The Organisation of the Wool Industry. 191 
The cost to the members for dealing with the wool under 
the scheme amounted to just |d. per lb. ; this sum covered 
payment for the following : — Renting depot, wages and main- 
tenance of expert classer, wages to labourers employed to assist 
in the classing, interest on capital outlayed in the purchase of 
weighing machines, wool presses and other installations, and 
depreciation on same ; cost of wool-packs and packing of wool ; 
railway freight from Malton, Yorkshire, to Hull ; sea freight 
from Hull to London ; insurance from the time the wool was 
received at the depot until it was sold ; port dues at London ; 
warehousing charges, advertising, cataloguing, and broker’s 
charges. 
In Carnarvonshire a special Wool Society was formed under 
the title of the Carnarvonshire Wool Society. A number of 
members joined the Society and promised the sale of their 
wool through it, and forty-four of these sent in 10,000 fleeces to 
be sold. A depot was rented at Portmadoc, and work was 
carried out on exactly the same lines as those adopted at Malton, 
Yorkshire. In October, 1913, 133 bales of Welsh wool were 
catalogued for sale amongst the Colonial wool at the London 
Wool Exchange. The cost of dealing with this wool to the 
members of the Carnarvonshire Wool Society was more per 
pound than that to the members of the Brandsby Agricultural 
Trading Society for the following reasons : — The fleeces sent in 
by the latter were larger than the Welsh fleeces, weighing 
about 6 lb. each, whereas the fleeces of the small mountain 
sheep did not average 2 lb. each. The work and time 
necessary to class one of the larger fleeces was not more than 
that occupied in carrying out the same operations with one of 
the smaller. The time occupied in classing 133 bales of Welsh 
wool at Portmadoc was one month as compared with eleven 
days for the classing of 197 bales at Malton. When all the 
expenses were paid it was found that the experiment had cost 
the society about 1 \d. per lb. for classing and marketing the 
wool. Figures to show a comparison between the prices 
obtained for the wool classed in these experiments and sold on 
the London Wool Exchange and those obtained for similar wool 
sold in the ordinary way are not readily available owing to the 
great difficulty in securing reliable prices in the case of the latter 
wool, and the difficulty of comparing the prices for classed 
wool with unclassed. The experiments, however, are considered 
to be quite a success, and the farmers concerned have decided 
to adopt similar methods for next season’s clip. 
The Agricultural Organization Society is endeavouring to 
organise further districts for the sale of wool on co-operative 
lines during 1914, and will be pleased to give any further 
information possible with regard to the system advocated, and 
