The Wanganui Herald [PUBLISHED DAILY] TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1905. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19,1905. INJURING SALE OF N.Z. WOOL.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11666, 19 September 1905, Page 4

The Wanganui Herald [PUBLISHED DAILY] TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1905. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19,1905.

INJURING SALE OF N.Z. WOOL.

The false packing of bales of wopl is,- it is said, becoming a serious menace to the wool sales held in New Zealand, and documentary evidence to that effect has been given to a Christchurch Press reporter by the "Secretary of the Christchurch ■ Wool Buyers' Association. In one case a London buyer complained that wool purchased in Christchurch at'sd a' pound "contained nothing but dags in the middle of the bales." In another the buyer wrote: "Tlhe wool in that portion of the bale exposed for valuation is totally different from that in the lower portion of the bales, which is much, inferior." The latter case was referred by~ the Asbociation to the arbitrators, who reported that the whole line had been falsely packed, and recommended the Association to to proceed against the vendor under threats of prosecution. -The latter disgorged. Another authority, a }??3} ; yro °^ buyer, declares that at a' recent esle ,in Canterbury he bought a line of wool, only one bale of which was opened for inspection. On putting a knife into the bales ho discovered that each bale contained only a few fleeces of the quality shown in the sample bale. At a subsequent interview between purchaser and vendor the latter agreed to take 3d per lb lees »than he had actually sold for. Last week he was speaking to a friend of his, who casually remarked that ha, had heard two wool-growers in Canterbury mutually congratulating each other on how they had "packed" (falsely) their wool. "It so happens," said the buyer, "that I have bought wool from one of these men for some years. I was content to see a sample of one bale, but in future every single bale will be knifed." The Canterbury Chamber ofNCommerce has also received circulars from the Bradford Chamber of Commerce dealing with the presence of vegetable matter in the wool sent to England. It is stated that spinners and manufacturers at Home complain that increasing quantities of vegetable matter, such as fragments of hemp, jute, string, straw, and dried grass are found in colonial and foreign wools. This appears to be due in some cases to the sheep being shorn and the fleeces wound in places where fragmenta of grass and straw are littered about, and in others, and more largely, to the string and the hemp or jute material used in packing the wool for shipment, this material moreover be-^ ing said to be inferior to that- used some years ago, inasmuch as it appears to be more loosely spun and woven, and is, consequently, mora easily frayed. The circular adds that during handling, in Shipping, unshipping, and warehousing the bales become more or less daamgod, and fragments of the bagging* and sewing twine get intimately mixed with the wool. Owng'to the colour beng practcally the same, these fragments are very dfficult to detect. Should, they not /be detected and removed when the wool is sorted, they not only become as 'white -as the wool itself during the B\ibseo[went stages of" scouring and combing, but are also reduced to small particles and distributed more thoroughly among the wool. It is practically impossible to detect their presence in the top or yarn. They consequently become incorporated in .the woven piece, and are not visible until the piece is dyed and finished.^ Vegetable fibres absolutely Tefuse to take the^dyes used for' wool; consequently, when the. pieces are dyed and finished, these particles of vegetable matter appear in black goods as tiny white streaks, and in goods of other shades they are also easily, perceived. The value of the finished .article is thuß seriously depreciated. • Some of the principal remedies suggested are: ; — (1) that care should be taken to see that no grass^. straw, etc., is wound with the fleeces; (2)' that as far as practicable the bales', should be cut open at the seams; where that is not done care being taken to so cut the bagging as to damage it as little as possible in order to minimise the fraying of the loose ends; (3) that the bagging

should be paper linad (i.e., that\it should consist of a double texture, bagging onone side and paper on the other) so as to prevent detached fragments of the bagging from getting into the wool; and (4) that the string used for sewing up the bales should be dyed black, so that' if any fragments get into the wool they may bo more readily detected and removed during sorting. A Christchurch gentleman interested in the wool export business informed a Lyttelton Times reporter that a great deal of the trouble was caused by small farmers sewing, up their bales of good with* binder twine, as it gets into the wool, and cannot Jbe got out

again. In regard to the suggestion that the bagging should be paper-lined, he says that that could not be done in the colony, but it might be .possible to dye the string .used for sewing up the bales. The matters above alluded to should be carefully noted by wool growers and exporters on this coast. s '