A wool man passes

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33964, 3 October 1975, Page 6

A wool man passes

It has been said that no-one knew the New Zealand wool dip better or walked more miles between the show bales than Mr Graeme Gordon Anderson, who died recently in Wellington. Mr Anderson — known as '‘Ben” to the wool trade — was for 17 years chief appraiser for the New Zealand Wool Commission. The commission and its successor, the Wool Marketing Corporation. appraises every lot offered at auction — about 140,000 lots a year.

Supervising the work of his appraisal team, Mr Anderson was a constant visitor to every wool store in the country/ Born in New Zealand, he trained in Yorkshire with the firm of Sir James Hill and Sons. Returning to New Zealand he joined Walter Hill and Sons, woolbuyers, in Christchurch in 1926, working with them until the war. Mr Anderson then became an appraiser for the “commandeer” — the wartime purchasing arrangement. At the war’s end, he was chief appraiser for the Wool Disposals Commission, which sold the wartime stockpile. When the commission wound up, he joined the new Wool Commission in 1951. He retired in 1968. With the late Mr George Duncan (chairman) and Mr J. G. McDonald, secretary, Mr Anderson made up the triumvirate which for many years administered the floor price policy. “He was one of the old school,” says the present managing director of the Wool Marketing Corporation. Mr H. L. M. Peirse. “He was meticulous in everthing he did. He knew from nearly 30 years in the trade what the implications are when an over-all organisation like the commission makes a move in any direction. So he was cautious, and very reasonable in his dealings with the trade. He was greatly respected and a good colleague.”