CHINA AS A MARKET FOR AXIS. TRALIAN WOOL. ♦

Manawatu Herald, 16 August 1881, Page 2

CHINA AS A MARKET FOR AXIS. TRALIAN WOOL. ♦

(Communicated.) TO THE EDITOR OF THE ARCrtTS. Sir,— A letter in The Argut dated llfch April, 1876, from Mr Monckton Synnot, first directed attention to the desirability of oar endeavouring to open up a new market for the constantly increasing supply of a Australian wools, which at that time, owing to > the immense quantities arriving in London and the sure and steady decline m prices, led him to believe that wool had already touched its highest point, and that the supply out. . growing the demand, a downward tendency must be expected, without any hope of relief from the already surfeited market ; therefore a new and distinct outlet mast be sought elsewhere. This new outlet, Mr Synnot ventured to assert, might possibly be found in China and Japan, the latter country especially coming so prominently to thefront in adopting European ideas and costume ; China also is not hopeless, seeing that railways and telegraphy (although only on a small scale as yet) had found favour in that ancient lamb Mr . ■ Synnot's idea of placing our wools on the Chinese market was to introduce it in the form of woollen yarns ready for the loom, so that it could be used out of hand in the primitiveand simple machines peculiar to the country ; the wholequestionwasdisoussedat - length in the various newspapers of thatdate, and generally in favour of trying an experiment on a small scale with the Chinamen. Aided by a few friends who approved of the notion and its mode of inception, Mr Synnot set to work and seat a shipment of Australian woollen yarns to his agent* in ■> Shanghai, through whom it found its way - into the hands of the native Chinese wearer, with results best told in the folio win? paragraph, whioh appeared in the Daily Tele* graph of September 20, 1877 :— "Mr Monckton Synnot has received by the steamer Bowen, whioh arrived from Hong Kong on Sunday, a consignment of material composed of Chinese cotton and Australian woollen yarn, which waft maqp* > faotured by Chinese weavers at Ningpo. The material is apparently very strong ia texture, and admirably adapted for boys' olothing. The work has been done by hand looms, but is very evenly woven, the lines being as regular as on a bank note, as much so as if the work had been done by machinery. Mr Monckton Synnot sent the woollen yarn to China a few months ago for the purpose of testing the ability of the Chinese weavers to utilise it, the object being to create a market in China for

Australian woo). The proportion of wool U& cotton in the material ia very nearly equaV#piece 22 yards long and 18 inches wide containing lib of wool, and lib 3oz of cotton." Not feeling satisfied, however, but that better things conld be accomplished, Mr Synnot still continued urging his agents to have patience, aadtry Chinamen at making a pure woollen cloth, advice which was persevered in, until at length " the first cloth made with Australian wool in China came back to these colonies to be seen, wondered a', and forgotten all within a week." (vide Lyttelton Times, January 24, 1879). When the project of sending wool to China to- be made into cloth with the primitive machine of that country was first mooted, it met with some few supporters, but when the scheme was at length declared an accomplished fact, and the projector was enabled to show the excellent cloth that the Chinamen had. made, all further intetest seemed lost in what cannot be otherwise regarded than as a very important and so far satisfactory i experiment. We have, however not given up what has been gained, and have always kept the subject in view, hoping to again opeu the question and perhaps carry it, to' a successful issue. Oar Chinese correspondents are also hopeful of good results, , and possibly more light will be thrown on the subject before many weeks ; the next shipment will not be in the shape of yarns but will merely consist of raw material (both greasy and scoured wool). The first steamer sailing will convey our new trial. The wool question always raises many anxious inquiries as to what is to become of our enormously increasing production. Your able pen has ever been ready to ad- - vocate the Cause of any new and legitimate enterprise tohich may have a tendency to benefit both the colony and the people at large; therefore your views not only upon this Chinese wool experiment, but generally upon the subject of finding a new outlet or market for Australian wools, would be read with great interest. One of your contemporaries, in a leading article regarding the new French duties on woollen goods, contends that its operation will make a great difference to the French buyers in London, and will doubtless induce them to come to Melbourne in greater numbers than heretofore and purchase in this market. Messrs Rennard Bros, have set forth the superiority of Antwerp as a market, in a verj complete little pamphlet. That port possesses, np4onbt, many great advantages, not the least of which is its immunity from danger in case of a war breaking out in Europe, a contingency that may arise at any moment, seeing the present complicated questions that exist. Antwerp would be safe ; and as France and Belgium together take close upon half of our wools, the Flemish neutral port deserves consider* tion. Altogether, the present is a favourable time for providing against a rainy day, whilst good prices are ruling and everything is prosperous. The great question of a new outlet or market for our wools, being raised in the columns of The Argus will probably bring about some tangible method of dealing with a matter of such vital importance to every individual in the colonies. — Yours, fee, MQNCTON D. SYNNOT BROS. Boujjfc-street west, July 12.

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