CLASSIFICATION OF WOOL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19607, 8 April 1927, Page 14

CLASSIFICATION OF WOOL.

Sir, —"Te Puroa," in a letter in the Herald of March 31; states that no } buyer can buy our. bales. .of wool at present and obtain the i quality he needs This is precisely what I endeavoured to point out iin my last letter. But why should such be the case if, as he says, there are expert wool sorters here as capable of judging the wool qualities as. the buyers ? He states that sheep farmers have reason | to question /the judgment of the wool-. | buyers as evidenced by the variation in the prices given for similar lines of wool in the same sale. Just so, but what | may look similar from the farmer's point of view, or the wool classer's, might not | be viewed from the same point bv the i buyer. I pointed out in my last letter that the buyer must buy from a manufacturing point of view. Two wools may fee I similar, but the one may be more suit-' ! able for combing purposes than the other, ; hence the difference in the price. I do i not say that the buyer's valuing is inj fallible, as he often finds out to his sorrow. "Te Puroa's" idea to reclass and j grade all our wools may be a good one, but is it practicable under ..the present | system of wool classing, or should I say, | reclassing? Mr. WV Hambly in his letter ! answers this question, and I'quite agree [• with him that it is practically impossible I for any wcol-classer to adjudicate, cor- • rectly, upon the qualities of the wool ' contained in a fleece when it is rolled up ; and he is examining . same from the wrong side of the fleece. If the fleeces j are not to be classed from the proper side j of the fleece, it is far better to leave them |as they are. It is only a waste of time | trying to get proper results otherwise. In j many cases the present system of reclass- ! ing does more harm than good. To obtain j a high standard in the different grades of '■wool, every fleece should be examined when opened out Vooi table. 'By these means "Te Puroa's" idea of establishing recognised standards may be realised. Wool Manufacturer.