CORRESPONDING WOOL AGENTS.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 14, Issue 1142, 8 April 1870, Page 3

CORRESPONDING WOOL AGENTS.

(From the " Australasian/ March 19.) At a meeting of Mudgee wool-growers lately, it was wisely determined to appoint a gentleman, now on his way home, as corresponding. agent, with a view of obtaining such information about their se» veral clips as is not otherwise to be had. This is not in any shape or form a cooperative movement, the meeting having been held simply for the purpose of interchanging ideas as to the kind of information that would be most valuable. The gentleman in question— we have not been told his name, only that he has long experience of pastoral matters in these colonies — offered " on liberal terms" to watch the sale" 'of tho clips from those growers who may accept his agency, afterwards tracing the several parcels to the manufacturers' hand, whether in England or on the Continent. He will thus be able to ascertain the opinion of both buyers and manufacturers, and report on the good or bad qualities of all the different lots of wool for which he is appointed corresponding agent. He will know for- what particular branch of the trade each parcel is purchased, and he can learn how far it is fitted for this, or in what especial quality improvement is [needed. At present the brokers make a few remarks about the condition of the wool at each sale, but few of the sheep-owners can tell how to apply these. For instance, there was an outcry last season against hot- water washing, because some of the clips sent home were injured by the injudicious use of a system so excellent in itself, but no mention was mado of the high prices realised for the wool properly washed with warm water and soap, or soap and soda. Because the evil effects of too much of a good thing became glaringly apparent, we were told to abandon the progress we had made, and be content for the future with the old Is. 6d. or 2s. per Ib. for our wool, instead of the 3s. or 4s. per lb. which the warm water, soap, and soda first enabled us to obtain. The great want for many years past, or since the settlers began steadily to study how to improve their flocks, has been direct communication between the grower and the manufacturer. The brokers, of course, hear remarks at the sales and re-echo these iv their reports,/ but with the mistake of applying them generally instead of specially. At such times the glaring faults are commented on freely enough, but little is said of the merits, as the favourably expressed opinions of good judges would be likely to increase the competition for choice lots. A grower here seldom, if ever, learns whether the fleeces of his most highly prized sheep assist in composing the delicate mixed fabrics for ladies' dresses, or go forth to the world undisguised in the more homely tweeds of the north of England, and therefore proceeds with his work of improvement very much in the dark. His neighbours A. and B. get good prices, but for the wool of sheep widely differing, which should be taken as a guide? The manufacturer would tell him in a few words what the most valuable qualities are, and, as these vary for different purposes, to which class the wool of his sheep most nearly approaches, and therefore what he should aim at. Clothing wool is easily understood, but a code of rules for the improvement of combing wool, from the manufacturer's point of view, is still a great want. This is so mixed up with silk, grass cloth, cotton, alpaca wool, mohair, and shoddy, that it is impossible to guess at the qualities desired by the manufacturers of the many composite fabrics into which combing wool now enters. Then a little direct information as tp t how wool shpuld be sent home would be' of much use. There can be little question that the spout-washed w<». >!. well got tip, is most approved <>f. ibr that always fetches the highest prices ; but all cannot be so sent, and should the remainder be scoured, brookwashed, or sent in the grease P On these branches of the subject much light has still to be thrown, and a practical woolgrower, experienced in the sheep of the colony, and the means commonly adopted for their improvement, ought to be the best, or in fact the only, medium for obtaining the required information. Manufacturers' honest opinions of a few of our best clips, and of the changes afterwards in breeding and classification, as well as in the getting up of the wool, made at. their suggestions, would be worth far more than they would cost.