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be done by the producers of the raw material. This is so obvious that it is remarkable that there has been such a marked lack of co-operation between the woolgrower and wool-user. We in New Zealand are only aware, in a vague way, of the broad fields of utilization of our wools. We realize that relatively less and less is used for clothing ; that much of the crossbred wool is used for moquettes and upholstery, &c., for which purposes several of the much advertised properties of wool are unnecessary; thus exposing this class of wool* in particular to the competition of artificial substitutes when prices are high, but, as a wool-producing country, we are operating largely in the dark. From year to year the grower sends in his wool in the hope that it will find a profitable market. By force of long-established custom almost the only aid the grower receives is adverse criticism from those for whose purposes the wool is unsuitable. The various and regular complaints from Bradford exemplify this. The whole fault is not with the grower. Until quite recently the wool merchants in the manufacturing centres were of the opinion that it was not their business to tell the grower what types of wool to supply. They looked upon themselves as dealers whose sole task was to handle the wool as it came from the primary markets. The grave disadvantages of such a gap between user and producer need no emphasis, and one of the most urgent problems of the wool trade is to bridge that gap. During my visits to England in 1930 and 1933 I took the opportunity of discussing this aspect with manufacturers in England, and happily both merchants and manufacturers are now disposed to co-operate with woolgrowers in studying the influence of changes in the technique of manufacture, or in schedules of demand and changes in distribution of trade. Scientific research in producing and manufacturing countries has quickened the desire for closer working, but there is still a wide field to be examined. Successful co-operation also implies reliable data upon which to base judgments and policies, and it is in the improvement of trade statistics that one of the larger problems of the wool industry is to be found. The situation has in part been met by the inauguration by the Empire Marketing Board of monthly " Wool Intelligence Notes," which it is understood are to be continued by the Imperial Economic Committee. At the moment we can only guess at the trend of demands for wool and of the distribution of this demand between the various grades of wool. The following quotations bear on the question : — Dalgety's Annual " Wool Review," 1932-33. " According to an editorial writer in the Textile Mercury and Argus there is an increasing demand for finer wools compared with crossbreds in all forms of wearing-apparel, and this is having a big influence on the wool industry." " Continental buyers have less orders for strong grades." The following is an extract from Index, July, 1931 —" The World's Staple Wools," by A. N. Shimmin : — At the moment of greatest economic difficulty in production the century-old supremacy of wool is challenged by the increasing rivalry of other textile fibres and the changing habits of consumers. When wool clothing is dear, people naturally reduce their consumption. An increase of world population and the westernizing of dress in Eastern countries have operated to compensate growers and manufacturers in some degree, but wool is still exposed to the competition from artificial silk, in particular, and union fabrics of cotton and artificial silk. Initially, the question of cost turns consumers from wool to other fabrics, but there are several factors in the cross-competition of textile fibres. Attractiveness (colour and design), durability, lightness combined with warmth, are the principal items apart from cost. There can be no doubt that artificial silk made its successful entry into the textile world under the first heading. It made an instant appeal to a generation prepared for more lustrous dress than the typical fabrics made from wool. But having made that conquest, artificial silk must consolidate its gains or the consumer will tire of mere prettiness and demand durability and warmth in larger measure. Technological research is, therefore, the key to the situation. Believers in artificial silk are hard at work to establish its superiority in all the attributes demanded of a textile fibre. The measure of their success is the gauge of the woolgrower's and manufacturer's problem —for artificial silk is a synthetic fibre freed from the limitations of seasonal production by natural growth. Wool research is vital —both in primary markets (on such questions as breeding) and in manufacturing countries —to demonstrate that the clothing properties of the fibre are superior to those

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