92 THE SHEEP AND WOOL INDUSTRY 



number of lines which are necessary, each line of wool containing 

 fleeces of about the same yielding power. By doing this you 

 get all the lightest and all the heavy-conditioned fleeces in 

 even lines, and if these lines of wool have been well and evenly 

 classed the wool-buyer has no great trouble in estimating the 

 yield of each different line of wool ; but if you have heavy-con- 

 ditioned fleeces mixed together with the light-conditioned ones, 

 it is very difficult for a buyer to estimate the yield correctly, and 

 his estimation will be on the heaviest-conditioned fleeces he can 

 find in the bale. The best of some of our pastoralists' wool may 

 be suitable for America, but if he has mixed it with the heavy- 

 conditioned fleeces of his clip he immediately loses that competi- 

 tion. At the present time the American wool importers have to 

 pay 5^d. per Ib. duty on greasy wool going into the United States, 

 so they only purchase the very best and high-yielding wools. 

 When they pay 5^d. on a Ib. of greasy wool they want to get 

 as much clean scoured wool as possible in that Ib. of greasy wool, 

 otherwise they are paying 5^d. per Ib. duty on more grease and 

 dirt than is necessary. For instance, if an American bought 

 100 Ib. weight of Merino wool yielding 40 per cent, clean scoured, 

 and paid duty on it, he would be paying 5^d. per Ib. duty on 60 Ib. 

 of grease and dirt, which would be of no use to him whatever. 

 When looking for a Merino wool he wants a line that will yield 

 about 55 per cent, and upwards. The duty on scoured wool 

 in the United States is i6d. per Ib., which practically prohibts 

 scoured wool altogether. The Americans purchase all qualities 

 of wool from Lincoln to Merino. They frequently purchase our 

 coarse wools of 40*3 quality (Lincoln wool) freely, and pay very 

 high prices for them. Americans mostly buy the sound, bright, 

 and long-stapled wools. In fact, the pick of the Australian wool 

 usually goes to America, as they buy most of the top or super 

 lines of all the big Victorian, New South Wales, and Tasmanian 

 clips. 



The present American President Dr. Woodrow Wilson and 

 his Party are likely to remove the duty on greasy wool. Should 

 the duty be removed or considerably lowered the American com- 



