OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3184, 1 April 1911, Page 3

OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER.

THE W.OOL TRADE OF MAZAMET

{FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.] BRADFORD, Feb. 17. Wool matters as as lively as ever at least there is no ■diminution in the interest ■manifest over the course .of the raw material. In producing countries like Australia and the Argentine, the work of wool -producing continues quietly, and apart from the occasional bleat of a. sheep to break the monotony of the stillness of the land, the work of supplying the raw material proceeds steadily day and night. At this end wo are more accustomed ho the clatter and din of quickly running machinery, out it only serves- to show that one branch is incomplete without the other. It is really surprising when one thinks of the different aspects of the trade, how. one dovetails into the other. "Without the producer there could! be no consumer and vice versa. It is cause for devout thankfulness that an all-wise .Providence has so decreed that provision should be made where quietly there can proceed me work of wool growing, and I- am glad to think that ’the wants of the world are still so pronounced as to call for an adequate supply of.the raw material. Even m this respect there has been a tremendous change during the past 50 years. I cannot trace the origin of the skin wool trade, or say with any degree of authority how long the pulling of skins has been in vogue. The use and progress of fellmongery would form an interesting chapter, and I am strongly inclined to think that in the “good old days’" the skins of slaughtered sheep would be dealt with quite differently to what they are today. 'There is no doubt, our ancestors in the antediluvian days clothed themselves in sheep skins, and how long fel.hnongoring has been in vogue I cannot say.. However, this matter opens out an interesting phase of the trade, and I want to-day to deal specially with the wools of Mazamet.

FRENCH SKIN WOOLS. The town of Mazaauelfc has been closely identified with felimongering and the pulling of sheep skins for a long time, and I should say that it occupies the premier position. Why tins .is so it is not altogether easy to say, but the fact nevertheless obtains. Somehow businesses gravitate to certain localities until it becomes indigenous to the place itself. That is exactly what obtains in regard to the pulling of skins in Mazamct. It is the staple business of that town, and it gives a good account of itse.f. It would be most interesting to know exactly what number of skins ore puked yearly, but we have not that information at band to-day. Howover, its resources are large, and we are certain that its pullers are in touch with every market in the world where sheep skins are to be bought. Some months ago I had the delightful experience of having a visit from the head of a well-known Sydney firm of wool brokers who make a speciality of handling sheep skins, and naturally their largest customers were in the town of Mazamet. The feihnongers there also do a large- trade in skins from South Africa and the Argentine, and the work continues daily of stripping the wool from the skins", and preparing same for use bv manufacturers throughout Europe. 'The question is a natural one, Why is Mazamet so fortunate in possessing such an important trade as this? My answer may appear to be a little weak, but it is well-known that the town of Mazamet possesses an abundance of very soft water, and now after many years of experience skin wools can lie manipulated at that centie second to none in the world. After all the question of water is a very important one when handling such an article as wool. The question was put to the writer only a fortnight ago, How is it that Bradford should lie. 'the centre of the worsted industry, when it was first founded in the litt’e village of Worsted in Norfolk? One would naturally have thought that the industry having been first- established in that County would have continued to .grow and flourish the same as in the W est Riding, but the trade of worster manufactuie lias long ago been extinct in that centre. There is”lift doubt that Bradford has a capital of good, soft water, and is also close at hand to one of the best coalfields in the world. Worsted manufacture in the city of London, for instance, would be absolutely impassible, simpV because the water-supply for the Metropolis i.s so excessive]v charged with lime. Even in the Font Riding of Yorkshire there are well-known places where the water is verv hard and„ limey, but in Bradford and district the very opposite obtains. In .toonring wool and also dyeing, it. is absolutely essential to have the softest water possible, and free from minerals. I have oftentimes thought that some of the station scoured wools in Queensland are rcndeioct a little tender because of the large use of bore water. It is wellknown that several big bores are very much charged with minerals, all of which play an important part in the washing of wool. At Mazainet the water supply is both adequate and exceedingly good in quality.and no doubt this lias "an important bearing upon the development" of the skin wood trade in that town.

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE RETURNS

The Chamber of Commerce at Mazamct has just issued its Annual Review of the wool trade, and it contains a few facts and figures wliicli are well worth digesting by everyone interested in the wool business. The document leads off .with the statement that the shipments from the stations of Maname t and Labastide-Rouaiioux of -men’s wear, meltons, and flannels amounted during the year to 1,606,645 kilos, against 1,486,533 in 1909, an increase* of 120,112 kilos. This is considered very satisfactory, considering that inundations have greatly interfered with the retail trade, and that-the late winter has also been a serious drawback, while the new year has been ushered in with a. break on the futures market, which has spoilt the beginning of the buying season, especially for staple lines. Fancy suitings and “sporting” overcoatings are practically the only lines giving at the moment a satisfactory account of themselves. The coming season seems to promise a continuance of favor for woollen in preference to worsted goods which entirely suits manufacturers here.

The-.'wool trade, ' the Chamber' of Commerce says, has been very good in the third quarter, and bad in the last quarter. Present prices for mei;inos are 10 per cent, below those of a year ago . Of Buenos Aires crossbreds No. 4- were at the end of December last 5 per cent above that of the- end of 1909; by the middle.of last month it had fallen to 3 per cent below December, 1909, and compared'-, with the middle of January, 191.0, the fall amounts to fully 15 per cent. Shipments of wool have been very

large during 1910, as will) he seen from the following figures:— Of fleece-washed England took: Via Bordeaux 5,193,210 Via Boulogne 4,^08,490 Via Dieppe 3,284,490 Total 12,686,190 Other countries 7,243,816 Total fleece-washed 19,930,006 ■ Of scoured all countries took 5,344,339 Grand Total 25,274,345

England took 63 per cent, of the Mazamet output of fleece-washed against 60 per cent in 1909. Last year’s shipments of hosiery, etc., made in that district amounted to 307,368 kilos, against 225,031 in 1909. and it is pleasant to record that this branch of the French woollen trade is making steady though slow progress from year to year. . There is iust one other aspect that is well worth noting. It will he seen from the above that England took no less than 63 per cent of the whole output of fleece washed wools, hence the trade done between Bradford firms in Worstedopoiis which arc responsible for purchasing the bulk of the wools, and either one or the other seems to lie always in that city buying. I have just turned over the British Board of '1 rade Returns, and to show the importance that Mazarnet plays in the wool trade between France and this country, I give below the quantity of wool imported, and also the value for the last few years:—

WOOL IMPORTS FROM FRANCE, Weight Value.

Year. Lbs. £ 1910 27,587,978 1.679.316 1909 26,956,677 . 1,506.593 1908 17',496,610 994.893 1907 24,486,760 1.188', 060 1906 23,854,610 1,078,409