The Wool-Growing Industry

Horowhenua Chronicle, 22 September 1915, Page 3

The Wool-Growing Industry

SOME WONDiiIU'UL BBVJiLOI'-

MENTS.

At Thursday night's meeting of the Pa liners ton Philosophical Society an instructive paper was -read by Mr M. A. Eliott on "Wool in 1815 as compared with 1915." The subject was followed with keen interest. It went to show the remarkable development in the wool-providing industry during tho last century, especially in relation to the oversea Dominions. Mr J. W. Poynton, president of the Society, presided.

A hundred years ago, said Sir Elliott, war was being' 'waged on tho Continent of Europe, but the struggle to-day was much more severe and more iprotracted than when Wellington and Napoleon tested their military skill upon tho plains of Belgium. As could be readily understood the wool and textile trade was being greatly affected by the present war. which directed attention to the conditions which oxisted when the two great soldiers met in battle 100 years ago. At till at time the weights of wool handled in the process of manufacture wore insingiflcant compared with what is being dealt with to day. No New Zealand crossbreds were being sent to England, while nothing like the present quantities of merino wool were used, and the country had not been initiated into the scientific methods of wool manufacture which are in vogue to-day. At the samo time the sorting of raw material was done much more carefully and with greater discrimination than at the present time. This wars accounted for bv the enormous increase in the size of the flocks, and the corresponding growth in the wool output, and in order to give some idea of England's im portations 100 years ago, Mr Eliott quoted from an official list for the year 1815, which showed the imports to be 40.156 bales, made up as follows:Sydney 151 bales, Tasmania 92, Cape 11, Germany 8964. Spain 24,649, Portugal 6351. Russia 876. Italy 296, Turkey, Syria and Egypt 292, Peru 274. Denmark 250, sundries 3950. It would be noted that Sydney. Tasmania and the Cape were now the only places in the above list from Which England now received wool, though it should also be recognised that tremendous as the British wool imports are to-day, they are all from the colonies, South America and South Africa. It would ho seen from the 1815 list that (Spain was largest among the wool-exporting countries with 24,6649 bales, whioh was a reminder that that country was the principal Source from whioh our modern merino flocks were originally drawn. The following were tho quotations for 1815: —Spanish wool: Lconosa 6r 3d to 7s 6d per lb, Segovie 5s 3d to 6s. Soria 4s 3d to 5s 6d. Seville 3s 9d to ss. Saxon wool: first grade 8s to 10s per lb, second grade 4s <ld to 5s 9d. Bohemian wool: first grade 3s 6d to 5s per lb; second grade 2s 3d to 3s.

Tho London wool sales of the present day were among the most important in the world, and, buyers from every manufacturing country congregate at the great sale 6 which are held six times a year at the London wool

excliango in Coleman-street, where wool was sold from nearly all tho most important producing countries in the world. Wool was sent for instance from New South Wales, Tasmania. Queensland, Victoria, West and South Australia and New Zealand, the Cape of Good Hopo, Falkland Islands, tho Argentine, Chili and Peru. The first auction of wool from the colonies was offered at Garraway's Coffee House, in Change Alley, Comhill. One lot realized the extraordinary price of 10s 4d per lb. With this wool was also sold consignments from the Cape of Good Hope, Spain and Italy, hut no British wool was auctioned. It was, therefore, nearly a century since the first ship which had taken out its complement of pioneers to Australia, returned laden with the first cargo of wool from the new land. How little could the future have been foreseen when that cargo passed up the Thames or the magnificent possiblities which were being opened up by those who had ventured in the enterprise. Since then a whole race of sheepfarmers and wool merchants had sprung up, who had transformed the conditions of he industry by their determination, and licreated a trade of world importance "and renown.

The Saxon woolgrowers must, be regarded as among the earliest who attempted to improve their wool by judicious breeding, and eventually rissn mod a superiority which practically ousted Spanish wool from the "English markets. Tn 1800 Britain imported <j.()62,0001bs of wool from Spain and -112,0001bs from Saxony, but the Ger man quality improved to such an oxtont that in 1857 Britain's imports from Saxony were 5,993.0001b5.. and from Spain 393,0001b5. This showed that the finer types of wool were favoured by the British manufacturers, and as a result their products placed tli em in tho lead in the production of materials of the best quality, a position they still oocupy.

Woollen and worsted yarns were produced from the raw material by distinct processes, but only the merino wools of Australia and Saxony excel in yielding those features of a superior finish in the woven article. Sergob manufactured from the long-fibred l and lustrous English wools meet with objection on account of their' hard-handle and propensity to glaze when worn. These wools, however, succeed in other classes of production. The time had arrived' for the extended use of crossbred wool, which seemed destined to share the trade with theil<lere.rl23 share the trade of the future with fine merino and apparently the textile manufacturers were on the threshold of a new era.-*-Manawatu Standard.