WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 203 



These figures show the relative importance of the home 

 grown wool to the foreign wool. English farmers undoubtedly 

 have to face severe competition in the wool supplies from 

 abroad, yet they should still be able to maintain a fair 

 position for their own wool if properly marketed. It is 

 here, however, that the difficulty arises, and, inasmuch as 

 the English wool is too often not properly marketed, our 

 farmers are at a double disadvantage. 



Wool from abroad is carefully graded into different classes, 

 packed in bales, each bale containing a recognisable class 

 of wool, and sent in large consignments to the London 

 market, where buyers from all parts of the world bid against 

 one another for it ; whereas the English wool is not graded, 

 or very imperfectly so, is packed in bulky sheets, is sold in 

 small or comparatively small lots either through local 

 brokers or at local auction fairs, fetches a lower price 

 because the dealer has to buy all sorts together, and in 

 many cases passes through several hands before reaching 

 the woollen manufacturers, intermediate profits being thus 

 made which ought to go into the pockets of the sheep 

 farmers themselves. 



Individually the farmers might not be able to alter 

 conditions which are so much to their disadvantage ; but 

 the opinion is entertained that, by a resort to combination 

 on co-operative lines, and by improving the conditions 

 under which their wool is offered to the buyers, they would 

 be in a better position to compete on the London market 

 with wool from abroad, or, alternatively, should be able to 

 get better prices when selling their wool, for home use, on 

 other English markets. 



In January, 1912, a conference of those interested in the 

 wool-growing industry was held at the offices of the Society 

 to consider the whole question, and a resolution was passed 

 to the effect that the advantages to be obtained by the sheep 

 farmers of England and Wales from a scheme of organisation 

 of the wool industry on co-operative lines appeared to be 

 very great, and that it was, therefore, desirable that action 

 should be taken in the matter. 



