WOOL BALES

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 101, 29 October 1924, Page 14

WOOL BALES

NEW MATERIAL NEEDED

IS THE JUTE PACK DOOMED?

(PROM OUR OWN COBRESPOXDEST.)

LONDON, 11th September. I Anyone who took part in the Wool-1 ' growers' Conference at Bradford this week will be inclined to admit that the days of jute bales for packing wool are numbered. The fifteen New Zealand representatives and the fifty sheepowners from Australia and South Africa had an opportunity of seeing the girls at work in tho Saltairo Mills laboriously extracting tho jute fibres from the flnj ished fabrics. There is not a jute fibre jin the material every fow yards but two ior three in every few feet. Tho fino i undyod vegetable fibres, it is true, can be picked out ' fairly easily with fine pmces, but it takes time to go through a roll of material, To the mere novice in the business tho use of the jute bale, if this is the result, does not seem merely inadvisable. It seems ridiculous, if a harmless substitute can be found. The Bradford manufacturers maintain they havo found a substitute in a pack made of wool. j Several had been made, and those were thoroughly examined and pulled about by > tho visitors. Mr. G. V. Pearce is taking one back to New Zealand for test ] purposes. The fabric is woven from a I wool thread which is very strong and I tightly spun, so that the pack seems to be strong enough to withstand the expansion of the wool. Thorough tests, it was admitted however, would have to be made. As a matter of fact, it is by no means self-evident that the woollen bales will stand the pressure and the handling with hooks, and the seams would have to be proved, for instance, with the weight of locks. There is no doubt, however, regarding tho advantages of the woolpack in the matter of cleanliness. If all the enormous costs of burling are to be eliminated. by the use of the woolpack there would seem every reason to adopt it. As Sir William Priestley pointed out, the wages of the burlers and menders in Bradford were 51 per cent, of the wages of weavers. Ono concern in 1904, he said, had forty women engaged in burling, in 1914 the number was sixty-three, and in 1923 it was 136. Tho seriousness of tho position was increased by tho rise of the cost of tho labour involved, which, as compared with 1904, had gone up 492 per cent. In 1910 one firm paid iv wages for this work £3792, and in 1923 £12,----25. That cost was ever growing, and he wanted the grower to know about it and to appreciate th* cost. Consumers, said Sir William, were more exacting than they had ever been. They were all one community—growers, top-makers, spinners, manufacturers, and merchants —and the growers must realise that their work was only the beginning of it all. Tho honest duty of them all was to do, everything possible to see that the goods they sold, raw wool included, were free from any blemish. A SAVING OF £500,000. "Woolpacks" was the subject of a speech at the dinner given by the Brad--1 ford Chambor of Commerce on tho first r day of tho Conference. Mr. Walter Andrews introduced the subject. He pointed out that more than 30 per cent, of the merino wool grown in tho world was grown in tho British Empire. That was a wonderful thing, and they wore all particularly proud of the merinos. But ho could never understand why tho growers of such a wool Ehould pack it in such an abominable way. It was, he admitted, largely tho fault of circumstances, but tho fault ought to be pointed out so that there should be no excuse for its continuance. It was no good to produce suporior goods and to pack thorn in an inferior way. The damage caused in that way cost thorn half-a-mil-hon oyery year. Tho position could bo romodiod to their mutual advantage, but it must not bo dono at tho grower's own oxpenso. "Why," tho speakor askod, "do you go to India to buy jute to pack your produco when you grow tho very wool that is bost for packing it m?" Putting tho fiost of a jute bag at 3s 6d, and supposing a wool bag cost 15s, then if it was found possiblo for tho users to pay tho growers 7s 6d, returning tho bag for packing later crops, then loss monoy would be paid eventually for wool bags than was now paid for juto bags, and they would savo dio users £500,000 a year. Monsieur Manrico Dubrulle,, of Tourcoing, remarked that Sir William Priestley hnd pointed out that tho wagos of the burler and mender at Bradford wero 51 per cent, of tho waged paid to tho weaver. Ho agrood that thoy wore- handicapped, for they in Ronbaix wero paying only 47 por cent. Ho said that in tho name of the Chamber of Commerce of Roubaix and Tourcoing ho heartily supported all that had been said that evening. Mr. J. B. Pierce (South- Australia) suggested that bags should be sent out to tho wool growers and tested. If they were successful he was certain that thoy would be generally adopted. COUNTING THE COST, In the informal conversations betweon hosts and guests tho question of packs was freely discussed, and tho sheep-owners seemed to be ready to moot the manufacturers in this matter. Tlio woolpack, of courso, would first havo to bo thoroughly tested. If it was successful it soems that arrangements might be raado so that the cost to the growers would only bo about a shilling more than what they aro paying for the jute pack The wool of the pack, after it has dono 'its 12,00-milo journey, is worth 7s te the manufacturers, and it wao suggested that if tho pack with its contents were sold to foreign countries tho buyers should be debited with this 7s. Arra-i-je-monts could then bo made for the growers and tho manufacturers to divide tho additional 2s or 2s 6d cost between them. No definite arrangements, of course, wero made, but tho matter will not be dropped. It is evident that any detached material from tho new typo of pack that gets into the fleeces will b6 absorbed in the spinning, and the necessity for burling will be almost completely done away with. FRENCH EXPERIMENTING. At the final conference just before the visitors left for London, Mr. F. A Aykroyd (President of the Bradford Chamber of Commerce) mentioned that the French were now experimenting with a paper pack. The fabric was woven from a string made of paper similar to what tho Germans used in the war. It was possible that this type of pack might solve the difficulty, but no definite results were yet available.