CONSUMPTION OF WOOL.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5314, 6 April 1878, Page 1 (Supplement)

CONSUMPTION OF WOOL.

Some very interesting statistics on the production and consumption of wool have been published by Messrs. John L. Bowles and Brother, of Liverpool, in their “statistics relating to wool and sheepskins.” The compiler, Mr. James L. Bowles points out that complete statistics of production are not obtainable, since the subject has seldom been treated in a practical manner. Statisticians bewilder themselves with guesses based on the estimated number of sheep in producing countries, instead of dealing with the returns of the wool actually produced and sold. The principal sources of the supply of clothing wool to liurope are Australasia, the Cape, and the River Plate, and the price of wool from these countries and from the United States governs values in Europe. It is the figures regarding the production of wool in these countries which are, therefore, of vital importance. As almost none of the wool produced in the Australian colonies is used there, the exports thence tell, of course, the actual production ; but as regards the States, recourse has to he had to estimates. Taking these as nearly approximate, the result is as follows: —The total production of cleaned or pure wool in Australasia, the Cape, the River Plate, the United States, and California has risen from 771,- million pounds in 1855 to 363 million pounds in 1876. The most notable share in this augmentation has fallen to Australasia, where production has risen from 32 million pounds in 1855 to 159 million pounds in 1876. Next follows the River Plate, with an increase from 9J million pounds to 77J million pounds. California has risen from almost no export at all to 22 million pounds, and the Cape has more than quadrupled its yield in the same period, having exported 31 million pounds of pure wool in 1876. The greatest general increase was in the period between 1863 and 1869, when the gross total rose from 114 J million pounds to 280 \ million pounds, and the increases over the three periods 1855 to 1862, 1862 to 1869, and 1869 to 1876 were 48 per cent., 145 per cent., and 29 per cent, respectively. The progress in the middle period has not been maintained, therefore, and Messrs. Bowies do not look for another such increase in the future. They say: “Notwithstanding the prodigious facility with which sheep of the merino blood procreate in suitable climates, there are many causes which point to a diminished rate of increase. Droughts and storms are of frequent occurrence in the latitudes whore such sheep thrive the best, and, as the countries in which they grow are thinly populated, it is impossible to neutralise or mitigate the effect of them ; the difficulties of commuuioation between the seaboard and the interior of such a country as Australia act also as a bar to the profitable extension of sheep breeding. In California it is probable that further and important progress will be made ; for, although it has already been great, the movement is still in its infancy. It is not likelyj however, that the wool produced will be of the highest degree of fineness, for sheep bearing a medium quality thrive there the best. In Australia, also, the proportion of merino wool grown is diminishing, owing to the desire to increase the size of animal and weight of fleece. This movement has already m ule considerable progress in most of the colonies, and in tho auctions held in August last 18 per cent, of the wool offered was crossbred.” Notwithstanding the rapid increase in production, prices have been maintained. The average price of unwashed Australian wool was 12jd. per lb. in the first period, lljd, in the second, and X3Jd. in tho period ending with 1876. These statistics relate to “clothing”

wools only, the figures for other descriptions being too imperfect to admit of anything like accurate comparison. Such as they are, they appear, however, to show that the production of combing and of carpet and blanket wools increases much more slowly than that of clothing wool.