PROCEEDIXGS OF SECTION B. 113 



The hard solid sole leathers required iu the wet climate of England 

 are not suitable for the dry Australian climate. Leather to suit the 

 latter should be firm and flexible, but never hard. Sole leather is worn 

 out by friction, and in the dry hot climates it becomes more brittle. 

 People walking on hard roads set up a certain amount of friction, with 

 the result that a hard leather cracks and crumbles away. If, on the 

 other hand, the leather has a small percentage of hard tallow to act as 

 a slight lubricant, the wearing qualities would be increased, and the boot 

 would be decidedly more comfortable as the flexibility of the leather is 

 improved. The actual wearing strength of any leather is not decreased, 

 but generally increased by an excess of a pure fat like stearin, and the 

 percentage of fats in the various leathers is controlled by the efEect 

 it has on the general appearance of the leather goods when manufac- 

 tured. 



When sole leathers are taken from the tan pits to the drying sheds 

 they retain varying amounts of strong tan liquor, and the residue from 

 the liquor is represented by the tannin and non-tannin solubles found 

 in the dry leather. The uncombined tannins give Australian tanners 

 considerable trouble in the summer, owing to the quick drying of the 

 leather bringing the tannin out on the surface, where it forms a thin, 

 hard coating that makes the leather crack. In several tanneries a 

 hygroscopic substance like glucose is used, which certainly prevents the 

 leather from cracking. It is just as well to note that the softest leather 

 produced will crack when the fibre or surface is surrounded by a hard, 

 brittle surface. One is naturally inclined to ask why do the tanners 

 not wash out these uncombined tannins that are the cause of trouble 

 in the manufacture, and make the leather less pliable in summer and 

 absorb the water in the wet season. 



Tanners are competing against the world. In the Australasian hide 

 markets, the local men have to outbid American and European buyers, 

 and Australian exported leather must compete with the productions of 

 Europe and America. If the average sole leather taken from England, 

 America, Germany, or Australia were thoroughly washed it would 

 probably lose 10 per cent, of its weight, requiring 11*1 per cent, increase 

 in the price per lb. to give the tanner the same return for his hide of 

 leather. This change is desirable, and will probably be brought to a 

 successful issue in the future, and welcomed by the majority of tanners i 

 but the question is, would the boot manufacturers recognise the differ- 

 ence and pay the extra price ? The hide of leather with the total 

 solubles removed would return the same number of soles for boots as 

 the hide Avith the high percentage of soluble matter, but if the leather 

 were not so thick after rolling with the total solubles removed, another 

 factor would be brought into what is already a complex subject. 



A standard method of estimating the total solubles is required, 

 and the present one of washing powdered leather with an excess of 



