THE WOOL INDUSTRY IN AUSTRALASIA.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXIV, Issue 12732, 30 March 1909, Page 4

THE WOOL INDUSTRY IN AUSTRALASIA.

At the present time, when one hears so much about the price of wool, it is interesting to note that there was a period in the history of wool-growing in Australasia when what we now look upon as our staple article of produce brought a very much liiglwr figure than it has of recent years. Fancy wool selling at 16s 4d per lb. That was the Australian record, reached nearly a century ago, since when such a remarkable figure has never been approached,* though there have been many great fluctuations in prices and many fortunes have been lost and won in wool speculation. In an absorbingly interesting article in Dalgety's Eeview, just to hand, the story of the wool industry in Australasia is told, how from the most primitive start a little more than a hundred years ago, the industry has been systematically developed until it has reached an exceedingly high point in the commercial world. The tine merino wool industry of Australia did not come into life by any mere chance, out by sheer grit and energy, in the face of 'almost superhuman difficulties. When first the idea of developing the merino in Australia was mooted, scientists declared that beyoud all doubt the covering of the sheep would degenerate into hair as they were taken near the equator. Yet the merino has attained a perfection in Australia Burpassing even that of the historic Spanish flocks from which they originated, and which in the eighteenth century were regarded as representing the acme of perfection. The record has not been one of uninterrupted progress by any means. Each of the early settlements has had its full share of boom and disaster, and each has, happily, worked out its own destiny. Each in turn has had to face relentless droughts, ruthlessly and cruelly decimating its flocks, or fire and flood, carrying equally appalling disaster. The pioneers had to brave the dangers of savage treachery, as the natives, resenting the white man's advance, harassed him and stole or killed his sheep, and a hidden native marvellously skilled in spear-throwing and with a soul full of revenge was not a pleasant neighbour. A good many of the early disasters were caused by a not unnatural desire to hurry the fruition of pioneering labour uud in building up an unhealthy state of boom vahies for stock, bringing about a temporary land of plenty until the boom burst and caused a sad collapse. At times, too, there was a tendency to regard numbers as more important than quality, but the lesson had to be learnt and the lost ground regained. The industry had to struggle along through the wild excitement of the gold-digging days, -when shepherds could not for love nor money be induced to remain with their flocks; it had to face all sorts of pests and natural drawbacks, and of late years it has had to fight»the übiquitous rabbit for possession of its choicest country. Pluck and perseverance have won in the past as they will continue to do in the future. The conditions of the industry changed when fencing superseded the shepherd, and it is changing to-day as the land becomes more closely settled, but the change is a natural and healthy one, and will tend to • far greater development in the future than has been possible in the pa«t.

It is to Captain John Macarthur, of the 102 nd Regiment, who with his wife and son landed in Sydney in 1790, that Australia owes a lasting debt of gratitude as

the founder of her wool industry, and the Rev. Samuel Marsdcn and others materially assisted. For 40 years Captain Macarthur laboured to place the industry on a solid foundation, and he it was who produced such wool that his fleece sold at prices ranging up to 16s 4d per lb, which he obtained in 1827, while as early as 1807 his first wool exported realised 10s 6d, and in 1821 his wool sold at auction in London for 10s 4d per lb. It is recorded that during the first few years of the Sydney Cove settlement the covering of the sheep, which were imported from India and the Cape, was straight, coarse hair, and absolutely useless from a woolman's point of view. In fact, when a sample was sent Home for expert opinion, the advice which came back was to mix' it with mortar in building houses. While on a visit to England the Key. Mr Marsden had the honour to be presented with five merinos from King George's flocks, in recognition of his efforts in improving the breed of sheep. Marsden, however, admittedly did not make fine wool his main object. In a let- . ter to Governor King, in 1805, he says his main object has been to improve the constitution of the .sheep, the weight of the carcase and the quality of the wool. "I have not always," he says, chosen a ram with the finest fleece to breed from; anyone that has appeared deficient in weight and constitution has generally been rejected, though his fleece might be of a superior quality." He states that one truebred Spanish ram and ewe with four halfbred Southdown rams were the sheep that improved his flock far beyond his expectations as regards beauty, constitution, weight, and fleece. The pure Spanish breed he found delicate in constitution and lighter in carcase than the crossbred. 'This remark," he says, "is merely stated as an opinion, because I think that the number of true-bred Spanish sheep have been and still are so few that no certain general practical principle can be established respecting them. Perhaps they may be found hereafter to be equally as hardy as other breeds." Captain Macarthur stated that in 1801 the heaviest fleece shorn was 3ilb, while in 1802 the average weight was 51b, and the wool was finer and softer. The fleece of one sheep bred at the Cape was valued at 4s 6d per lb, and a fleece bred at Parramatta was estimated at 6s per lb. A book published in 1823 attracted a good deal of attention to Australia as a wool-producing country. The author declared that wool would return an average annual income of 36 per cent, on the capital invested. He deducted from wool returns Id per lb for sorting and packing in Australia, 2d per lb for freight, £Z 10s per cent, insurance, duty to England Id per lb, as well as commission charges, and gave the net value of fine wool at 3s 6d per lb; lambs' wool, fine, 2s; and ordinary Is Gd. It was in the early forties that things were in a fearfully bad way with pastoralists, and it was a common thing at forced sales for sheep to be sold at 2s, and even Is each, with the station thrown in. Wentworth in 1843 told the Sydney Legislative Council that men with 10,000 sheep could not get credit with the merchants for a bag of sugar nor a chest of tea. Eelief came when the idea of boiling down sheep for their skins and tallow was adopted. In Adelaide, after the bursting of the boom in the fifties, wool went down to a low ebb, and sheep which had cost 38s each sold at 2s 6d. The crash sent the men from *the city into the country to work out their destiny, and thus out of disaster came great and permanent good. A squatting system was adopted, and the sheep industry expanded. In the bad times boiling down flourished, and mutton fell to l^d per lb, and a leg could be had for 6d. Other States have had similar experiences, Queensland especially suffering, the number of sheep in that State diminishing between 1868 and 1872 by over 2,000,000,0 wing, owing to a terrible drought. Notwithstanding the many and serious vicissitudes, the merino wool industry in Australia was never in such a sound and flourishing condition as it is to-day, and the number of sheep in Australia last year was 88,000,000, and the value of the wool exported, for the same period \fes nearly .£28,000,000,