OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 273, 11 August 1908, Page 10

OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER.

THE PROPOSED FEDERAL WOOL EXHIBITION. VIEWS OF CONSUMERS. (FROl! OUR SrECIAIi CORRESPONDENT.) Bradford, July 20. We have read with considerable interest (ho proposal Id establish a federal wool contost put forth by the able secretary of the Now South Wales Sheepbrccders' Association, and consider it a 20tli century development. Naturally it appeals supremely- to the woolgrowers of Australia, and the big breeders should encourage tho movement. The subjcct lias been well thrashed out in tho Australian Press, but a few thoughts from tho standpoint of the consumer should now bo put forward. Pre-eminently tho idea before tho promoter of the scheme is an educative one, and in my opinion that is the loftiest ideal of all. Very many wool users view with alarm tho breaking up of tho very stations which have mado Australia what it is as a merino wool producing country. In twenty years' time, if the policy of cutting up farms is pursued at tho [Same rapid rato we have seen during the last iiyo years, then there will be very few big clips left. Putting on to those small holdings simply ordinary, rank and file farmers who, in tho majority of cases, are not sheep enthusiasts, will mean that they will keep a class of sheep of very ordinary type, with a consequent suffering in the quality and general characteristics of sound wool. I am not among those who behove that any one State in the Commonwealth has yet reached, finality in sheep and wool production, and such an exhibition of ileeces gathered from every part of tho Commonwealth cannot but bo very educativo in its inlluenco ou the rising generation of sheep-breeders * Naturally those interested will wonder how such a be regarded from this ond of the world, 'but wliilo it cannot appeal to users like it will to growers, still to those who are going to bo our future topmakers, spinners, and manufacturers, such an exhibit, say, displayed at tho Bradford Technical College, Leeds University, or the Huddersfleld Technical College, could not fail but bo a wonderful source of knowledge to the coming users of Australian wool, it's all right enough gaining technical instruction on the wool and textile trades, but a man is all tho better for having practical experience top, and a wool show where the fleeces could be examined and explained in every detail would be a wonderful means of mental improvement to tho rising consumers of wool. Tho writer has one of the best collections of Australian wools of anybody in Yorkshire; but there is no source in this country that could be tapped where a representative collection could be found of the best stud ileeces which aro being grown in tho Commonwealth, Wo have hold the view for years that oven wool users have not the intimate knowledge of woolgrowing conditions and tho various types of wool Australasia. is producing which they should have, the whole and sole concern of users being to buy the! wools of the Commonwealth, and 'to make money out of tho same. With practically everybody the question of £ s. d. is tho Alpha and Omega of their traffic, in wool, but it is open to question if a more practical and comprehensive knowledge of the various types of Australian wool would not bo of material benefit to the manufactures of England, tho Continent, and America.

"FULL OF POSSIBILITIES." Such'a federal wool contest is full of possibilities if such a show could be sent on tour through Far Eastern markets in particular. If tho teeming millions of China and Japan could be brought to seo what possibilities there are in the manufacture of wool, it would mean tho opening of a new and progressive chapter for the wools of . Australasia and'tho Cape. My view is that at present that is tho part of the world that needs schooling .tho most. Slowly but surely the Far East is copying English methods and stylo and dress, but cottons have been worn for so long that tho old custom is dying hard. Tliero is being done an increasing trade between Bradford and Japan in both wool and tops, but there is still room for a large dovolopment, and more particularly in China. . There is, therefore, something to bo said in favour of this federal wool contest advertising the possibilities of tho trado in the raw material, and even in India and the Straits_ Settlements, as well as Central Asia, there is room for showing to advantage tho class of wools that tho Cominonwealeth of Australia and tho Dominion of . New Zealand can grow.

Wo have maintained hero for years that an Australian wool show for South Africa would do an immense amount of good, and the writer was tho first to' suggest that tlio New South Wales fleeces which were first shown at Sydney, then in London, andwhich came to. Bradford, should be sent out' to South Africa to make a tour of all the agricultural shows. Only the' Capo sheep. farmers who have been to London wool sales ,and Australia have any conception l of tho wools grown in the Commonwealth, and for' stud purposes alone such an exhibit would bo the direct means of causing good sales of first-class sheep. For years the writer has advocated in tho best South African papers that only,, Australian sheep could improro tho character and stylo of their wool, and now that a progressive policy lias been inaugurated, a show, of .fifty ,to one hundred typical fleeces from the leading studs in the Commonwealth would excito that interest which would .find expression -in a greater call for Australian stud sheep. ' A 'federal wool' contest would do an immense amount of good, and where it.would end no man can tell.

A REPBESENTATIVE .COLLECTION.' News, comes to hand by this week's Australian mail that the proposed federal wool exhibition is to includo crossbreds, and this is a wise decision. Tliero is 110 reason in the world why typical ilecces of every known breed produced in Australasia should not be included, and perhaps a few fleeces of merino from Cape Colony and crossbreds from the Eiver Plato would add interest to such ah exhibition. It would at least show breeders in the Commonwealth and New Zealand what' their competitors were doing in other countries, and we venture to say that general surprise be expressed at some of tho wools which are' being grown in Cape Colony, but more cspccially in tho crossbreds from the Argentine. To tho writer's mind, the very conception of getting together a representative display of the best fleeces grown in the loading wool countries named will have an educational value that cannot be overestimated, and ho unhesitatingly says that such a show will bo incompleto if crossbreds are not staged. When in tho days of slump we see Victorian halfbreds selling at Is. Gld. per lb., as was tho case last January, aid Now Zealand crossbreds at. over a shilling, such wools are worth being seen by anv man interested in sheep breeding, and the owners of these flocks have only to be nsked for sample fleeces, wlion they will readily accede to tho demand. It is certain with tho splitting up of largo stations, that small farmers will, in tho future, go in for keeping sheep of crossbred character, this being the custom in all countries where mixed farming is practised. It is imperative that tho right class.of animal be kept, and the exhibition of real typical crossbred fleeces should do something towards inducing the small farmer to produce the best,

. A SLIGHT IMPROVEMENT. Things in Bradford hardly wear that depressed and quiet attitude ivhich has lately been apparent, though there is nothing whatever- to boast of. During the past week somo nice sales have quietly taken place, mostly in merinos, and beneath the surface thero is probably moro business doing than what soma want to givo credit for. There is plenty of room for _ marked improvement, and a vast change will have to come over things beforo oither topmakers, spinners, or manufacturers can bo said to be at all busy, but for all that the depression is nothing like so acute, and more business has been done. The bulk of it is in small quantities, but sales havo been moro frequent, and spinners aro taking up 'their old contracts with better grace. There is a moro hopeful feeling in regard to merinos, aud stocks aro in no sense heavy, Iu several cases since I last wrote fine topmakers havo put up their price id for GO's and Gi's, the combing results out of last series being anything but satisfactory. This really is a move of self defence, and made mostly by thoso who were foolish enough to sell at 19.U1. to 20d. for_ their standard super GO's Mora the Mav series opened. TJieso have been badly hit, anil they have made up their, mind that (hey are going to have a paying prico on nil new sales, otherwise do no business. I don't.think that at the onhanced prices topmakers havo done much business, but they aro not how disposed to work on the small margins which we have latoly seen. Topmakers aro not goin." to havo their hands tied when the July sales come round, and to this end they aro unwilling sellers unless tho prico offered is to them satisfactory. Somo liieo weights of wool havo lately been sold in the scoured state to the Continent mostly in 4G's to 50's quality. This is indicative of a slight improvement abroad, and it is now generally felt , that tho worst is passed. Also more has been doing in iG's tops, and alj though stocks aro fairly heavy, still no lower prices-are named. In tho case of 40's, 10(1 is | still the selling price of a good standard combing. but there is a general agreement that trade here is extremely quiet. It j? veailv surprising what a slack state of affairs'obtains ill coarse crossbreds, tho Continent doing verv I little jndocdi b