WOOL AND THE WAR

Marlborough Express, Volume C, Issue 266, 16 November 1914, Page 6

WOOL AND THE WAR

INTERESTING- LETTER FROM-MR ' HOLLINGS. . In..a' letter written .on September, j ■23rd to .Mr A'.-'Ji Ijamfeert, of 3K«ituna, Mr S. B. Hollings. the well- < known wool expert, says:— "While travelling in tlie train from Bradford to Morecombe last night I carried a Weekly Press and saw what , you had done in regard to preparing the samples for the Panama exhibit. I do not see what the Government expert's idea was to prepare 138 separate exhibits of wool. . • lam certain that your idea as to the size of the exhibit was enough (I was proing to say excessive), and 80 specimen;? would liave made a very good exhibit indeed. By all means _you ought to have had a printed ticket putting on the grower's name and the name of the station, with the full postal address. If a man sends a good fleece of wool, why deny him the credit? . . .1 think you might have shown a whole fleece from each grower and then carried put your . idea regarding the preparing of a case, which I know you could have done with exceptional ability. » Personally I think the fleeces should have been placed in several glass cases, and then, if possible, a few be shown loosely with the man in charge having 50 extra fleeces to supplant thejn with when the public had handled them and they had: got to be shabby and badly mounted. What the American wool grower wants educating to is this: American fleeces are excefcsivelv heavy in condition, and they seem", to have no conception of growing a big, bulky, light-conditioned fleece,. the same as those some of your growers are producing .■-. . . With your practical knowledge I would have been content to leave it in your hands, satisfied that you would <have prepared something that would iiave done credit to the great sheep and wool industry of New Zealand. \ ''Well, friend, we are engaged m a terrible struggle, and it is a life and death effort with the whole of the British Empire. Our colonies are responding nobly. The Kaiser has touched the feelings of the whole British Empire, and I have never seen such a display of patriotism in my life.' We are fighting a struggle which will haye to be brought, to a successful issue, cost what it will m men and money. lam certain we shall ultimately win, for the German nation; with all her ports bottled up, and with nobody to lend her money, j cannot go on indefinitely j while as a nation we have only touched the fringe of our'resources. Here in England it is all <!war, and for the first fortnight we felt thjnprs rather severely, but the crisis is past. Outside Bradford in the woollen manufacturing areas mills are all very busy, and much overtime is being; worked, executing war orders. Tlie wools of New Zealand are in the very forefront, of the battle, and slipes are the thing. We shall all have to pull to-~ gether, when I feel certain that victory will crown our efforts. "Our summer lias now passed and autumn is here. We have had rathera rough, week of wind and rain. _ The war has meant a lessening of business, but I am thankful that things are no worse. It has hit many Bradford firms, very severely, and there are j. houses with anywhere up to £200,000 s locked up in Germany, and to-day ! they have their hands tied to their j i back. Still, there has not been a ■ single failure. Prospects point to j more business, although fine 'wool j values are certain to show a severe | fall between now and the end of the i j year." {