REGISTRATION OF WOOL BRANDS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10103, 26 September 1910, Page 6

REGISTRATION OF WOOL BRANDS.

INTERESTING CORRESPONDENCE.

A REMARKABLE ADMISSION.

At the meeting of the Master ton branch of the Farmers' Union on Saturday last, the, following remit was received from the Dominion Conference of the Union:—"That it ba a recommendation from this Conference to the Government to at once place upon the Statute Book an Act enabling owners of sheep to register a brand for marking bales of wool, such biand to 1 be the property of the parson whofregisters it; and that it be made illegal for anyone, other than the person who registers the brand, to use it for the purpose of branding bales or bags of wool." ' Mr G. R. Sykes stated that he had mentioned this mattflr 1 at the annual meeting some montha ago, His remarks had. apparently, reached Eogiaa* and Mr James Stuckey", who was ever alive, to the interests of thg Pomiuion and of (his district, had addled Messrs Balme and Co. and Dalgety and Co., of London, upon the subject. The rej plies recehed by Mr weie as follow^:

From M.dsera Balma and Co:— <| ''The statement mada at the annual meeting of the Masterton branch of the New Zealand Farmers' Union is not in accordance with fact. We have, and have had for many years past, a very extensive experience of the London market, and we can as> ; Eert without hesitation that wool is not lotted or cased in London. New Zealand wools, both small and large clipg, are bought at our public sales, as well as in the New Zealand markets, by Bradford buyers, and are t carefully cased (sortedj for quality in Bradford, the qualities suitable for the American demand being shipped to the United States and the other sold to local consumers. Occasionally these case wools are sent up to London for sale, but we have never known them appearing in a catalogue under any recognised colo- i nial brand. There are also many speculators who buy woofs in the New Zealand local sales and re-class them for sale in the London market; these have their own brands, and we have never heard of their shipping the wools under the well-known brands of any growers. We can absolutely traverse the statement that th 3 wools dealt with in either of the ways described above are false-packed by putting inferior fleeces in tha centre of, the bale. This course, indeed, would defeat its own object, as the buyers of the falsepacked wools woald claim on the sellers for the loss incurred by them owing to dishonest packing, and their claims would certainly have to he met with/by the sellers. Further, the assertion that the London auction

buyers are only allowed tu look at

I the end of the bale i 3 quite erronejous; every bale offered for sale is l placed on the, show floor cut open, ! and the buyers are at liberty to pull | any bale down from the pile and examine it thoroughly if they wish to do so. The two New Zealand brands mentioned in the cutting we know well, and cannot bulietfe the statement that hundreds of inferior bales have beei sold under these brands. Although no instances where ecog nised brands have been misused have come under our observations, we think it would be an advantage to the trade if it were possible to register wool brands and make it a punishable offence lor any unauthorised person to use a brand so registered."

F:om Messrs Dalgety* and Co., Ltd., London:—"lt is very hard, if not impossible, for us to say that old tares with the well-known brands may not sometimes be re packed and offered in public sale, but we have ascertained from the broker who has sold the Brancepeth wool here this .year that no other wool except that belonging to Mr Hugh Beetham. has bsen sold in this market under the Brancepeth brand. Mr Sykes, also seems to be misinformed regarding the exhibition of wool on the sale floor here, aa every individual bale is shown in every lot and the buyer has perfect liberty to cut any baie open as much as he likes. Of course the bales are shown end on, and are usually cut open from the bottom, ao that unless there has been a deliberate attempt

to false pack the showing of the wool cannot be more fairly doi,e."

Mr Sykes stated that, upon the receipt of the above letters from Mr Stuckey he had communicated with his original informant, whose name he was not at liberty to mention, but who had replied:—"la 1907 1 came t3 New Zealand from Bradford. The firs'; experience I had waß the classifying, pressing up, and branding of 300 bales of wool for shipment to London. I was instructed to place good wocls top and bottom j of each bale and faulty wool, of the same quality, but fully worth twopence per pound less in value, in the centre. I was then instructed to brand the 200 bales "White Rock," the rest under other wellknown brands, including "Ersnce* peth.' " In answer to a question aa to how the bales were dealt with, the writer stated that they were cut open at each end. It would be impossible for the buyer to pull down and examine each bale when he had such a large' Jot to value in such a" limited time. They always took their impressions on that which was opened up for them to inspect, and placed their values accordingly. Mr Sykes also quoted from a speech made at Napier by Mr Herdmar, of the firm of Dalgety and .Co',.. to show''that it was the practice of unscrupulous speculators to buy wool and put' it up under another owner's brand, with tliS resultj that the owner of the brand did not get the full value for his clip. Mr Herdman had said that they "should protect the growers." He, Mr Sykes, had been referred x to Mr Walter Hill, the well-known Christchurch broker, for further information, but he had not yet had time to communicate with him. He was satisfied that unscrupulous dealers were causing an annual loss to owners of particular brands of wool. He had pleasure in moving that this branch support the remit of the Dominion -Conference.

Mr Cooper seconded the resolution, which was cunied unanimously.