WOOL TRADE RESEARCH

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 107, 7 May 1924, Page 17

WOOL TRADE RESEARCH

EFFECT OF CLIMATE AND

HERBAGE

SOME INTERESTING EXPERI-

ME NTS

(PROM'OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

LONDON, 22nd March

An investigation of the physical properties of Australian wool, which has just been completed: in Bradford, promises to have far-reaching effects, and has resulted in discoveries of special interest to the pastoralists of the Commonwealth, and all engaged in the production and sale.of this staple commodity. 'Some very remarkable conclusions have been, reached regarding the effects of soil, herbage, and climate upon the characteristics of wool, as the result of a research undertaken by the Bradford Textile Society, with the assistance. of the staff of the Textile Department of Bradfor.d Technical College. ,

A Wool trade expert contributes an article; on the subject to "The British Australian arid New.Zealander."-. In the wool industry (says this writer) raw material is graded into qualities accordinoto the sort of top, or combed, avool it will produce, and. identified by numeral descriptions, such as 80's, 70's,- 64's, etc to mention a few examples', applied to" mermo. These descriptions : are ■ sufficiently. definite as regards the ' spinnin R results,to be obtained from any given grade c: top. . A spinner, foi- instance, buying 64's ..knows what quantity of yarn: ; he,may expect to obtain from a pound_of the top, but it has,long been recognised in some quarters that spinning results and the ultimate effects produced .in woven goods are not necessarily indicated by the technical description of the cunbed wool. ' ;

The problem which the research was undertaken to solve, therefore, was tho result in the cloth of the physical difference between wools, which, although geii.erally; described .as though they are identical; are produced in different States of' Australia, .and which,, it was presumed, would show, in the cloth the effects of the characteristics derived from the soil, climate, and herbage of tVie territories in. which the raw material■ is grown. ; ■..:•'■: ■„' ". ,:

The .Bradford Technical College staff, and a committee of experts, has completed an elaborate test of the difference between merino wool of 64's quality grown-in oeritral\ ...Queensland , and in South-Australia. ■' The wools employed in the research' were quantities of the welLknowri marks ''Malvern Hills" (Central Queensland)' and "Hope / Para" (South. Australian), which were; washed, combed.i and 'spun at the .Technical College/ arid woven into dress' serges, and dyed and finished one of the local firm's. Although theoretically .the two wools oi identical quality: should produce fabrics in all ways; similar, actually the. cloths. are materially, different.

AN ADVANTAGE TO QUEENSLAND.

. In. tlie opinion of the members of Ihe committee ■who have'been supervising tHeresearchL,- it has proved conclusively 't'.at a superior fabric is obtainable from : t c 64's quality grown in Central Queensl;;hd. As the wools employed are merino :oi';nearly, the .highest ;grddej it would, of 'coursej ■■' be' absurd to maintain that7 the cloth from the, South Australian ■ staple is not: a good. fabric.- Such is riot the inference'to be drawn from the result of the investigation, which 'admittedly does not disparage . South Australian. LWool.;, The,more accurate way of indicating the result would be to say that'of the two excellent Botany . cloths manufactured, the better of them is the one made from the Central Queensland woolj'which has !a finer handle, and a more uniform appearance.1/ In order to-carry the teat; to a conclusion that would leave nothing to chance, the'promoters of the research submitted the cloths to a number of pedple representative of'those who, in the normal course of business, would pronounce judgment upon the wool products of the industry. The fabrics wero inspected by- a number of wholesale and retail buyers of cloth; commercial travellers in the. cloth trade, and'also a number df.ladiesj having, of course, no" technical knowledge, all ■of • whom selected upon the grounds of commercial judgment and personal taste the cloths mads from, the Queensland wool as being tho better' of the two. _ .: . \ Another phase of the experiment waa ;the of the' effect of, blending with examples of each of these wools a quantity'of-58's comeback -wopl-produced in- Victoria. This experiment confirmed the; results . obtained . in1 the original reseafchj as cloths made from the blend of South : Australian arid Victorian shows traces of a certain uneveriness of appearance to be noted in the fabric produced from South-Australian woolalone, which suggests that this wool possesses a certain characteristic due to the soil, herbage, and climate of the States, absent in the Queensland staple. . . : Manipulating the wools and the blended raw-material under exactly similar conditions, some; 18oz coating ' cloths were, also manufactured, and the results obtained' emphasise the conclusions arrived at by the manufacture of the dress serges. COMPABATIVE COST. ' " '". The question of comparative cost, of course, is so vital that the 'research would havebeen incomplete without data upon this matter. The results obtained in this connection are striking and iru--portant. • It would, be natural to assume, that the superior cloth involved the use of the more expensive wool, but one of the paradoxes of the wool trade is illustrated in the fact tliat just the opposite was proved. It is true that the Central Queensland wool was dearer •„ upon the basis of first cost, >but this, of course, is not conclusive. On account of the higher yield of the Queensland wool it was 'relatively cheaper than the South Australian, which costs less in the first instance, so the remarkable fact is that the cloth adjudged . the better of the two was made from the cheaper raw,' material. . The experts who have been conducting the research are of opinion that the difference between the soil, herbage, and climate of Queensland and South Australia is such that in the event of flocks of identical breed being introduced to these States, those settled in Queensland would eventually supply wool of an improved quality as compared with those pastured in South Australia. Thero can be little , doubt that as the results of the research become more widely known substantial consequences to thd advantage ,of the .. Queensland wool-growing industry may be expected to follow.