AUSTRALIAN "WOOL DERBY."

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20333, 4 September 1931, Page 19

AUSTRALIAN "WOOL DERBY."

I OLD TRADITION DYING. ■ In the clays of sailing clippers keen : interest was taken in the race;to the Continent each year with the first of ; the new season's Australian wool clip. Apart from the business aspect of the race, which was rendered important by the element of uncertainty regarding continuity of supplies, the romance of tho thing captured the imagination of sailormon and those who followed merchant shipping. Some famous names are associated' with tho rates. of the. -eighties and., 'nineties, namcis which..still a.w»Ko re-. s|xjnsivu chords in 'tho minds of shipping men. The Cutty Sark, tor example, most famous of aJI tho wool clippers, and her equally renowned rival. Thermopylae; The Tweed and the blackadder. But steamers at last made the running of clippers in the Australian wcol trade unprofitable, just as thev had forced them out of the China tea trade, for which most of the "flyers" had originally been built. Nevertheless, the tradition of the, race lived for many years, and steamers, though lacking the romance of' "white wings," still battled with each other across the Indian Ocean and through the Suea. To-day the tradi-' tion is dying, but dying hard. Tho' suggestion of anything in the nature* of a race or Dorby is frowned on by those 'in authority. It is pointed out that a race to the Continent is a costly business, and that the glory of, holding the record for the direct voy-' age from Sydney to Dunkirk is rtot', represented in concrete pounds, shillings, and pence. Of the eight or nine vessels oh the berth for the first wool sales of the season sit Sydney, which commenced' on Monday, at least three are sailing' direct from Sydney to tho Continent. The Commonwealth and Dominion Line freighter Port Bo wen will sail on September Btii for"Dunkirk and the <ier-rf man motor-ship Magdeburg; of the. Hamburg-Ainerika lime, on the same day for Antwerp. Their progress will be watched with iuterest, as the Port Bowen, a fast turbine-driven steamer, will be opposed to a modern and speedy motor-propelled vessel in the Magdeburg. This may develop iuto a straight-out race, although the ports of destination are not the same. The new Dutch motor-freighter Tawali, which uails for Dunkirk direct on September I.4th, nearly a week later, may intro-' duce the elements of a Derby. It is understood that the Holland-Australia) Line is anxious to see the vessel put up a new record for the journey. The Jilne Funnel motor-ship Doucalion, a, vessel of very similar design to the Tawali, will leave Sydney on the following day, but is understood to bo calling at other ports. Those who cling to tho tradition of a wcol race find cause for regret in the fact that neither tho .Commonwealth and Dominion Li tie motor-sliip Port Alma, which created a record for , the direct journey in 1929 and broke it last year, nor the Willi. Wilhelmscn' motorj ship Thermopylae, •which failed to bet- 5 i tor the Port Alma's-time last year, art on the berth on this occasion!; The Port Alma has just left Tampico; Mexico, with a cargo of asphalt foi" . New Zealand ports, and the Thermopylae is en route to the Continent, having loaded copra in the islands and general >'nrgo at Australian ports. The Willi. Wilhelmsen motor-ship Triton, a ve-sel completed shortly after the Thermopylae, is on the berth, but will not sail direct to Dunkirk.