The Feilding Star. Oroua and Kiwitea Counties Gazette. Published Daily. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1905. FRAUDS IN WOOL.

Feilding Star, Volume XXVII, Issue 49, 20 September 1905, Page 2

The Feilding Star. Oroua and Kiwitea Counties Gazette. Published Daily. WEDNESDAY, SEPTE M BER 20, 1905. FRAUDS IN WOOL.

At would appear that the high prices which have recently obtained for wool have proved an irresistible temptation to certain unscrupulous and dishonest persons. During the pa9t few years many complaints have | been made of the false packing of wool purchased at the auction sales in this Colony, and the practice is becoming a very serious menace to one of our most important industries. The fraud has been carried on in a most systematic manner, not only by putting inferior wool, but even dirt inside of the individual fleeces, also by placing inferior fleeces inside of the bales. The high pressure at which buyers work during the wool season often prevents them making anything more than a superficial examination of a few bales in each lot, and the fraudulent fleeces are, of course, placed in the heart of the bale where they may easily escape in such an examination. The offenders know, too, that mo3t of the wool which is bought here is not again seen by the buyer, and may pass through several bands before it reaches the ultimate consumer. Experience, however, has taught the buyers to be more careful than formerly in their examination of wools, both before and after purchase, and last s-eason a very flagrant case was detected, an investigation show ing that the wool in the centre of the bales was much inferior to that at the top and bottom, which had been exposed to the view of the buyers. The Lyttelton Times informs us that the New Zealand Wool Buyers' Association determined to prosecute the vendor, but when he was brought face to face with the facts he denied all knowledge of the fraud, took back the wool, and placed a substantial sum of money in the hands of the Association to defray the costs incurred in the proceedings, and to provide for restitution in case of any other wools offered on his account turning out in the same condition. The case has been made public as a warning, and the Association has resolved that in future any case that may come under its notice will be treated with the utmost severity. Under the "conditions of sale " which govern the wool sales throughout the colony, buyers have power to demand from the auctioneers the name of the owner of any lot, and in the event of " false packing " being discovered the seller is liable to imprisonment for obtaining money under false pretences. It may not be generally known, but it is a fact that should be impressed upon farmers and others, that the rolling up of loose pieces or locks of wool in the fleece is " false packing. ' It is deplorable that the reputation of the New Zealand wool sales and of the New Zealand woolgrowers should be imperilled by the practices of a few dishonest people, and we trust that the Association will make an example of the very first offender hho falls into its hands.