Handling of British Wool. 



9 



knows just as well as the wool merchant. It is, however, 

 very difficult to persuade the farmer to leave his ancient 

 practices. Many years ago the Corporation of Doncaster 

 started a fair which was held every Saturday during June, July, 

 and August. At that time there were from 400 to 1,000 sheets 

 per week shown, principally of Lincoln wool. The railway 

 companies and the Corporation of Doncaster provided every 

 facility, but how was the fair regarded by the Lincolnshire 

 farmer? Probably not 10 per cent, of the wool shown 

 belonged to the grower. The bulk of the wool sold there 

 was the property of jobbers and dealers who had gone 

 round the country during the preceding week and bought 

 it up, 



The wool stapler, whether in Bradford or in the country 

 districts, fulfils a useful function, for which the trade can 

 afford to pay He understands wool and classes it to suit 

 the requirements of the manufacturer, in a similar manner to 

 that adopted by the Colonial and Argentine grader. 

 But the man who is a mere dealer knows no more about wool 

 than a farmer. He sells the article in the same condition as he 

 got it. He takes his profit out of it for doing something which 

 the farmers might do for themselves. Doncaster market, for 

 example, is easily accessible to Lincolnshire farmers. Many 

 men would go there to buy wool who are never seen among 

 farmers, but who would prefer to deal with the grower for 

 many reasons. They could afford to spend a day at Don- 

 caster, but could not afford to spend a week at the farms over 

 the same or a less quantity of wool. 



It seems to me that auction sales conducted under the 

 auspices of, say, a county agricultural society, where the 

 selling authority should be treated as an arbitrator and 

 stand between the seller and the buyer as a protection 

 against any kind of unfair treatment of wool, is the ideal 

 scheme for trading between the wool grower and the manu- 

 facturer. It cannot be expected that the present style of 

 business can continue in face of the competition which exists 

 and the desirability of reducing the amount of time spent 

 over this business. 



It should not oe overlooked that the annual clip of home- 



