YORKSHIRE LETTER.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1431, 4 May 1912, Page 13

YORKSHIRE LETTER.

TUENING FLEECES TO THE BEST POSSIBLE ACCOUNT. (From Our Special Correspondent) Bradford, March 22. When one comes to look carefully over a fleece, and to allocate its different qualities to tho best possible purposes, one cannot but be impressed by the large number of different avenues into which tho raw material is going. This week I have bad placed in my hands a sample of tho finest top produced in Bradford. The firm making it has a reputation to lose, and I must admit that it would be at least 100's quality. I am not eoin;? to dilate upon this combed article, out it is getting scarcer and scarcer, and what the firm in question will do when it can no longer produce this superior top I cannot say. Of course-, their sorters luiv« to pick out a handful here and there when an extra fine fleece comes on to the board, for SO's to 100's quality wool is only grown to-day in a few instances, and is nothing less than a speciality. As I have repeatedly said, changed manufacturing conditions demand to-day a big production of medium quality wool, say 64's to 70's, and when we get to tho higher counts, only certain flocks from certain districts in Australia will give them. Somebody said tho other day that _ if manufacturers desire these specialities, they should be prepared to pay special prices, and in some cases they do. My own view is that I cannot see much chance of any low-cr values being paid for tho super fine wools, for the quantity is bound to get less and less as time goes on- Therefore, for those who will stick to breeding and rearing those super fine merinos, I certainly think that good paying prices will bo forthcoming. Let the reader bear in mind that these remarks do not apply to wools of 70's quality, but refer more directly to such fleeces as are from 80's to 100's. Certain fabrics will always be produced where price does not enter into the question at all, it being tho articlo that is wanted, rogardless of the cost of the raw material from which it is made, SCOURED VERSUS GREASY WOOLS. It is a well-known fact that when the Japaneso enterod tho Sydney market as . buyers of wool they showed special preference for scoured descriptions, and confined their operations exclusively to that class of raw material. While the demand lasted, Sydney scourers of skin and fleece wools benefited considerably, but to-day they never touch a single bale. .Why? Simply because tho Japanese manufacturers have learnt that it does not take scoured wool, worth 21d. per lb. to make army and other averago lines of woollen and worsted fabrics. There is a very important point in this statement, which applies directly both to tho grower and the manufacturer. Somo tremendous weights of raw material aro used in clothing the armies of the world, particularly those of Great Britain, France, Germany, and tho United States. The reason for this is that the various Governments insist upon turning out their officers and men in tho best woollen fabrics that can possibly bo produced. But let us go back to tho statement that Japanese buyers are no longer purchasing scoureds, but greasy wool. This is but a natural evolution of things in the woollen and worsted indusI tries. Evidently Japanese mill-owners have installed new scouring machines, which are absolutely essential in every woollen factory in the world. They have also sent their sous to tho Leeds and Bradford Technical Schools to spend tiro or four years in going through every department. Consequently the young men have gone home well qualified to see wool through every stage of manufacture. They know as well as any Yorkshire millowner that no manufacturing plant can be complete which is not able to take wool as it comes from the sheep's t back, sort and scour it, and then turn it out as cloth ready for the wearer. That is really tho sum and substance of tho development of the Japanese woollen and worsted industry, and when the Chinese begin to manufacture their own textilo ' fabrics, they, too, will require the same machines. UTILISING THE INFERIOR PARTS OF A FLEECE. Some day I hope to give a chapter on sorting ' wool, but every practical woolgrower and mill-man knows that as a tleoco comes from tho sheep's back it varies considerably in quality, length, and condition. No man would think ol putting the britch with tho shoulder wool if ho wero engaged in producing even on average lino of -fabrics, bene© arises tho necessity for sorting all ficeces. Australian squatters are to-day so expert in this work that tho majority take the trouble to skirt the fleeces, and remove the britch, belly, and neck. Theso different classes are baled separated, thus assisting the buyer in his work" of valuation. Whoever instituted the proper method of skirting and classing tho various parts of a shorn fleeco ought to be honoured, and well deserves recognition as one-of the pioneers of the Australian wool industry, lnere are many buyers who frequent the various selling centres in tho world who want combing wools, others desire pieces 6ome broken, and others locks. I could name several firms who are very important buyers of colonial merinos who manufacture fabrics exclusively made from locks, and DO per cent, of their purchases consist ol this special description. Those who make tops pass by every bale of locks, simply becauso they are useless Jor that purpose. Here we have one reason why, Japanese buyers now secure greasy combing wools •while English manufacturers of army •'oods also purchase somo fairly big weights of good broken, necks, and sound pieces. Let no reader think for a moment, that such useful descriptions of wool as broken pieces, necks, and bellies do net make good cloth; in fact, some of the smartest ladies' costume cloths which are on the market to-day are "all-wool, and aro made purely and simply from the locks to which I have already referred, those who aro not familiar with carbonised locks, that is, locks from which every particle of shiv, seed, and burr ha 3 been removed, would hardly believe tne appearance they present when the short-stapled fibres are opened out on tho carding machine, and when the wool is afterwards spun it produces a very good yarn indeed. '•■ •* Good shafty necks, broken and pieces are, of course, more bulky than locks, and if sound are admirably suited for producing good fabrics. I do not know the conditions insisted upon-by the Japanese War Office respecting the strength of the cloths they buy for army purposes, but the British Governnient have some high tests, ana before it is passed for use every piece is tested by a. specially constructed machine, which shows at once the breaking point of the warp and weft employed in making the piece in question. *