OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 3291, 11 April 1917, Page 13

OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER.

(FROM OITR Sr-KOIAI. CORRESPONDENT.) BRADFORD, February 1. STARN-SPINNING AND ITS RELATION TO QUALITY IN WOOL. It is not all plain sailing for the Government in its great schemo for utilising the British and colonial clips, and I fancy that some of tho officials have a't last begun to realise some .of the troubles peculiar to the wool and textile trades. There is nothing liko an honest confession, and I am not surprised to learn that ono official con fesses being greatly taken aback at the many knotty problems connected with the wool trade which have to be settled. When a man has had a lifelong experience in dealing with wool from the sheep's back to the finished produce, he looks with no surprise upon the knotty problems that constantly occur, and I know for a fact that not a few members of the Army Contracts Department, and even those with a little more experience, have been amazed at Lire difficulties which havo arisen in connection with the spinning of khaki yarns, and the subject is of direct importance to all my readers. No matter how good the wool may be, to take it direct and red hot from the combs to the spinning frame means trouble, and that is exactly what has occurred and is occurring to-day. Anybody with any practical knowledge of the trade is aware that the wool fibre is of a very hygroscopic nature. To provide against this a big establishment has long been erected in Bradford known as the Conditioning House. Tops combed m oil are allowed a regain of 19 per cent., and when dry-combed 184 per cent., in order to allow for the natural moisture contained in the fibre. If anyone doubts the ability of a woven fabrio to absorb and [ retain moisture, then let him put out his coat on a wet day, first of all having a correct record of its weight, and when it has been rained upon a quarter of an hour, even without a heavy downpour, if he weighs the garment when taken in he will find a difference in the weight. Better still, lot a grower on a hot summer's day weigh lib of wool, being particular to register the correct weight to a quarter of an ounce. Spead out that wool on a damp dewy night, and weigh same next morning before the sun rises, and again he will be surprised what moisture the wool has" absorbed. I mention these facts to bring home to readers —particularly to woolgrowers—the varying degrees of condition which wool may assume, and all of which have to be reckoned with by the topmaker, spinner, and manufacturer an manipulating the article. CAUSE OF TROUBLE. Last Friday a very largely attended meeting of yarn-spinners was. called togethei by the Army Contracts Department to urge upon them the necessity of doubling their output. Every spinner had received an urgent call to come to the conference, when the- whole question of tho spinning of khaki yarns' tor military purposes was gone into. The Government officials candidly stated that the output was nothing near ao largo as it ought to be, that our own Government and our Allies wero all in urgent need of military fabrics, and everyone must do their utmost to sensibly increase the quantity of yarns being spun. That apparently was the signal for a reply on the part of spinners. There was a unanimous expression that the deficient output was entirely due to the tops having been spun red hot off the- combs, sufficient time not being allowed for tho tops to "age,' which was the cause of all the trouble. I mention this to bring homo to everyone the relation that quality bears on a good count of yarn. I might say in pas.* ing that the count of yarn is 2-24's, which is spun from a combination of a 40's and 44's top, this yarn being very largely used in the production of the ordinary tartan serge as worn by our rank-and-file soldiers.

Two men were discussing the situation after the meeting when one candidly said that he was greatly surprised at spinners not being able to spin 2-24's out of a 40'e to 44's top. The spinner candidly confessed that this ought to be done without the least difficulty, a remark which I entirely endorse. There certainly is something radically wrong if a top of that count will not ppin to 2-24's. No doubt there have boen tendered some tops deficient in length and quality, but the principal reason given for the spinning rouble was not so much the quality of Lhe top but the littlo time which elapsed between the tops coming m from the dyers and going straight on to tha spindles of tho spinning frame. In ordinary times spinners do not spin newcombed tops. What they do is to either allow the tops to stand in the cellar for a month or six weeks, or else to let the roving (which is practically a halfway house between tops and spun yarn) remain as roving for a good month. That is an all-essential principle of successful spinning. Spinning tops red hot from the combs means that the >\ool fibres are charged with a good deal of electricity, due entirely to tho natural moisture in the fibre being very largely driven out, electricity taking ths place of the moisture. Various means have been employed to replace that moisture quickly, and while in some mills an apparatus has been employed for sprink ling the air with very fine moisture, yet experience has found tnat nothing docs so well as to let the tops stand and age, it being natural for the wool fibre to absorb the moisture in the air if placed in a cool room. WHAT QUALITY MEANS.

Every wool-grower knows, or at least has some hazy conception of, what quality moans, but among the actual buyers and users of wool quality is understood to mean

the spinning capacity of the wool fibre. Finenes is not always a guarantee that the wool will spin to the count of the quality seen in the fibre itself. If we take a wool of either 64's quality or 40's, if the staple is deficient in length and soundness, it will be\ impossible to spin 64 or 40 hanks 540 yards long to weigh lib. That is exactly where a man's experience comes in when purchasing wool. He must know what it will do, to what count it will spin, and on that standard of efficiency very largely depends its market value. _ The trouble with these Government tops is not that they are really deficient in quality, nut that they have not been allowed to recover their natural condition, and_ wool fibres when dealt with under artificial conditions behave just as unruly as a naughty boy. No doubt if the tops had been spun to a thicker count it would have solved the jprobloni and augmented o; put, but that would havo upset all the calculations of tho manufacturer, and therefore the only reasonable remedy is to augment the output of tops and allow sufficient time for the same to recover their natural state, which will automatically put an end to the present trouble. BRADFORD MARKET. Th*e whole market still presents a very quiet appearance so far as trade operations are concerned. Everybody is waiting for a more definite announcement about army contracts, and tho various other matters which have recently been receiving attention. It seems likely that tho ' break"' clause will cause less dissatisfaction than was at first thought; but in view of tho absence of any definite information on these points there is little disposition to enter mto further obligations to-day, and the result is that, whilo all quotations for tops may be described as steady, very littlo business has been done. _ The encouraging feature of the moment is that machinery is mostly well occupied, and if the present uncertainty respecting tho temporary gap which might be created by the discontinuance of military requirements could be taken away there would be little cause for uneasiness. With regard to the trend of values and the part which the Government instructions and restrictions play therein, it is known that inquiries have been made for tops on a price basis which is decidedly below the one current in tho open market, and this is naturally a strong deterrent upon those who may havo the opportunity to sell tops at the present time. It. is known that industrial firms have been asked to sell further quantities of tops in this way.