Wool Mishandled In Shed

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30811, 24 July 1965, Page 9

Wool Mishandled In Shed

Criticism of shoddy work in wool sheds and a plea for : a national survey on wool ■ handling and preparation were made by Mr R. A. Weber, North Island vicepresident of the Federation of New Zealand Wool Merchants, in Rotorua last week. He was addressing a conference organised by the Department of Agriculture, in conjunction with the Rotorua and Districts Agricultural Club. ■’Fully 20 per cent of our national clip is grossly mishandled in the shed,” said Mr Weber. “The handling and preparation of our dip is not improving with modern practice. In point of fact, it is probably deteriorating. The users of our wood are far from happy with many aspects which concern its handling at the primary end, Complaints from many quarters are sour and bitter. “We spend vast sums on wool promotion. This is a most necessary expenditure, but if our work before shipment is careless, haphazard and far from fully efficient to the point where our overseas clients are soured, we will never obtain full value for the money being expended on promotion. “For wool to compete successfully with its competitors, the manufacturers must essentially have the will to use wool, and, to have the will, they must have the incentive. In other words, they must be able to make money more readily from wool than from its competitors. It is apparent that one of the distinct advantages held by synthetics over wool is its perfect presentation and readiness for manufacture, and, in this respect, wool leaves a great deal to be desired.

“It is essential that a marked improvement should take place in the get-up and handling of wool. If this is not tackled with imagination and ability, we have one more nail in the coffin of economic wool prices and one more reason why there is a distinct possibility that the great chemical combines may swamp wool in much the same way as silk was swamped by nylon. “ 'Near enough’ is the general attitude. Unless the marketing system provides proper and efficient incentives, many farmers, being human, will continue to leave it to the other man to look after the fibre in its great combat with the synthetics. “Our method of marketing necessitates systems of grading, which, in no way means that the bulk of wool reaches the manufacturer in a form which he finds pleasing. “You are well aware that wool should always be shorn dry but, from experience, I would say that at least two men out of five of those present have, consciously or unconsciously, shorn wool containing excessive moisture to be sold subsequently in its greasy state. "And, because of the stress of shearing, difficulty in obtaining shed staff and lack of incentive not to do so, at least two out of five of you, when circumstances seem to necessitate, will continue to shear wool which is not fully dry. “After three months or so, excessive moisture causes a distinct deterioration in both colour and tensile strength. It 1 is no wonder that excessive ’ moisture in wool has a most ' debilitating effect upon manu- ' facturers’ goodwill towards 1 our fibre. And the goodwill 1 of the manufacturer is essen- • tial in effective promotion of , wool. i “Wool should be packed so that when the bales are open-

ed for inspection a representative sample is shown. Yet, too frequently, lines of wool are not well represented by the sample on display. “Good fleece wool should be skirted and it pays to sort second-shear wool. There is only one place where wool can be skirted and sorted economically and effectively and that is in the shearing shed. “Such things as string in wool, pen stain, dag contamination and brands all lead to a deterioration in the position of wool in relation to synthetics. The whole structure of the industry is being partly undermined by a combination and aggregation of these defects.

“Good promotion starts in the sheds and one of these days we will be forced to devise means whereby shed work is adequately rewarding and whereby there are distinct disincentives for shoddy work.”