The Press Friday, December 27, 1929. Wool Research.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19812, 27 December 1929, Page 8

The Press Friday, December 27, 1929. Wool Research.

We print a cable message to-day on our Commercial Page which ought to give some satisfaction to woolgrowers. It is a summary of the report of the British Research Association on the woollen and worsted industries, and although the chief recommendation is an appeal to the woolgrowers of the Dominions for £25,000 a year, it is encouraging that wool is at last receiving such earnest attention. If the contribution of the Dominions is devoted to " aiding the " marketing of wool," and to establishing the " undeniable superiority " of wool as a textile, the result in the long run should be an addition, not of thousands but of millions of pounds to the export trade of Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. It is fair enough also that the producing side of the industry should provide as much for advertising and research as is provided now by the manufacturers (if, of course, the money is spent in ways of which producers approve). But it is not quite certain that it is its " limited financial resources" which are the Association's chief difficulty. Although £25,000 is not nearly enough for the researches the Association is anxious to have carried out—the development of new manufacturing processes, experiments in nutrition, and research into the health value of wool fibres —what is wanted most of all is the creation of some really representative body through which the interests and claims of all sections of the industry might be co-ordinated. Wool has been falling steadily for more than a year, and the chief feature of the decline has been the weakness of the wools of finest grade. It has always been recognised, also, that when wool does begin to fall it falls farther and faster than the economic situation explains .or justifies, and that when it rises again it rises too far. These swings to extremes are not good for anybody, and one way to check them, and hold wool for a long time at something like a fair value, is to get it driven into the public mind that wool is a commodity for which there is no substitute at anything like the same price. If the Research Association can help to bring that about, wool-growers will contribute to its funds with great cheerfulness.