THE WOOL INDUSTRY.

Shannon News, 24 May 1929, Page 1

THE WOOL INDUSTRY.

♦ - . VARIOUS PACK FABRICS. TROUBLE WITH FIBRE . Quite a number of efforts have been made recently to manufacture a woo 1 - pack which will permit the wool to be taken out free of vegetable fibres, but, up to the present, none seem to have come up to expectations. One of the fust ideas was to line ordinary jute packs with paper, but, in addition to adding to the cost-, this practice did not prevent the frayed ends of the'jute from mingling with the wool where the bales were cut open for inspection. Later came the wire-lined pack, bfit this again did not meet with full up proval. . ' y, ,

The most recent, invention is known as the Van der Jact process,, and is a departure. from previous methods, say: the Australasian. Mr. Van der J act has avoided jute and utilised coconut fibre, under a process that is claimed to produce a quality of fabric to meet all requirements. It is stated that the now fabric is not nearly so apt to fray as the present jute fabric, and that if can be manufactured in the Pacili. 1 mandated territories at a price which will enable it to compete successfully against jute packs. . . Until the new . pack has been submitted to practical.test it must be. accepted with caution, as’ the cocoanu* fibre, like jute, is a vegetable product and.' therefore,' wil not take the sum: dyes as wool. . Demands from Bradford. Bradford manufacturers have been most insistent in their demands for an improved woolpack. They point out that thousands of people have to b; employed in picking out from woollen material the frayed ends of jute from, the present packs. 'Other textile centre ' do not object so strongly to the vege table, fibres, because most of the woe used ’is carbonised, the 'jute being de stroyed in the process. It is.nature enough that Bradford should desire aT elimination of the cost of pickers, bir;' woolgrowers are weli aware that buy •ors of tli,eir product secure compcnsa tory advantages. Nothing is all owe a on''the .packs) the weight deducted being actually more than it should be After the packs are emptied* they ar. sold at prices sometimes, in excess of. 50 per cent, of the original cost, but this fact is carefully suppressed. Why primary producers should be often pro vide containers for their goods free or cost it is difficult to understand; it ia matter of precedent apparently. Used packs are utilised for various purposes, such as dinings for'furniture and sp on. In view of the secondhand value of the packs, from which buyer, alone benefit, growers cannot be ex pectcd to pay more -for an improved pack unless, they receive adequate com pensation, especially when Bradford is about the only manufacturing contra iffectcd. - Quality of Jute Fabric. While much attention is being paid to new processes for woolpucks, it is singular that so little effort has been made to improve the quality of the present jute fabric.. It has been veiv emphatically stated by tone, close in touch . with jute manufacture, that there is positively no necessity for a pack weighing 11-1 lb. The maximum weight required to ensure sufficient tensile strength is 91b., and anything over and above this weight- is com posed of more dr less waste product. My informant has experimented with a Glib, pack, and believes it to lie cun nently satisfactory. He has put over 4001 b. of wbol in, one of these packs, and it has withstood pressing handling, and dumping without ill-effect. 'lhe dark brown fibres seen in a standard pack arc the product of root growth, and are practically valueless. It may be assumed that if a lighter iutc pack of better quality were used, lc«s frayed cuds, would find their way into the wool. The extra cost of an improved fabric would be more than compensated for by the saving -in weight. ,