YORKSHIRE WOOL LETTER.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1515, 10 August 1912, Page 14

YORKSHIRE WOOL LETTER.

THE SPINNING TRADE AND ITS EFPECT UPON WOOL PHICES. (From Oar Special Correspondent.) Bradford, Juno 21, 1912. Tlio writer was talking the other day to a textile worker well on towards SO years old, who, being in a somewhat reminiscent mood, contrasted the life of the average textile employee at the present time with that of his own early days. He went back with evident interest to the times of hand-combing, carding on the "billy," spinning on tho "jenny," and also tho hand-loom days. In these times the bulk of tho work was done in tho homes of the people—a strong co-ntrast to what is seen to-day. The writer himself well remembers the time when in Bradford, as well as in the outsido districts, spinning and weaving was all done "upstairs,", it being not moro than thirty years sinco weaving was transferred from the homes of the people to the mills. That makes a very interesting chapter in connection with tho textile trado of the past, but to-day I want to say one or two things about spinning, and its relation to tha textile industry of the present. Times nave changed vastly, and the amount of wool consumed by tho quick running automatic spindle stands out in strong, contrast to the spinning on the jenny by hand. There is, perhaps, no branch of the textile trade which has shown more development than this, and to find machinery now so made as to bo able to spin almost any kind of textile fibre is indeed marvellous. It is impossible to separate tho prosperity of the wool-world from tho great business done in yarns, and, turn which way we will, spinners are exceedingly busy, especially those engaged in botany qualities. Woollen spinning is as old as the hills, but the same cannot bo said of worsted spinning. The latter no doubt has been tho mightiest factor of all in transforming tho wool industry, and to find such a large quality of tops being consumed to-day in the production of yarns is indeed marvellous. The subject would bo too technical for me to describe the difference between cap, fly, and throttle-spun yarns, or even mule-spun yarns, but it must ever be borne in' mind that tho latter is tho oldest system, wool being first spun on mules into a wearable thread. Of course, it is only during recent years that mule-spinning has been adopted in the worsted industry, the old hand rules not having been used for any purpose but spinning woollen yarns, and the same principle is now employed in spinning tops where a soft, full handling yarn is wanted. iiefore tho spinning operation takes place, the wool must be combed. As every reader knows, a top is simply a long sliver of wool in which tho fibres have been placed parallel to each other in the combing operation. This is a very interesting yet intricate method of wool manipulation, and before the. top can bo brought into a usable condition, it must go through the drawing and spinning processes. The object of the drawing operation is to reduce tho top so much that when it comes to tho spinning frame, it can be finally reduced in thickness, and drawn out to tho length and twist requisite to make it into a wcavable . yarn. Wool could never/ havo been used for clothing unless these operations had been discovered, but the old hand method of manipulating wool hundreds of lyoars ago has simply been developed, until. machinery to-dav performs in a moro skilled and efficient way the operations that were formerly done by hand. Spinning stands in very closo connection with the prosperity of the wool trade generally. If spinners are slack, and frames standing,: it simply means that tho consumption of wool is at once, reduced, but when they aro' busy, tho raw material is shifted. lam glad to.be able to say that at the present time, with tho exception or an isolated case, spinners are in tho happy position of being nblo to keep their frames fully occupied, while those engaged. in merino qualities are cxceedingll busv. A close student of the wool trade must havo observed that tho prosperity ot the industry during tho fmst threo or four Tears has been largely due to tne briskness of this branch. Not only- are innumerable qualities and counts being spun to-day, but tho diversity of tlio trado is such as to offer a strong and striking contrast to what wo saw even a dozen years Ago* 0119 has only to think ot tho <*roat increase in tlio spinning qualities ol wool compared with quite rownt times to see how tlio different classcs make it possible for the spinning to turn out such a great variety of yarns. Wool can now be obtained from 28's to 100's , this has opened out a wide field for development at the hands of spinners. Tho great frozen meat industry with itscorollary tho crossbred wool trado, lias* placed in the hands of topmakers' and spinners a wonderful variety of raw material, and this has undoubtedly tended to multiply tho variety of yarns which havo brought financial benefit to both the spinner and the manufacturer. In the old (lays the onlv classes available were merinos and qualities supplied by English mutton sheep, but to-day, with the largo variety of-raw material coming from New Zealand and the lliver Plate, the productive capacity of the spinner has been wonuertuiij enlarged, and he has turned to real good account all the different qualities which havo come within his reach. CONDITIONS VERY. SOUND.

This week has not brought out anything particularly new in connection with the market, but it is more evident than ever that tlio raw material is resting upon ii very firm anil (satisfactory foundation.. The Brisbane wool Bale Inst week did real good. To bo advised ithat prices were in teller's favour convinced everyone of the futility of expecting prices to ease, and topmakera are worse to deal with than ever they were. I cannot «vy that any more money can be made, but it is possible for topraekers to obtain what they arc asking moro freely. A fortnight ago some fairly big weights of «4's were disposed of at 253 d., but theso spot lots have all been cleared, and to-day the majority are very firm at 2Cd., and some- will not accept a fraction less than. 26Jcl. This is very good'news, and clearly indicates what may be expected in the future. .Already the eyes of the-trade are being turned towards the coming sales in Coleman Street, but nobody is expeotmg cheaper wool There is every likelihood of nbout last sale's closing values obtaining, but as for being ablo to secure merinos at any les" that does not appear to bo at all likely. The fact is, consumption is so large, that prospective supplies seem to be mortgaged, and although with the fairly heavy offerings of new clip wools in Sydney and Brisbane during May, June, and July, there is little prospect of any autumn squeeze, the wool in sight will be wanted and easily absorbed.

THE ENGLISH NEW CLIP. 4 The marketing of the English new clip is well under way, some very important sales having taken place this week. Readers may be surprised to learn that very little home-grown wool is consumed in. the woollen trade of the West Hiding, but that is nevertheless, the case. Practically tho whole of the domestic clip of Great Britain is consumed in the worsted and hosiery industries, tho wools being first of all combed into tops. This is rather unique, but is easily understood by those wlio possess a practical knowledge of the principles of tho woollon. manufacture. A good hundred years ago the merino was bred in fair number* in tlie South and Midland counties of England, and we arc confident that this slitn-p plnyed an important part in tho production of tho English Down breeds. We know a few firms in the Leeds district who a.re largo inakei'3 of khaki fabrics, .who use a little Down wool in their blends, but on tho wholo Australian merino and New Zealand fine crossbred form the bulk of the material used. Still, the marketing of the domestic clip has an important'bearing upon the wholo of the West Riding textile industry, for homegrown wools are used in the production of many popular cloths. Both wool merchants and topmakcrs seem keon to operate, , and it is remarkable that thoy should be buying eo liberally and paying such good prices. All tho recent talk about, tho unprofitable natiiro of tho last English clip seems in the cars of many people so much nonsense when the very snmo parlies are keon to acquire the new domestic wools, and pay exactly the same price as they did twelve months ago. Whntevor may be tho ultimate effect of this line of action, thrro can be no doubt that a spirit of confidence prevails, which tn a- large extent is determining the conduct of operators, nnd Ihe outlook for business in yarns and pieces continues to be good.

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