WOOL PACKS AND PACKING.

Otago Witness, Issue 3673, 5 August 1924, Page 13

WOOL PACKS AND PACKING.

By

Walter Andrew’s.

For the last twenty years there has been, at intervals, great agitation in all wool consuming countries as to the best method of uieftunmg the faults found in woven goods —faults which are scarcely apparent until these goods are dyed, when it is found that they can be divided into “jute faults,” and “machinery faults.” The first are caused by the wool having been packed in inferior jute bags, and the second by inefficient combing. iiy far the most troublesome of these are tne faults caused by jute bagging, as the jute will not take the dye. Many attempts have been made to overcome this difficulty. Some of the Australian wool growers have gone to great expense in having their wool packed in superior bags, and in some cases in paper-lined bags, but so long as only part of the wool is packed in this way, and the bulk is packed in jute bags, the efforts of the minority will bo futile. ihe opinion has always been held in Bradford that there is only one solution to the difficulty—the packing of wool in bags made entirely from wool. Whenever this solution has been mooted, it has invariably been turned down on account of the cost. 'The feeling among wool buyers has always been that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to convince growers that in the end it would pay them to adopt this method. 'There has, however, probably been some misapprehension with regard to the cost. It has always been assumed that the wool packs would be used for a' single journey only, that after the wool had been taken out they would be torn up and used in the woollen trade, and that they would be worth only their value in clean wool, less cost of pulling up. I am of opinion that to turn down the proposition on this assumption would be a grave mistake. I do not see any reason why wool packs should not make four, six, and even eight journeys. Also, after careful consideration, I am of opinion that the spending of £200,000 per annum in Australia in packing the wool in jute bags is a very grave waste of money. Wool growers have no conception of the damage done by putting wool into jute bags. I estimate that the damage done to each Australian clip is more than half-a-million sterling, so that Australia spends £300,000 in jute bags and compels the consumer to spend another half million in order to eliminate the damage that the jute has dene. This figure of half a million is probaly very considerably under estimated. Almost any manufacturer would say that the damage done to wool by jute is very much greater than this. The cost of wool packs will depend entirely on the price of the raw wool. To-day the cost might run out to 12s to 15s per bale, but even when the packs have become so damaged that they are no longer of any use for the purpose for which they were made, they will still be just as valuable for making cloth in the woollen trade as when they were new, subject to market fluctuations. I would like to throw out a few sugfestions for the consideration of users, wool rokers and growers, which might be taken as a basis for discussion in arriving at some settlement of this very vexed question. There is no difficulty in the production of the packs, as they can be made from low crossbred or English prepared tops, spun to about 3-12’s with a very hard twist and with an open weave, and could be manufactured in almost unlimited quantities in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The weight of the packs now used in the dominions is 111 b each. The weight of wool packs of an equal strength would be somewhere about 41b each. There would therefore be a saving of 71b per bale in freight, which would mean over £70,000 in the Australian clip alone. It might he necessary to agree on a few regulations something like the folllowing: — 1. The seams of the bales to be made by the use of wool thread instead of jute. 2. When the grower is packing the wool, the flap or top of the bale should not be sewn —-hooks or something similar to be used. 3. When the wool is exposed for view in the warehouses, cutting of bales should be absolutely prohibited. 4. No brands, numbers, or marks of any description be branded or in any way marked on the bale. 5. All brands, numbers, or identification marks to be branded or stamped in a detachable square of linen, cotton, or similar fabric, and sewn on one side of the bale, and if necesarsy, at the two ends. 6. The buyer of the wool to pay the grower an agreed sum—probably about 50 per cent of tne original cost of each package conforming to the above requirements, whether new, or used twice or more, so long as the package is in a good state of repair, capable of answering the purpose for which it is intended. The price to be charged to the wool buyer for the package to be agreed upon between the representatives of the buyers, selling brokers, and Wool Growers’ Council, before the opening of each new season, and that price to remain in force from September 1 of ona year to August 31 of the following year. It will be necessary to set up soma machinery for the collection of the packs after use, and their return to the wool growing centre, but no doubt the representatives of the wool growers in London will Ire quite capable of dealing with this question, as the users of the wool will be' only too glad to re-sell the tares at a price a little higher than their value if broken up and used in the woollen trade. The tares of one year would eventually drift hack to the wool growing country, but not all in time for use the following season. It would therefore be necessary for the wool growers to purchase in the first twelve months rather more than sufficient for a single clip. I have no hesitation in saying that the w r ool growers of Australia and New Zealand are exceedingly anxious to do anything that will enhance the reputation of their produce. If they adopt this system, tops made from their wool will be kept entirely separate from tops made out of wool which has been packed in jute casings, because the topmaker will be in a position to give a guarantee to the spinner that such tops contain no jute fibres. A similar guarantee can also l>e given to the manufacturers by the spinner, and yarn and tops produced from wool which has been packed in a wool casing will be at a premium. Many manufacturers have told the writer that they will gladly pay Id per lb extra for their yarn to obtain this

46m itill using the jute casing will be compelled to come into line, or their produce will be at a discount In the past we, as users, have asked growers in Australia or New Zealand to use superior tares, and they have shown every desire to meet us, but they have been up against, the difficulty that wool so packed has not hitherto in tho saleroom, obtained any higher price than wool packed in inferior tares. This *s perfectly true, and appears to justify the action of gro'wers in not using superior tares. Growers, however, should market their wool in some tare which will not da matrA I it, and in order to do so I am convinced there is no necessity to put them to anv more expense than is incurred to-dav. Tthey can buy wool packs, even at an original cost of 15s each, and buyers are walling to pay say, 7s 6d, they (the growers) would onlv be involved in a cost of 7s 6d Such packs would be constantly passimbackwards and forwards, and could be bought and sold at about the same price, so that there would be no further cost to growers so long as the packs were capable of performing the service for which they were required. This ought, to mean a very considerable saving to the wool grower, and the buyer would be able to obtain somewhere near the value of his original outlay of 7s 6d for breaking tin purposes for w-oollen consumption, when the pack could no longer fco used. From the recent conference with the French representatives from Rouhaix and ' Tonrcoing. we l-"mv that we. in Bradford, shall have the whole-hearted support of the French wool buyers, if some such solution could be. provided, and I have no doubt whatever that the wool growers’ representatives in London will give every possible assistance. However, it is for ns to demonstrate that the wool pack is a feasible proposition, and that it. can be made in a very light weight, of sufficient strength to Bieet all requirements. FARMER’S UNION. TXBMNIOJT ORGANISER’S WORK. The following table shows tho result of meti vitiea of Mr T. Buxton, dominion I

organiser of the New 7.< alar.cl Farmers's On ion.

me .Si'JZ should pay annually, and are the result of the dominion lectures and tb» organiser's work. The Near Zealand Farmers’ Union is now stronger than at any time i-ince its inception/

Enrolled. Money collected. 1923 .. .. £ GiO 19*23 .. .. 967 1321 .. .. .. .. 1,200 1,295 3,492 £2,912