ROMANCE OF WOOL

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20089, 19 November 1930, Page 16

ROMANCE OF WOOL

OUTPUT PROM AUSTRALIA. RISE TO SUPREMACY. Professor S. H. Roberts, of SydneyUniversity, addressing members of the Royal Australian Historical Society recently, dealt with the rise to supremacy of Australian wools. He said that just when the English fine wools were losing ground aiul when Germany had usurped the place of Spain in dominating the wool position, Australia commenced to export. "Botany Bay wool,'' from being a curiosity, became a rival to the German monopolists in the 'thirties, and with only a penny-a-pound preference in the English market, forged ahead year by year in the 'forties. By 1850 Australia had quite ousted Germany from the English market and was even dumping wool into Germany in large quantities. Many firms were turning to Australia in preference to Saxonv as car!v as 1845, because no wool could compete with the Australian for length, fineness and resilience of staple, in 20 years Australia had advanced from sending one-tenth as much wool as Germany sent to England to despatching nearly five times as much, the distance and higher working costs notwithstanding. -Moreover, this victory was accomplished iD face of the change to free trade in England and the great reduction of wool from the 3.s 6d of the 'thirties to a Shilling and less. After the crisis of 1842-43 Australia, said Professor Roberts, was faced with a problem of reconstruction, which she met by reducing costs of production, balancing lier Budget, curtailing developmental expenditure, icducing wages to what the industry could bear and. in general, changing her conditions to bring them into harmony with the world 7)osition. The lesson was hard, particularly when wool slumped to lOld a lb, but the facts brooked no evasion. During this period, too, organised selling first took place, both in Aus tralia and England. Auctions were started in the colony; there was a move from Garraway's coffee house to the Royal Exchange in London; and there was a long newspaper campaign for tho appointment of a permanent agent to study the needs of each manufacturing

district in England and divert shipments accordingly. Finally in the colony methods were changing. Crossbred sheep were coming, tlock shepherding was going and enclosed runs were first heard of. In every way the 'forties saw the rise to paramountcy and the consequent reorganisation of the Australian wool trade.