VEGETABLE FIBRE IN WOOL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 24, 2 June 1913, Page 4

VEGETABLE FIBRE IN WOOL.

A report of the Vegetable Fibre Committee, 1912, London, is being circulated in book form, and may bo of interest to local wool-growers. The report chiefly deals with the committee's efforts to secure a. cheaper wool pack and the crusade against, the old Calcutta jute hag. The disadvantage of this type is that the fibre being in minute strands and of the same colour as wool cannot always be

detected in sorting. When, therefore, it is carried forward into the cloth its presence is revealed for the first time, because being vegetable, it does not take the same dyes as wool. When the defective fibres are picked out of the cloth (burled) a weak place is left in the cloth which it is difficult or impossible to conceal. An exhibition of new wool packs was held in London last July, and all important makes were invited to send exhibits. Unfortunately, most of these new packs, although showing great merit and considerable improvement, did not come within the range of the Committee's requirements owing to their high prices. It has been strongly urged on the Committee by growers that the increased cost of the previously recommended packs was prohibitive unless the buyer would share. Consequently, recent efforts have necessarily been confined almost entirely to the search for better value. The demand from rift quarters for guidance and for definite recommendation has also been so strong that the Committee have been compelled, with mucn reluctance on their part, tentatively to recommend some packs which will come in at, or near, the basis of the present Calcutta wool • pack. The Committee are very regretful that several experiments on which they had based high hopes, have not yet proved themselves sufficiently satisfactory to be recommended. An anti-fibrous pack, which has been made in Australia, seems to be an effort on the right line, but tho opinion is held that tho superficial treatment will probably have to be superseded by treatment of the jute in the yarn rather than in the cloth. Messrs Acton Adams, of Canterbury, and H. F. de Little, of Victoria, as representing the wool growers on the committee, submit a minority report stating that while they agree in general with the report drawn up, wish to record their opinion that unless the manufacturers, as represented by the wool buyers, will agree to pay part of the extra cost of an improved pack. no satisfactory solution of the difficulty will be arrived at. , Anyone sufficiently interested to go, further into this matter m ; ay, obtain literature bearing on it from,the X.Z, L, and 'M. Agency's Stratford; , branch.