ENGLISH WOOL TRADE.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18074, 16 May 1924, Page 10

ENGLISH WOOL TRADE.

ROMNEY STRAIN IN NEW

ZEALAND. (raoH oux ovnr coußßSforonv.) LONDON, April 8. . With the finish of the wool sales in Coleman interest now centres in consuming circles, and the trade is commencing a longer vacation with an absence of public sales than has been the case since the Armistice. The final sales of B.A.W.K.A. crossbreds will be held at Liverpool on May Ist and 2nd, when 44,000 bales will be offered, and the third series of London sales will commence on May 6th. The trade is very curious to know what quantity may be expected to be available, and in' all probability it will be no more than at the recent series.

The trade is fully alive to the certainty that the quantity of wool to be catalogued in Coleman street this year will be very much less than during any of the past four years (writes the special correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph"). The B.A.W.K.A.'s huge stock of old wool has proved to be a real Btand-by in the market, but as that stock has been absorbed, London selling brokers are confronted with circumstances never before experienced. This is due to Australian, New Zealand, and South African growers marketing their clips at home, and only at a time like the present can the fact be brought home to growers that they have lost heavily by not consigning their clips to Coleman street? for disposal. No doubt they made full current values of the day when they sold, but the profits made during the recent auctions were fabulous, particularly on Queensland. Bcoureds. Some of the deep broadhaired South Australian wools did not sell as well as might have been expected, but this was largely due to South Australian merinos having depreciated so seriously in quality as to put out of court practically all Continental competition, and with' the merino end of the trade in Bradford being anything but great these wools •rather hung fire. However, the position is very sound and healthy. There is a steady, continuous consumption, which is quite sufficient to lift all the wool available, and Boston dealers appear to be so favourably impressed with the position of wool in London that big' weights are being consigned for re-sale at the forthcoming auctions. It may be taken that the worsted section of the industry must be very badly employed, otherwise these combing wools would never be sent back for realisation in a British selling centre.

The Eomney Strain. Mr F. A. Aykroyd, the president of the Bradford Chamber of Commerce, has been speaking on the subject of the Komney ram. in fhe flocks of New Zealand. It will be remembered that this matter was brought to the attention of Mr Massey when he visited Bradford last year. The chief complaint against the ef : fects of the. Bomney cross is that it produces wool containing four or five qualities of fibre in staple, or consisting of staples made up of fibres which, while being coarse and wiry at the .base, diminish towards the tip by several qualities.. Consequently, it* is alleged, these coarse i fibres stand out' in the yarn, to which they will not '' bed in'' : with the others. It is also Btatefl that the wool of the Komney cross contains a large proportion of dead fibres which lack absorptive quality, thd result being that they .will not take dye.' It is remarkable,, if they are -\ well founded,'that such sweeping complaints against New 2fealand woblhave not been heard before, and the circumstances would,, suggest excess of zeal,, if not lack of judgment, but Mr Aykroyd explains the absence of any complaint up to recently by stating that the effects of the breeding from Komney have not hitherto shown themselves with such prominence as latterly. He. maintains, however, ithat • the breeding defects no-, ticeable in the. wool are now getting so intermixed with the various flocks that it is hardly possible to escape'them, and this is the fact which is causing alarm in Bradford. Mr Aykroyd alleges, that the Hawke's Bay district is being "ruined by the. Bomney." As a rule, he states, the Eomney tends to lightness and high yield of fleece, with-a minimum. amount of grease, which always helps prices, but the Hawke's Bay district wools, he says, are Mnota patch" on what they wore 25, years ago. ' • According to the. Bradford critic of New Zealand's sheep-breeding policy, the districts jOf th* Dominion in which the Komney is favoured will carry any sort of sheep, and he suggests that the Eomney: should be' abandoned in favour of the Wensleydale, the Corriedale, or the Nottingham sheep producing the Nottingham wether, which he contends is much superior.t° the Komney. On tnift subject ,the Trade Specialist Of. the Bradford f'Daily Telegraph" says'- there are increasing complaints about Australian pastoralists lowering the quality of - their wools. Undoubtedly the great keenness to produce a big, hardy sheep has resulted in the qua'lity of many clips depreciating so .much that it cannot be called more than 60' a. It is high time Australian pastoralists realised that, merino wool should not be below good 64.s quality, and this point needs urging throughout the whole of the Commonwealth.