Scoured v. Unscoured Wool.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3254, 12 July 1889, Page 2

Scoured v. Unscoured Wool.

Messrs Redferm, Alexander and Co., of London, have sent out the following circular:— There has been of late much discussion as to tho advisability or not of sending English wools to market in a washed or unwashed stato, and it has occurred to us that our friends in the Colonies would be interested in knowing the decision arrived at on this question by the Bradford Chamber of Commerce, the most important centre in this country of the wool industry. Through the courtesy of the (secretary of that Chamber wo are enabled to lay before our friends the following report which was unanimously adopted at a recent meeting of the Council of the Bradford Chamber of Commerce :

Previous to last year's sheepshearing season, letters appeared in tlio public papers and agricultural journals advising fanners to clip their flocks in the grease, As some letters were dated from Bradford, importance was attached to them as coming from the seat of consumption and thus the minds of many wool growers were unsettled. The effect was that last year's clip was by no means as well washed and got up as usual, and many clips contained more or less unwashed fleeces. This has proved both troublesome to the users and unprofitable to the farmers; consequently the whole subject has been referred to theßradford Chamber ol Commerce for solution, and for some months the Council, through the 'Wool Supply Committee, have been gathering information. In order to make themselves thoroughly acquainted with all the facts, a circular was printed and sent to nil the principal consumers of our English-grown wool, asking for their opinions as to the practical effect of clipping in the grease. To this appeal a large number of replies have been received, some "being pf a yery exhaustive character. 'ln these' replies the subject has been thoroughly argued, and as far as wool isconoemed

■■■*■ """' ' i »«w* , i ." the opinion oppressed by usorsy£ t B ;, overwhelming in favor of. washing/- : The Council of the Bradford Chamber' ■ ':[, of Commerce ah unanimous in theft Vopinion that from this point of view it \y.oitld be unprofitable and unwise ' to make any change. They aro guided in this opinion by the following considerations:—As in . most other commodities the competi-" fciou in the .wool trade is very keen, and tho trado is worked upon a very \ small margin of profit, The shrink- -< age of washed wool is much easier \JL to estimate than that of The grower of wool. is therefore-, much moro likely to obtoir. its exact, market vairjfcif it is washed than hewould Be '.£ the valuation were.' subject to the uncertainty attending . , I upon the shrinkage of unwashed wool. Tho practice of shearing in the grense, would increase the liability of slipshod work,, unci the iimount of duraago, to the trade arising from careless getting up of wool in the grease would be greater than at present, and would,, vary greatly between a dry and a wetk rdirty spring. It is admitted by users that in a largo majority of casev' English wool shorn •»> the greaso is an inferior-color, aud this fault is v intensified when the wool is stored for nnj length of time. The export of English wood amounts to nearly 24,050,000 lbs, or approaching to one fifthi of the production, This trade would bo seriously interfered with by any change, The export to the United States alone amounts to over 18,000,000 lbs, and as this pays a duty of ten cents per lb, washed-*;, unwashed, it is easy to see that ll} • oar tanners did not wash their sheep this export trade would come to an end, As a matter of fact no unwashed English wool is exported to America with the exception of the Scotch black-faced, a portion of which is shipped in the grease,. the reason boing that tho price is thus kept under Gd per lb, consequently it can be sout in at the lowest tariff rates, which are not applicable to pure-bwd, wdol. The question-of the of washing, which although it one for the consideration of is really of interest to tho entire trade, By ceasing to wash the sheep this expense would not be got rid of, but simply transferred, to reappear in the increasad cost of transport and other forms, There are many other minor points which need not be specified here, but which have received the earnest attention of tho Chamber. The discontinuance of the practice of sheep-washing hasnever been calhy'J for by the vast majority of the tradjft and the Chamber have devoted so much time aud attention to the subject in order to stttle tho question exhaustively and finally, and to provide the growers of wool with au authoritativeexpressionoftheopinion of the trade, an opinion which for tho future cannot bo misunderstood. Having, therefore, as the mouthpiece of the consumers, gladly discharged \ this duty, for tho benefit of all parties who are interested in wool, the Chamber has no intention of re-opening or re-discussing the-j subject, While the opinion of tlio'ja above chamber is overwhelming in favour of continuing to wash sheep ■ before shearing, we readily realise that as far as Australasian woolgrowers are concerned there are ■ many points to be considered (such as the water capability of the station and oxpenses attached to tho washing) which do not enter into the calculations of English farmers, Our brokers, on this, agree with us in stating that Colonial wool in ,&y grease meets with a much morT extensive demand than when io has been scoured or washed, not only from English buyers, but also from the French, German, and American, and wools in the grease are not subject to what might be called the spasmodic demands there aro at times for washed wools.