YORKSHIRE LETTER
j. 7 » rI EAST INDIAN WOOL TRADE ; INCREASING IMPORTS AND I . ' ' CONSUMPTION , i '' ■ - • ■ j •'.(From Our Special Correspondent.) ■ ' i , Bradford, October' 10; I- "The action of the East Indian Wool I. Trade Committee has aroused interest in class of raw material which' that ■ section of the trade handles. There is I no need now to enter at length into the ! questions raised in the committee's vei port,, as it has been made fairly clear that in the main the proposals are not likely, if carried into effect, to operate ' so injuriously upon the wool' trade at > large as. the members of the.British Wool : Federation That body took | the initiative"in "drawing up a resolu- ! tion condemning the report, and regret- '• ting that "its whole purpbrt and inten- ! tion is to continue the. present Govern- ; tnent control, for live years after the j termination of the ' war." . Further disapproval'of the publication and : circulation of the report was expressed < becausei it was "contrary to that spirit 1 of commercial equal it/ and federation ; which should be fostered at the termina- . tion of 'he war in the Empire and ; amongst our Allies." !•' It "is' proposed in this article to deal i with'the East Indian wools largely oh ; practical grounds, and; from the stand- • point of the position they occupy in ; point of'volume compared with the other ; wools of the world. One of i the complaints made by the East Indian Wool ' Trade Committeo's report is that due.to | their Smaller volume the wools in j British India have received too little atI tentiou from ■ the Departmental, Commitvte'e. It is admitted,'however, that appreciable consideration has been given to ' tlVe' cnrp'et industry, in which East'. Inl.dian wools jvere largely U6ed before-tho According to. the report of the, i Departmental • Committee' of the . Textile !,Trades the relative, -world 'production of ; , merino, crossbred, and carpet wools is as ''follows:— ' . 'i
\i Wool 'Received in United Kinodqm •.:■: In addition to the ...fact that carpet i/wools; form only a tmall part' of. the '.worid'slproduction, it may be stated that for a number of years the production of ;■ Bast Indian -wools has come almost on!'tirely to this country. On the face of fit this makes the plea, for exports from ; British India and Adjacent countries, of " the wools grown there, to- be sent/to tho : United Kingdom, appear to be somewhat ". besides thejrark, though when the purj pose_of such control of destination is in- ,.• vestigated,. the , matter appears, in a I rather '-.different' light. The following ofl ficial : figures relating'to exports of -raw i: wool from India will explain the position. ' "•■> ■ ■ ■{ .
: Ever sincV 1912 ihe quantity-of East i Indian wool brought to tho. United King-, ■■ dom has been gradually increasing, the [.percentage for each pf the years named ;.' in the above table '.eing .respectively 94, ; 95, 96; 97, and 99. It is clear from' this , that the trade in East Indian wools both '. ' before and during the past four years^of ■'• war? has been of increasing importance \ to tie"United Kingdom. Uses of. East Indian Wool. '. The principal avenues of consumption ;;■ are carpets, blankets, woollens, hosiery, ■'■' felt, and belting, and a fairly exhaus- '' tive investigation among users, for all . these - purposes, 4ho peat majority of whom nave been regular users, of East \ Indiaii. wool since. 1911, • shows what a \ change 'has taken place. To-day Mere ■■ are fewer firms using wool for carpet ;■ ' purposes, and the total average con- : sumption is not'much more than onequarter of what it was in 1911-13. There i are well on towards three times as many ;. more users for blanket . purposes, the ■ consumption on that account being approximately four times greater. , The ;.. consumption for hosiery purpose? has ;'•. undergone practically no change, the 1 weight used on this account 'laving in- : creased only little.-Practically the same applies to felt, though, hero there has . .been some reduction in consumption. Be--1 fore the war a small proportion was ;.. used for belting purposes, the .Uital be- : ing only about -41,8001b. This is .low increased to about 996,0001b. East' Indian wools being used for car- ; pet and other similar purposes suggests ; at once that they are of low quality, J and one of their characteristics is their . kempiness. It will be noted that the j consumption for blankets has greatly in- ; creased. This is due to the large army requirements, and is the purpose for which a diminution of consumption' may be expected on the cesi. sation of hostilities. It must be : 'recognised, however,'flat the wools' of 1 East India hare,-ployed a most valuable ; pa'rt\jn this connection. Soldiers on the ■ field require something to .protect them ; as far .as possible from the inclemency j : of the weather, and these wools have j been drawn, upon largely. AVjthout ;. something of a protective character in -addition to their usual clothing, the plight of our fighting men would have ; been a sad one. ■ . It is partly the kempt character of the 1 .wools.which prevents them .being used for hosiery pnrpo=es. and as already said the 'weigh t* absorbed in this way ' haa sbown practically no increase, even dur- ' ing fhe present war when' such large nuantities of hosiery goods are*wanted. ! For underwear purposes, something of a very different character from coarse, ~ ke.niny .wools nr<> rennired, r.nd it is because (if this that the weight of East Indian wool. used for hosiery purposes hfi« shown practically no increase. The most, significant fact in thr- details already given. is tie comparatively largo .increase in the use of East.lndian wools ' for'belting. purposes. This is partly
due to the scarcity' of leather, though it must also be borne in mind that belting made of animal fibre has been found to be more serviceable than that made of leather. The combined heat and moisturo of factories has been found to rot leather, and mohair and other kind? of belting are being used because of their greater capacity for resisting'heat and moisture. Bast Indian wools are now playing n, greater part in the manufacture of various kinds of belting for the transmission of power, .and in this sphere are now very largely on a level with mohair. There is, of course, some similarity ' in the characteristics of mohair and East Indian wool. The former is more slippery, but for belting purposes they are Both equally useful.
1 1■..'•■: . .■''.'''"'' ' i'.' > ' Carpet, }."/ . ■ \ • ■ .". -.Total. .': .1 : Merino> '. Crossbred. , ' Wool, etc. ;-■■■■British Empire. ■ lbs.. ■' ;.■ lbs.' lbs. -lbs. ; United Kingdom ...'"' 122,000,0(10 ■ ■,:.'■■"—■■ • • i'W cofl.OOO — ■■ ; Australia ,: :... 570,0(10,000 ' 464,500,1X10 . 35,500.000 \ - ' ; Now Zealand 197,000,000 6,000,000 191,000,000 ■* — ('•Cape- 180,M0,000 1SO,000,000 — — \ '■' Falkland Islands. 4,000,000 - * . 4,000,000 — ••. Canada ■, ,. 11,000,000 5,500,000. 5,500,000 ■ ' '■ — .British India ............ . 60,000,000 — - 60,000,000 ! v ■ / — : — ' — .—: —: , I ,„. -.1,144,000,000. 676,009,000. MS.'OUO.OOO ■ 60,000,000 [ Allies. ' , ■ ' , ■ i • 'France :...: 79,000,000' '15,800.000 83,200,000 -' I Russia'. 350,000,000 , 70.000.000 W ■ - 004,000,000 , Italy '. 21,000,000 ' 15,750,000 • 5,250,000 . — : : .' ' 480,000,000 ' 107,550,000' . 6S,450,0M~ ' ~304,000,000 Neutrals.' '/'■■■ ■' • ; North America' 504.00fl;ft00 ■ 174.00n.000 ' 130,000,000 '• ' — ;' Spain and Portugal... 02,000,000 31.000.000 - 31,000.000 - ' South. America 404.000,000 .; 73,000,000 231,000,000,' — v i; Other countries 338,000,000 ■ — — 338,000,000 [.■.;_, ... . . , 1,108,000,000 273,000,003. ' 492,000,000 338,000^000 ;•■ ''."Enemy-States. lb. " lb. . lb.. ' lb. \, Germany '. 25.000.000 , s.non.flno ?n.flflfl'oflfl '— >. Austria-Hungary .' 42,000,000 , 8,000,000 34,000,000 - !..-...■- ':■ ,;..',■ ..."67,ooo,opo. 13.000,000 •_ 54,000,000 '. '■ . - '. totals '.......'..:. 2,799,000,000 1,071,000,000 '1,022,000,000 702,000,000
;-*•■• _ " United ■ ' . • .-:/.. United ' ,. Other . Tear... Kingdom. France. Japan.' ■':■'■ • States. ',countries. ;" 1932-13.; 63,541,696 , 118,334 '9,368 ' .2,913,812 ; 841,142 '.: 1913-14 —- 56,367,863 • 33,970 14,868 2,139,380'" \ 591,518 ; . ..1914-15 .....52,445,218' 20,464 28,896 ' ' 1,831,320 207,822 .■■:. 1915-16 •...' 79,898,797 104,002 25,350 1,765,790/ 71,850 ■■■'- .191647 ......... 61,012,316 15,602 2,400 V 197,S91» 336
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Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 63, 9 December 1918, Page 8
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1,202YORKSHIRE LETTER Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 63, 9 December 1918, Page 8
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