OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 3673, 5 August 1924, Page 16

OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER.

ANGLO-FRENCH TEXTILE ENTENTE. (From Our Own Correspondent.) BRADFORD, June 11. The conferences which took place last week in Bradiord between the Bradford Chamber of Commerce and representatives of the Roubaix-l'ourcoing Chamber of Commerce proved to be most stimulating. The subjects discussed cannot but make lor the betterment of both sections of the industry. They certainly removed many misunderstandings, and brought both sections of the trade to see things from the standpoint of the other. Considering that Bradiord and Roubaix are about the biggest wool-con-suming centres in Europe, it was high time that such an interchange of views took place, and it has paved the way for the holding of other similar conferences, because questions affecting both districts are bound to crop up in the future as they have done in the past. Among the topics touched upon which are of interest to the colonial wool trade was the vexed question of the breeding of sheep and its relation to the production of the most useful and satisfactory fleece of wool. The preparation of clips for market and the baling of the shorn fleece in proper packs, so as to eliminate as much as possible tho spreading of loose hemp in the wool, received very careful consideration. The “burling” charges of manufacturers have increased, we should say, tenfold since the war, and (he trade is satisfied that this is largely due to worse woolpacks being used than formerly. The “beard” of the inside of the tare is to-day so loose that it comes off wholesale, and, once they get into the wool, no amount cf sorting will eliminate these dangerous fibres. They are carried through the combing and spinning, and finally turn up in the woven fabric, with the result that it has to be “burled” —that is, the fibres named have to be removed by hand before the pieces are dyed and finished. It is a thousand pities that the agitation of a dozen years ago was not carried to its ultimate goal. The leading members of the trade now see that if the solution then decided upon—namely, paperlined packs—had been universally "adopted, the present trouble would have been almost entirely eliminated. The mistake that buyers made was in asking the grower to bear the extra cost, and if the trade had voluntarily agreed to pay 2s extra for each bale, we believe that it would have come back to users many times over. Instead of that, the battle is to be fought over again, and wo are satisfied that there will be no satisfactory solution until paper-lined packs are used, and growlers are paid 2s to 2s 6d per bale for clips so packed. BALES MADE OF WOOL ADVOCATED. A leading Bradford spinner and manufacturer, Mr John Emsley, has made a unique suggestion in order to solve the problem described above. His proposal is that bales made from wool be used in which to pack wool. The chief disadvantage of ihis would be that a large weight of wool would be required to pack 3,000,000 hales annually; in fact, while the suggestion is a very sensible one, we cannot see how a large enough weight of wool can be spared from to-day’s limited supplies. Everybody to-day recognises that no more wool is being grown than the industry requires, and though making packs out of pure wool would be all right if it were practicable, it would prove to be a real handicap to the trade on the ground of extra cost. We readily grant that the package containing the shorn fleeces if made from yarns spun from wool would not be lost—very far from it. It would not matter a great deal if a few fibres became loose; but the question at once arises, From what quality are the wool bales going to he made? If they are made, sav. of Lincoln wool or coarse crossbreds, which are the strongest wools grown, and merino wool is packed into those hales, the reader can well see that if any of the fibres of the hale, become disentangled and got mixed with the merino wool, it would cause almost as much trouble in the piece as at present. There would bo much less danger if the bales were made from merino wool, because the fibres getting mixed with crossbreds would not spoil the fabric like Lincoln becoming entangled with merino. The

writer is strongly of the opinion that if paper-lined packs were used and buyers were prepared to pay, say, 2s 6d per bale to the grower, that would go a long way towards solving the present difficulty, by eliminating the loose hemp fibres which are the principal cause of all the manufacturers’ trouble. SOUTH AMERICAN WOOLS. From the latest figures to hand from Buenos Aires it is plain to be seen that the shipments of the Argentine and the uruguayian clips are not going to show as great a deficiency as the clips of Australia, the exports being a very reliable index of the annual production of the River Plate. The shipment of wool from the Argentine and Uruguay from October 1, 1923 (which is the beginning of the South American wool year) to May 8, 1924, were as follows (the figures for the corresponding period of the previous 12 months are given for comparative purposes):

Perhaps the most significant item in connection with the above is the great slump that is seen in the shipments to the United States. For the period mentioned, during the 1922-25 season, America, took 122,315 bales, compared with 34,760 bales for the corresponding period this season. This is a deficiency of practically 90,000 bales, and no other country shows such a decrease. We repeat that the figures are highly instructive, and offer an outstanding commentary on the state of the textile trade across the Atlantic. One could easily have understood a fall of 10,009 to 20,000 bales in Boston purchases, but the decline seen is indeed startling. There has been a marked increase in the purchases of Germany, as is seen by the figures representing shipments to Hamburg and Bremen, while perhaps the most significant thing of all is the sensibly increased takings by the United Kingdom. There certainly has been inoro interest shown by Bradford crossbred topmakers during the past season than for many years, due largely to the revived interest in crossbred wool. Bradford firms, anticipating a big rise, went in and bought heavily, and tfie confidence thus displayed has not been misplaced. Not only have West Riding firms purchased heavily of 15. A. crossbreds, but Boston houses have shipped considerable quantities to Bradford firms, which has all helped to increase the stocks of South American crossbreds. An important feature of the British Empire Exhibition during the past week has been the conference of leading members of the textile trade of Great Britain, at which papers were read and discussion ensued. In almost every way possible endeavours are being made to make the exhibition contribute to the furtherance of the interests of the wool textile industry. The opinion has been expressed that the mannequins at Wembley are better illustrative of tire dressmaker’s art than of the style of cloths produced in Bradford, for there is no guarantee that anyone having seen a particular style of cloth, and wishing to obtain same for their own use, will be able to get exactly what they require. At the same time the exhibition of the fabrics in the made-up form shows what really good cloth looks like, and establishes an ideal which should go a long way towards getting what the public wants.

Destination. 1923-24. Bales. 1922-23, Bales. Dunkirk 46,870 26,356 57,727 25,193 Antwerp Hamburg 72,161 49,598 Bremen 20,017 8,565 Genoa 16,712 13,685 United Kingdom 60,471 41,585 United States 34,760 122,315 Bordeaux and Marseilles 1.143 854 Havre 910 220 Barcelona 49 398 Amsterdam and Rotterdam 8,954 5,466 Trieste 1,886 276 Various 5,808 7,831 Totals 296,106 333,713