPRECIATED IN CiIAKAOTEK? It has long been a source of contention in Urr.dford spinning circles that lops; | havo denivciatsd anywhere from 15 to per cent in spinning character, and this no doubt is correct. We are living in e'ays when there is a great rage for chrapnoss, and topmakers in the West liiilini,' have succumbed to the pass-ion of producing what' the trade requires. It docs seem on the surface a strange phenomenon and quite a contradiction, but it is nevertheless a stubborn fact. We aro certain that out of last series of Loudon sales a good standard (it's tops mado out' of pu:o Australian greasy wool would cost 2s. 3Jd., but during tho interval it. has never been possible to make more than 2s. 3k1., while if the truth is told tho bulk of the sales have Leon effected at 2?. 3d. Topmaking all this jear has certainly been a very lean job, but no one is foolish enough to suppose that topmakers have been selling all the time at a loss, although on the surface that certainly is apparent. Then how is it done is a natural question, 'the only answer that can be given is that the stand-in cost is reduced by a judicious blending with less valuable wools. Be it said to the credit, of some linns in Bradford they are producing j to-day tops,which they guarantee to be combed out of pure greasy lleeces. But where wo get one linn producing tops of that character, we get many more who resort largely to blending greasy llecces with skin; in fact, we have oftentimes seen in one pile wool irom Australia, tho Cape, t.outh America, and Uazamet, and it is in this way that the tost of tops is reduced. Of course, tho spinning capacity of that article cannot bo compared to a top which has been combed out of pure greasy fleece, but seemingly it servos the purpose of the spinner, and so long as the same can be manipulated and give isatisfactoi-y rcsults, nobody seems to care. At the same time the yarns and pieces produced irom blended tops cannot possibly be so good as those made from genuine fleece wool. Experience has demonstrated a thousand times that wools behave very differently during the varied processes of manufacture, some, as, for instance, Victorian ami Tasmanian, getting better with each operation, that is, in Yorkshire textile parlance, they "work up," while other wools "work down." We have maintained all along that skin wool behaves very differently from scouring " onwards, all because the delicate struci ture of the wool fibre has been somewhat ; affected by the operation of getting the j wool off the pelt. However, the end of ; topmaking to-day is to produce a cheap i : article, and if a man can do that ho i is the one to command a big trade. ' ' Bradford topmakers have not yet taken to using such wools as heavy bellies I and locks, though we understand they - are being used by French firms, where j mule spun yarns aro a very merchanti able commodity. However, each branch i of the trade has no doubt specialised '; to considerable advantage, and it seems = to us thnt so long as users can deal i satisfactorily with the raw material and 5 afford to give paying prices for wool, ,' that is all that need concern the first I producer. • BUSINESS INTERFERED WITH. c Conditions hero to-day are worso than a a week ago, and instead of the outlook f' clearing it deepens. Nobody likes the '; political aspect of the situation, although very few locally anticipate any serious trouble taking place. All the samo it is n having a very unsatisfactory effect upon ] trado in general, completely crippling all enterprise, and shaking the confidence of users in the future. It looks as if the ■ wool trade for tho past three months lias had to battle, against several adverse factors, and but for the inherent soundness < of the situation prices would have inevitably suffered. There have been times when with less provoking circumstances, values have sensibly declined, and to-day '. 'Ihb wholu fabric remains intact except ! that here and there it is possible to buy to advantage, although in the aggregate consumption is well maintained. Busi- • ness people in Worstedopolis aro not so much concerned about the present, but it is the continued absence of new business which is causing uneasiness over the '. future of prices. All alike seem to be restricting their operations to the ooveri iug of urgent requirements only, and inn stead of there beins a cood •"futurq''

business doing, topmakers arc selling very little, and users assert that without, any difficulty (hoy can obtain slight concessions. Confidence has been largely shaken in the immediate future, and the gnat liquidation of flocks and shares, and the trouble among tho Ccrman artisan elas-vs is having its effect upon tlio export wool trade, which is a large and influential section of Bradford's busino:-.-. II is possiblo to-day to obtain good fit's tops at 2"d., and souio who have bec;i holding for more are to-day frco sellers. .Many wool-combing firms are running rhort time on account, of the water simply bring cut off fifteen hours out of twenty-four. Thera is no stock of tops on hand to speak of, although some fair big weights exist of medium crassbreds. Spinners are all V-'cpnrcil to take up old contracls, and they are buying very little indeed on forward account. There continues to bo a pronounced absence of new yarn business, and until Home trade users and cxp-u'f, homes aro prepared to buy there is little likelihood" of fops being called for in an augmented way. The position of crossbreds this week does not show a great deal of chanjo, but they are in no sense anv stronger, and more linns are prepared'lo take !S.!d. for I'J's, whi'f 1!M. will buy a very good -Hi's prepared top.