AUSTRALIA'S WOOL

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 172, 7 August 1937, Page 17

AUSTRALIA'S WOOL

' History Reviewed at Paris Confereiice A VITAL INDUSTRY Some very interesting dotails pertaining to Australia's wool-growing industry were given by Senator J. F. Guthrie in an address at the International Wool Confereiice, held in Paris on -37th Jnne. The full report of the speech, wliich was re-spoken by French and German interpreters, has reached . Australia by air mail. Extracts from Senator Guthrie's review are given hereunder: — Just as the wool mdustry was for centuries the life-blood of Britain, so it is to-day the mainstay of Australia, which has outstripped all otlier coimtries as xegards the numbers and excellence of her flocks, total quantity and value of wool produced, the weiglit of wool and the value of wool produced per licad of sheep. - As regards the Commonwealth, sheep and woo] is tlie one outstanding successful, unassistcd industry. Over a period of thirty years sheep have been responsible for over 50 per cent of the value of the exoorts from Australia. and direetly and indireetly the sheep industry provjdes more employment, than any other industry in Australia. Its history is overflowing with fecords of Gogged dotermination, self-sacrifice, loss, pluck and romance; it is largely the history of Australian settlement, develonmcnt and wealth. It has been built up primarily upon the foundation stock of the fat-tailed, piebald, hairy sheep from the Cape of Good Hope, sheep from Bengal and the Spanish morinos imported from the Cape of Good Hope, the famous Ramboullet merinos from France and the Nigretti meriaqa from Gerxnany. The introduction of merino sheep into Australia proved to be the wisest act in the history of the country, the woalth created in the Commonwealth from wool alone shorn from the descendants of these sheep now exceeding £50,000,Q00 per annum. The past year's clip will be worth over £60,000,000— a wonderful living monument to Captain John Macarthur, who was the first man to see the poasibilities of fine-wool production in Australia. and who lauded. in Australia in 1790, and in 1793, obtaining a grant of land, started sheep farming. There are just on 100,000 fainilies owning Rocks of sheep in Australia, which produces more wool and better wool than the sheep of any other country. That, owning but 16 per cent of the world 's flocks, Australia produces in quantity 27 per cent of the world 's wool, and in value 33 per cent, proving conclusively that Australian sheep on the average return twice as much per head from wool as the average of„the world 7s sheep — an unchallengeable proof of the outstanding suitability of our climate, soils and natural pastures, and also of the great skill, application and pluck of our pioneer fiock masters and those who have followec] on. First Sheep Census The first sheep census in Australia was dated 1st May, 1788, wheu 29 sheep remained of the 70 head purchased at the Cape. In Septeinber one remained. Aa illustrative of the growth of the industjy in Australia, the followig statistics are valuable: — SHEEP NUMBERS IN AUSTRALIA 1792 105 1798 10,057 1820 156,000 1860 23,000,000 1870 41,00,000 1880 78,000,000 1891 106,000,000 1900 70,602,995 1911 98,066,046 192.1 83,795,727 1931 110,568,316 1935 . 112,333,316 1936 115,000,000 Over 80 per cent of the sheep in Australia are merinos. The growth of wool production in Australia is shown L>v the following: 1850, 55,000,000 lb.; 1870, 242,000,000 lb.; 1926, 885,000,000 lb.; 1934-35-36-27, an average of 1,600,000,000 . Ib. The average weight of wool produced per head of sheep has mcreaaed as follows: — 1800 to 1810, 3 lb. per head; 1934, 8i lb. per head. Have we reached the maximum quantity or wool that it is safe to produce per head of sheep? Perhapa when a ram cats 40 lb. of wool that is euough, but it is safe to say that the ail-over average weight of wool for the whole of the sheep in Australia couid, and will, be inereased well beyond 8i lb., considering that, according to scientists who have receutly investigated the subject, the greatest cross sectional area of fibre carried by the most denso siioep measured by microscopical methods is 5 per cent. lu a sheep of average density the area actualiy occupied by wool iibres ranges betwoen 2 per cent and 5 per cont of the body surfaco covered by lieece." The area of an average gheep's skiu is about 103 square feet. If this were covered 1UU per ceiit with keratin, it would, of course, be a plate like the shell of a tortoise, and such a plate, 103 square feet in area and 3 inches thick, would weigh 220 lb. The average Australian sheep, however, only produces about 4"j lb. of keratin (a fleece of 83 lb., yielding 50 per cent), so that the area of skiu actualiy covered with fibre must be siigbtly above 2 per cent, which, to a praetical man, seeins almost unbclievable. The llrst commercial shipment oi" wooj i'rom Australia was in tho veai 1807, wheu oue bale of Macarthur 's avooI ex his ship Dart was sold. Tho firsL recorded auction ot Australian wool was held in Caraway 's Colfeo Housc, Ohaugc Allcy, Cornhill, London, , i"n the vear 1820. Fifty-eight balcs Avere olfercd, the highest price was 60d , per lb., and the qverage 43d. The ,, world 's 'rooord price for wool i« atUJ

held b'y that great pioneer of the industry, Captain John Macarthur, viz.,' 1.6/4 or 190d per lb., paid at auction in the ycar 1S27 — a figure which has not been' appx'oached 'during • the hundred mtcrveuing years, - though the enorirously inereased value of wool duriDg the years folloAving tho destructive world war resulted in 9/- per lb. being paid in London for greasy mefino grown in the famous Geelong district of Victona. First 'Australian. Sale The; first auction sale of woOl in Australia "was- held in Sydney in September, 1843, and consistcd of but two bales. The founder 'of the regular ivool-sellin.g business in Australia was Thoinas Sutliffe Mort, who sold wooLby auction in Sydney in- 1843/ but Richard Goldsborough, starting in 1948, made more rapid strides, and the Melbouyne and Geelong markete b.ecame the mpre iiuportant for many years. To-day, however, Sydney is the ' iargest -wool-sell-ing ccntre in tho world. For inairy years past over 1,906,000 bales of wool have been sold annually in Sydney. of tho total saies in Australia, which have a-veraged over 2,600,000 bales per annum, io which quantity must be added the wool shipped for sale in London. The actual value of the wool sold in Australia during the past fifteen years, and' including - 'the estimato' for the ycar 1936-37, has averagod just under £50,000,000, to which must be addea about. 10 per cent pf the production wJkicE-'is slripped to London for sale. Diu'iug the war the virtuql control of the world 's supply of avooI by the British Empire contributed in no small dogree to tlxe sufccess of Britain and her AiiiC.9, Avhose troops were magnifi,QentLy ciothed with woollon garments, For three. years and a haif the whole of tho Australian wool clip was purchased by the British Governmeut at an averago price pf 15ld per' lb. of greasy wool, Py no means an excessive price, but noA erthelpss a remunerativp one. . The Iargest individual commercial uansactiou in history was thp handi.'ug and disposal of 7,000,000 bales of Australian wool by Ihe Central Wooi Committee, which Avas inaugurated m jNovember, 1916, and continued until 30th June, 1920. Grand total of distribution, £242,434,646. The average gioss price per pound olualned for greasy fool ex Austrakan seaboard stores is as follows:^-" Per lb. Cycle of 10 years, 1896-1906 Sid Cycle;of 10 years, 1906-1916 93d Uycle of 10 years, 1920-1930 .17 Ad Tiiirty, ycar.s, oraitting. abnormal post-war and war period 123d Highest average price ot recent years (192£-25) 2G.3d I OAA'est ar^erage price — 1901 6.2d 1931-1933 S-5d Latest yoars — 1933-34 16d 1934-35 93.^ 1935-36 14d 1936-37 163d jfc. » So famous is Australian wool, and so efiiciently is the wodl-selling industry Oindueted, that every wool-using country is direetly or indirecfly rfepresented by expert buycrs at all of the Australian wo.ol auctions.