Valuable wool collection now at Lincoln

Press, 20 November 1981, Page 16

Valuable wool collection now at Lincoln

The wool science department at Lincoln College has come into possession of a very valuable collection of early New Zealand wool from the flocks of some of the great foundation breeders of the country.' The collection was made about the turn of the century or in the early years of the present century and presented to the Gear Meat Company at Petone in 1906 by the Department of Agriculture. It is believed to have been a feature of the international exhibition held in Christchurch in 1906. From a Canterbury point of view a matter of particular interest is the representation of Corriedale wools because of the numbers of these sheep in the province. At the time that the collection was made the Corriedale had actually not been officially recognised as a breed. 1906 was the year that volume two of the New Zealand Sheepbreeders’ Association’s flock book (South Island) was issued and it included an appendix recording experiments being made to fix a type of “inbred halfbred’’ sheep by several flockmasters of the time. The samples of Corriedale wool are associated with names still revered in the Corriedale world. They include J. Stringfellow (Chertsey), W.D. and G. D. Greenwood (Amberley), C. H. Ensor (Rangiora), J. Little (Dalmeny Park, Woodgrove), R. Johnstone (Motuataraia, Hawke’s Bay) and the New Zealand and Australian Land Company (Moeraki, Otago). The origin of the move to Lincoln of the samples, mounted on cards with details of their breed and type and origin and in a display cabinet, goes back _ about three and a half year's. When Mr L. T. Clare, a

senior appraiser with the Wool Research Organisation at Lincoln, was involved in a project on slipe wool that required that he call at all freezing works around the country, Mr Dick Speed, the by-products manager at Gear, approached him about where a good home might be found for the Gear collection. Mr Clare recalls that when he saw the collection, including the representation of Corriedale wools, it seemed to him that Lincoln College would be an ideal site for it. The former head of the wool science department at the college, Professor A. E. Henderson, he says, was enthusiastic about the idea. Dr B. R. Wilkinson, now acting head of the department, in a letter to Gear Meat Processing Ltd, indicated his department’s interest in presenting and preserving the collection and in due course the company agreed to hand it over to the college on permanent loan. The display cabinet with glass front and containing some 90 samples of wool from about 13 different sheep breeds — Merino, Corriedale, Border Leicester Merino, Down, crossbred, Romney, Lincoln Merino, Romney Merino, Lincoln, English Leicester, English Leicester Merino and Romney cross — reached the college about the middle of the year. Refurbished and with an appropriate plaque recording its uniqueness and origin, it is now located in the foyer between two sections of the wool science department in the Burns wing at the college. The case in which the samples were mounted had been painted and in the refurbishing of the collection this has been removed to reveal a handsome cabinet made of kauri. The samples were all removed and after dusting and vacuuming and treatment with an insecticide have been remounted on their original cards in their original positions but using new tapes. It was felt any other attention to the samples might affect their character and style. After consultations with various authorities it was also decided to leave the cards alone. However, a new red backing material has been placed in the cabinet to show the wools off to best advantage. Colour photographs of the display, as it now is, have been taken for forwarding to the meat company. Dr Wilkinson says that the display contains a great deal of information and history about the base wools of the New Zealand wool industry, but adds that they are sorry that they do not know more about these wools. However, it is hoped that this shortcoming can in due course be put right as the result of further research and investigation. People conversant with wool like Mr J. C. Simpson, senior lecturer in wool

science at the college, are impressed with the state of the samples after nearly 80 years. Most, be says, are perfect, apart from perhaps a little fading. A point that has been made by knowledgeable observers is that some of the Border Leicester and Corriedale samples are very similar to the wools that are grown today. However, these wools came from the bigger, more influential and competent breeders of that time and Professor Henderson has commented that there is probably greater consistency in breeding now so that there would now be more of the

top type of wool and it would probably also be a little better than that of 70 to 80 years ago. Some other interesting comments have been made about the samples compared with wools produced today. The Romney wool is seen as somewhat finer, but Professor Henderson says that it is very much like the Romney wool produced in its home country in Kent in England. These samples were collected in a period when farmers were moving away from the basic Merino ewe and crossing other breeds with the Merino. It has been noted that

there have also been changes in the Merino too. Selection has moved in the direction of a higher yielding wool with less grease and with people also pre-lamb shearing Merino sheep the fleece is shorter during the summer. Today’s sheep men with an interest in wool will find this collection an absorbing one. The names of Corriedale breeders represented in the collection have been mentioned already. South Island names associated with the other samples are: Merino: C. Goulter (Hawkesbury, Marlborough), J. H. Smith (Albury, Canterbury), Monro Bros (Bankhouse Station. Marlborough),

Watson Shennan (Puketoi, Otago) and W. Telford (Waiwera, South Otago). Border Leicester Merino: James Ross (Palmerston, Otago). Crossbred: James Begg (Clinton, Otago). Romney: W. Telford (Waiwera* South Otago) and V/. G. Ladbrook (Gore, Southland). Lincoln Merino: Sir George Clifford (Christchurch, Canterbury) and G. P. Johnson (Waikaka, Gore). Romney Merino: W. M. Telford (Waiwera, South Otago) and J. P. Mclntyre (Gore, Southland). English Leicester: E. Kelland (Tiinaru). Border Leicester: D. M. Sutherland (Waimate, South Canterbury), the trustees John Douglas estate (Mount Royal, Palmerston, Otago) and Donald Grant (Elloughton Grange, Timaruj. English Leicester Merino: J. E. P. Cameron (Glen-iti, Timaru) and M. Bethell (Culverden). Romney cross: A. W. Rutherford (Parnassus, Canterbury).