Wool and its Uses. 
167 
IDoiiits to watck to be able to spend the time wliicli his forefathers 
did in collecting his supply of wool in the days when English 
manufacturers had a practical monopoly of the world's commerce, 
and when English wool formed the backbone of the trade. 
What is wanted is that growers should regard their dealings in 
wool as a purely commercial transaction, and that the greater 
the promptitude with which it is got through the better for all 
parties. The tendency of modern commerce is to bring the 
producer and consumer nearer together. I suppose that this 
tendency will reach the English wool-grower some day. 
But up to the present the position of things will be best 
illustrated by the remark that the arrival of one or two con- 
sumers in any country district is sufficient to stop any business 
for a week. They have gone to buy, and presumably the grower 
wants to sell ; but at sight of a wool-buyer from the consuming 
districts prices are at once put up to a prohibitive level, and it 
takes about a week of pig-dealing amenities to bring the two 
parties together and the wool to a market pi'ice. The common 
affection of ignorance of prices on the grower's part will not 
justify these proceedings. He is not so ignorant as he gives 
himself out to be when it suits his purpose, and he knows the 
value of his article just as well as the buyer. 
Let the farmer remember the figures of imports of wool 
which I have given, and dismiss from his mind old-time notions 
of great rises in price, and of the importance of the position of 
English wool. Let him meet the buyer in a businesslike spirit. 
" Time is money " may be truly said of the business now, and 
the loser is the man Avho wilfully wastes the time. 
Beyond this there is the question of fairs and auctions. 
Being an auctioneer of wool myself, those who have a profound 
belief in interested motives as the mainspring of things may, 
if they choose, take my remarks cum grano salis. I certainly 
incline to the auction as the most businesslike manner of 
moving the wool from the grower's hands. To be properly 
successful, however, it requires suiting to the exigencies of the 
British farmer. 
An auction sale of wool should be established on a suffi- 
ciently large basis to make it important to the buyer. It should 
have a public character, and be held under the control of some 
body which would command the confidence of agriculturists. 
I throw out the suggestion that the County Agricultural Societies, 
or, better stUl, the County Chambers of Agriculture, should take 
the matter in hand. One of these two bodies should have entire 
control of the goods, see to the weighing and other details, and 
appoint the auctioneer. The wool allowed to be sold at these 
sales should be the bond fide property of the growers, no dealer or 
