VEGETABLE MATTES IN WOOL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2810, 22 January 1908, Page 23

VEGETABLE MATTES IN WOOL.

EECOMMENDATIONS OF THE COMMITTEE. (Feoic Ode Own Correspondent.) LONDON, December 6. At the offices of "Messrs Dalgety, on Wednesday afternoon, a. meeting was held of -tbe Committee on Vegetable Fibres in iWool. Mr J. D. Faweett, of Bradford, presided. 1 ' '' ■> This committee reported as to how the mischief' is caused.- The vegetableBtances which, -are found at various times under varying' conditions, and _in greatly varying <juaniities, may be divided into two classes: — (1) "Vegetable substances in their natural state, such as burrs, grass seeds, thorns; (2) vegetable fibres in more or less artificial association. regard .to- the first class, it was stated that- "mfeny ingenious and costly mechanical ' devices had been invented to get rid of these things. The ' Yorkshire W-oolcombers' Association paid £60,000 to c 'French syndicate -for the English rights of "la- process for deburring wool and_ many times that sum 'had been spent in^the came quest. * The -most effective method was to. or "extract" such aubstances by the use of acids. That, •lowever, inevitably injwred and deteriorated; the ;w.ool fibre itself. In practice '^it was" onjsr* applied to such wools as- were "fall of burr " or" seed. It was a process not to be seriously -contemplated in connection with the better clas3 of wools— , the. -combing wools which fetched the highest prices, — hence the great pains and cost incurred to get rid of these substances hy mechanical aneans. / The second class of fibres found "their way into the -wool by_ man's assistance. They were equally detrimental ; nay, _ even more so, and more dii&iult to eliminate. They were usually either jute, hemp, or cotton. They were found as pieces of 'bagging, pieces of rope or twine used_ in tying fleeces, pieces «tf sewing twine, Bh^eda of bagging, - twine, etc., more or less . ab»aded, had been gathered up from the-, floor of the shearing-sbed, the warehouse, or the quayside with wool •which had been pulled ont for sampling or bad' escaped through damage to the tare.The -most -careful investigation had shown 'that the great bulk of the mischief was traceable directly or indirectly to the unsuitable character of the woolpack in common -use in the -colonies. That pack was of jute, and the quality had steadily der.Briora+ ft d for many years. But the de■xerioration had been, more pronounced since the' price of jute began to advance. ,»a. shorter fibre was now used, and the fcfbagging -was Jioi «o bard- or ".clean "J as -fit , used to be— it was -Joaore " fuzzy.'\ If a kew paojk'be rubbed against the sleeve of -a dark cloth coat it would at once be -seen thafc a number of fibres bad come ( off the h&g and were sticking, to the coat. WSen » bale of wool was > opened, it was f ouiid that /the surface of the wool, which for thnee, six, or nine months had been inclose contact "with the tare, "was frequently covered ,with thousands of such particles of 'jute , fibre. Whenever and wherever the pack was cut the material of which it •was made frayed, little bits coming off and sticking- to- ihe wool. , _ As to remedies for' the evil, tbe first and foremost recommendation was the general adoption of a woolpack of such a character that /it wonld not ■demigeiate the value of the -wool it rrajjii^Wr^ The committee are pnrsnii^ginquiries in regard to the provision of a better bag. Tbey > hope Bhortly to be able to give further information .and to recommend an improved woolpack for general use. The adoption of euqha standard pack, made of good, clean, hard-twisted jute or hemp yarn, carefully sewn so that the pack does not need to •be "out down" at the corners in the baling press, and provided with a" separate piece of canvas for the top of the bale, ■would do a, vast deal /to mitigate the evil. The systematic emptying of the pack before it is pat. into the press. It is found that frequently little bits of canvas and ends of sowing twine come inside the new packs from the factory. Care should be taken to see that these are shaken out. In the shearing-shed, in the classing and packing of wool, the utmost care should "be '-used to prevent loose bits of twine, rope, -or bagging coming near the wool, or 'being swept" up. witn wool from the floor. _The tying of the fleeces ought to be avoided entirely, • and the hard twine used for ,'sewing up the bags should be blue .or other dark colour. All straw, etc., -should be carefully removed from the shearing place before shearing begins. In . stores "and warehouses where bales are exposed for sampling, the necessary opening of the tare should be done so as todamage it as little as possible. Bales should be opened at the seams by cutting the sewing twine, and all frayed edges and loose bits should be removed and destroyed. The utmost care should be taken to ensure that the sweepings of •warehouse floors shoujjj not be put back into the wool. , It is recommended that Drinted cards should be provided for hanging in shear-ing-sheds and warehouses in the following terms: — For Shearing Sheds. '£1) All straw, -etc.'/ should be carefully removed from the shearing shed before ' -actual shearing is begun. J2)-Turn out each, bag before packing the wool, and see that it is clean and free from bits of hemp. J3) Loose bits of twine, bagging, or strawshould be carefully kept apart from the wool. For "Warehouses. Jl) All bales must be .opened at the seams only, by cutting -Hie blu« twine. j[2) Any frayeS edges -or loose pieces of string should be removed carefully and at once by men whose special caTe it is to •watch the wools when "on show." j[3) "Warehouse "pullings" should be carefully - looked over before being restored to . the bales. JV£r Acton Jtdams expressed the opinion ihat the committee had drawn up an admirable Teport, but public interest "in the ' matter, appeared to be dying, and a model pack' had not yet been selected.^ It ■was a pity that Bradford Had not obtained specimens of a mitable woolpaek from Calcutta and" Dundee before Taking aolion. He T*as strongly of opinion that Calcutta must be considered' before they decided on *-nack. because most of the woolp»ekfi

T came from there. The- report by itself would not induce people to adopt the remedies, and he -did not think they would be able to presuade the growers to adopt improved packs unless the buyers paid for them. But whatever they might decide to do, he did not think it would make much difference, for the wool would always fetch its value. At present wool - warehouse people were entrusted - with the duty of marking the bales with the amount of tare to be taken off, in accordance with the of gr-ease in the wool, and he suggested that they should also be entrusted to mark half the original cost of the pack to the manufacturer' 6 door. This move^ • merit was primarily in the interest)? of wool- • buyers, and it would be extremely difficult 'to induce the farmers to adopt an im- ; proved -Dank unless they were offered, say. | half the original cost, and 4hus unite ail " parties in a sort of compromise. The Chairman said they were not ready to recommend an improved pa?k yet. Herr P. Fleischl thought the matter lay between the manufacturers and the gTowers, and he did not know how far the latter were willing to relieve the manufacturers of the disadvantages arising from fibres in the packs as>at present in use. Neither the wool-buyers nor the topmaker3 j were touched so far as their pockets were concerned, for the cases were comparatively rare where the manufacturer bought Ilia | wool in the first market. The Chairman remarked that, in his opinion, the wool-grower was the parson who would eventually benefit by thY use of an improved pack. It was the duty of the seller to deliver the stuff in a merchantable form, as was done in the case of all ' other kinds of raw material. Further consideration of this point was deferred until , the sub-committee was able to recommend some particular packs. The report was adopted, and it was decided 'to take such steps -as should secure that ,the ' views of the- committee would be extensively circulated through New Zealand, Australia, and other -wool-growing countries. Mr H. "Dawson said several samples or inrpro-ved wool-packs had been received, but the -committee was unable to recommend any of them. Responses from Calcutta, on. the subjects were most unsatisfactory. He was inclined -to think that perhaps a solution off tbe difficulty -might be found in a paper-lined bag fa sample of -which had been received) if it could be made strong enough. The oost of this would be about lOd uer pack extra. An American firm pro^ssedfto have a process whereby all jute fibres could be so treated that they would not come away, and this seemed to ! him a valuable idea, and one which ought ,to be followed up. Another suorestion wa« ] for an " all wool " pack, which would cost I from 6s 6d to 7s 6d, and this of course ; could be sold again or used by the manu1 facturers. It was obvious that soms radical I change would have to be made in tho packs, whether they stuck to iute packs or not,)>but, in any case, the change would probably be brought about gradually. Mir Acton Adams felt sure little would be' done ,in the way of adopting an. improved \ pack unless "the: 'market agreed to .some method by which the cost of the packs would be divided «PThe^ report was adopted and to be sent to the colonies. The following recommendation with regard to the handling-" of wools when offered in London was adopted? — "-As every bale^ opened increases the quantity of hemp fibre in 'any lot of wool, buyers are^recommended, in their own interests, not to cut about the bales more than is necessary. The committee, which is making this effort largely for the benefit of the buyers, thinks it should have their sutjport in the matter of this- recommendation." The members of the committee subsecruently inspected various improved woolly-^ that had been submitted, and a sab-, ■committee was appointed to examine them, and to make a report.