THE WOOL TRADE

Southland Times, Issue 19389, 1 November 1924, Page 18 (Supplement)

THE WOOL TRADE

CONFERENCE AT BRADFORD

PROBLEMS OF SOUTHLAND INTEREST

IMPORTANT RECOMMENDATIONS,

GROWERS AND USERS IN CONFER ENCE. A large body of Dominion wool grower who were in England—chiefly as visitors it the British Empire Exhibition— responded to the invitation of the Bradford Cnambe of Commerce to meet them in conierenci at the Mechanics’ Institute, Bradford Australia, New Zealand, and South Africi were represented by bodies of prominen wool growers and representatives were pre sent also of a number of wool-brokin( firms, the visitors numbering in all betweei 70 to 80. Mr F. A. Aykroyd (presiden of the Chamber) was in the chair. ROMNEY SHEEP AND WOOD The president, in introducing the subjec of the use of the Romney ram in New Zea land, said he did so in no spirit of an tag onism. but with an earnest desire to pre serve in that district certain trades whicl had been built up over a long period o time from the flocks of the world, as brec in the past. Those flocks were founded or breeds of sheep whose wool had an undoubt ed spinning property. It was ten year; since the war commenced. Five years be fore that, deterioration was noticeabh amongst many of what were hitheno the best flocks in New Zealand. Nothing wai said about this deterioration during tht war and the “control” period, because thej were adapting their trades to the wool thai was available but now they had to cate: for the trade of the world, and were com pelled to look on wool with a different eye MUTTON v. WOOL. ‘lt will be quite 40 years ago,” said the president, “since the Lady Jocelyn brough! the first cargo of frozen meat from Neu ■ Zealand, and since that time the frozer mutton trade has ever been on the increase To-day we are up against the battle oi ‘Mutton v. Wool.’ Naturally Bradford if vitally interested in the wool, and whilst w< recognise the necessity for both, we sincereh hope that wool will not be sacrificed foi , mutton. The cost of living is high, but ’ whilst there must ever be a large dem an c for mutton cheaper than we can possibh i roduce it* it would be disastrous if we ha«; to relinquish the proud position we hold af being not only the largest growers of wooi but the best growers too. “Now it is only natural that the sheep breeder and wool grower should try his ut most to make his calling a profitable one to the very fullest extent by breeding a sheep that is: (1) hardy; (2) will cut the maximum amount with its fleece; and (3) will give mutton of a kind that the palate will relish most. SPINNING PROPERTY. “There is a fourth item, however, viz., the spinning property of the wool, and that seems to be lost sight of; and it is because of this that we are determined to speak up and point out rhe difficulties we are confronted with if this fourth item continues to be ignored. As was pointed out some few weeks ago our great objection to the Romney ram is that its cross produces a wool the fibres of which are irregular in thickness in the same staples. The diagrams I have here show: (1) a staple from a Romney cross; (2) the same staple after the very strong hairs have been taken out: (3) the strong hairs which, as you will seeare several qualities lower than the bulk oi the staple. “What is the result of this? “(1) In the process of sorting it has to be thrown down and put into that qualityindicated by the lowest hairs in the staple; consequently the hairs are all wasted and the grower does not receive a true value for his wool as the buyer has to value by the lowest fibres. “(2) These low hairs will not bed in with the others when spun, and ride on the top. This compels its use again for a lower grade of yarn. “(3) The dead fibres which are invariably the result of the Romney cross will not the dye, and here again difficulty is caused. The foregoing statement I made some months ago to Mr Massey, the Prime Minister of New Zealand. \‘Now these statements are flatly contradicted by Mr Alfred Matthews, of Waiorongomari—the President of the New Zealand Romney Marsh Sheep Breeders’ Association. He says:— “ ‘We will admit Mr Aykroyd is an expert on wool and the manufacturing trade, but he has proved by his statements that he knows very little, if anything, about the growing end, more especially in New Zealand. His statements about the New Zealand Romneys are not founded on fact, and are not only misleading but are damaging. The foremost breeders of Romney Marsh sheep in New Zealand are well aware of the value to the manufacturer of a good quality, soft handling wool, with crimp, lustre, and length of staple, containing no kemps or dead fibres, and the fleece even in length and quality. We claim without fear of contradiction that we have succeeded in producing flocks of pure bred Romney Marsh sheep growing wool of the above character, and this has been done by selection and not by any crossing with another breed.’ ” . WOOL FROM PURE-BRED ROMNEYS. “Now, gentlemen,” said the president, “you will wonder what my answer is to that. Mr David Smith, of Masterton, New Zealand, wrote me some few months ago to the same effect, and to prove it he says: ‘I herewith send you samples of wool from my pure bred Romneys, both ewe and ram.’ ‘These very staples of wool from his pure bred Romneys —net Romney crossed with > any other breed —contained the very fault we had been complaining of; so I dissected the staples, as in these diagrams, and sent them back to him. The real truth is—it takes a trained eye to see all this variation, and one cannot expect anyone who has not served an apprenticeship to sorting to be able to detect these faults without being shown them. Tn his next statement Mr Matthews gets hopelessly out of his depth. He tells of a Mr C. M. Perry (whose father is a great Romney ram breeder) spending a months apprenticeship in my ‘factory’ learning wool classing, and he states that the Romney breed does not get credit there for producing high-class wools. But they are classed as Leicester —merino, or probably Romney —merino, the pure Romney not getting credit for growing such wools. This room is crowded with experts, and I guarantee that there are not many here (amongst the Bradfordians) who understand what is meant by a Leicester merino or a Romney merino. In Bradford, merino indicates pure bred of fine Quality; a Leicester or Lincoln is a crossbred wool It is rather an.using to be criticised by a gentleman whose only knowledge of wool has been gained in your own establishment during a month’s apprenticeship ! THE LINCOLN INFLUENCE. ‘I next have to deal with the noted authority (as he is called) Professor Cossar Ewart, who says: ‘The only other breed I went specially to was the Romney, and it seems to me that partly by changed surroundings and partly by very careful breeding the “coat” of the Romney has been immensely improved, and the wool is much finer than is the case with the English Romney sheep. Again, the fibres of wool I have seen this time are distinctly finer than the fibres of the wool taken from sheep four or five years ago; that indicates thai by selection, apart altogether

from other considerations, the Romney is being improved. 1 think that the improve mem has consisted of getting nd of anj irace of the Lincoln, which undoubtedly r re f ■> : < rs e:.-;. The Ntomnej wool is better than it was some years ago—a re-.uk that has been arrived at not b> crossing but by selcc.ion.’ x. ‘Here we are up against University Pro lessors, ’’ said the pres.deut. “With all du< deference to Professor Cossar Ewart I au not prepared to accept him as having anj real pract.cal knowieege of wool as suitable for tae Bradford trade. His statement con veys nothing of information to the practica man except a general statement founded or theory winch is net borne out in practice Has the learned professor ever -sorted a bait of wool in his life? Has his opinion— I founded on ‘test-tube’ knowledge—to be pui before the combined opinion of the Britisl Wool Federation, whose members are hand | ling thousands of these bales a year? The getting nd ci the Lincoln is the very thing I that is causing the harm. A SOURCE OF DANGER. “Mr Matthews goes on to say that Rom neys were first introduced into New Zea I land 70 years ago, and on account of theii ■ aard.houd and suitability for gencra*! pur poses have now be come the most populai breed. This may be the case, but 25 years ago the quantity was only small, and up tc 15 years ago was so small that the woo- ! user salted' them in w.th the others. Dur ing the last 15 years their number has sc increased as to be a real source of daagei to our industry. | “Many years ago the Vermont Ram was introduced from North America into Aus I tralta, and bid fair to ruin the w£ole of the j merino flocks. Wherever it was used it ! played havoc with the flocks. The effect i was exactly the same amongst merino flocks as that produced by the Romney amon° I the crossbred flocks. About 1C per cent I of 5 s and 50’s hairs appeared in the staple of a 6wool. , “With regard to the Wensleydale, I am I sorry Mr Matthews takes such strong excepI non to our trying to help in this difficult matter. If he, along with the New Zealand sheep breeders, will help to solve this diffi I culty for us, then nothing further need be i said. Wk n Mr Massey was over here, 1 ; presented him with two pure bred Wensle-y- -| dale rams, with no other idea than trying Ito help in this matter. They were formally I accepted by the New Zealand Government, i but owing to ' the Hoofr-and-mouth disease I have not yet been allowed to leave these j shores, although nine to ten months have I passed since then. THE WENSLEYDALE TYPES. I “I have never claimed that the Wensley- | dale is the perfect sheep- to put matters j right, but simply suggested trying it. Surely the climate ot New Zealand is not wilder and colder than that of Yorkshire, and the j rainfall is not heavier in the Colony than j here. Mr Matthews states that they are too I leggy for the New Zealand frozen mutton 1 trade. I have never seen a leggy Wensteyj dale. There are two kinds —one fairly large kind from the Ripon Wensleydale districts, and oa.e much smaller from the Carnforth limestone districts. It is the latter which 1 advocate trying, because smaller sheep give I better, mutton. I “I have consulted with the butchers here on this matter, and they tell me that the great advantage of this sheep for killing ! purposes is that it is impossible to fatten it ' more than the depth of about one inch, j and you consequently get a better quality and more refined mutton. In the case of I the old Lincoln breed, this sheep would fat- | ten to a great depth, and thereby you get a I big, coarse mutton.” The president observed that the Corriedale had been suggested as an alternative. This breed, he understood, was a pure Lincoln ram crossed with a pure bred merino ewe. This produced- t*e half-bred. Selection was then made of both rams and ewes for breeding purposes from the above halfbred. They were what was known as an “in-bred half-bred.” “I am told,” the president said, “that here it is possible to get badly wrong, as everything depends, on the skill of the breeder in ‘culling’ the poor sheep and selecting the right ones.” Mr G. D. Pearce (New Zealand) agreed that what had been said about the Romney fleece was to a very large extent correct and breeder- wanted to remedy the.defect. With regard to the suggested use of the Wensleydale ram, he mentioned that he had attended the Royal Show in order to see the Wensleydales, and he came to the conclusion that they would not be suitable for New Zealand. He thought they were a | rather ugly sheep, and though the fleece was of very even quality, it was light and would not, he supposed, average more than 5 lb cf wool. The average of their fleece in New Zealand was 10 lb. They could not afford to lose the difference. Of course, they depended a great deal on their mutton and lamb trade, and in his opinion the W’ensleydale would mean a deterioration in their mutton and lamb. Originally in New Zealand almost all the flocks that were not on the high country were of the Lincoln breed, and the cross with the Romney seemed at first to be successful. Now a large proportion of the ewes were Romney, and evidently objection was taken to the wool. They would have to go back to the cross with the Lincoln, or probably the Border Leicester. In the New Zealand wool exhibit at Wembley there was some Border Leicester wool which, he thought, was the very quality they wanted. Many of the Border Leicesters had a light fleece but they were splendid mutton. Mr J.M'lmght (New Zealand) agreed with the previous speaker. He did not think that the Wensleydale had a constitution fitted for the New Zealand climate. Its coat was open, and tae water would get through to the skin. The young fambs would suffer in wet weather. He thought they could produce the kind of wool wanted. They had made a mistake in breeding rather too much for weight in the fleece. The president mentioned that the average weight of the Wensleydale fleece was 10 lb. A breeder of Romney sheep, who said that he was not a colonial, remarked that if they compared the Wensleydale with the Romney he thought they would not send the Wensleydale to a country where there was a tremendous amount of rain. The object of Romney breeders had been to get the wool as thick as possible on the pelt, in order to preserve the constitution of the animal and keep him warm in the winter months.