The depressed state of the woollen trade, partly consequent on this impolitic tax, was one of the moving causes to the disturbances in the north between 1819 and 1821 ; and the attention of the government was repeatedly directed to this matter by the opposite statements of different parties. In 1824, Mr. Robinson, after alluding to the peculiar tinge of monopoly shown in the arguments of both parties, proposed to admit the export of British wool at a duty of one penny per pound, and the import of foreign wool at an equal duty—thus showing to both parties the same weed of fairness. Neither party seemed very well pleased with the proposal ; but ministers brought it before parlia ment, and carried it into a law. In the following year (1825), Mr. Huskisson carried some of his measures, which still further opened the woollen trade.
In 1828 the wool-growers induced the House of Lords to appoint a Committee of Inquiry ; but the evidence taken before it appears to have convinced the government that it would be wrong policy to re impose the import duty as a protective measure ; and there has not since then been any renewal of the obnoxious duties.
Many of the legislative enactments here alluded to depend evidently on some peculiarity in foreign wool which fits it for mauufacture ; and this was strikingly illustrated in the evidence before the Lords' Com mittee, in 1828, where several eminent manufacturers stated that they could scarcely find a sale for any woollen cloths if made wholly of English wool. This led to many laudable efforts to improve the character of both our long and short-woolled sheep.
We will now briefly trace the progress of the wool-trade, in relation to the produce of English fleeces, and the importation of others from abroad.
In the year 1800 Mr. Luccock estimated the quantity of wool pro duced in England and Wales thus :— a pack being equal to 240 lbs. It has often been asserted that the attempts to Improve the quality of English mutton has deteriorated the quality of the fine wool, but increased the ?starlit!, of the long wool; and this seems to be borne out by the numbers here given. lalr. Ilischoff gives a table to show the quantity of foreign wool imported every year from 1741 to 1341. We will give a few of the years.
These numbers sufficiently show how prone English woollen manufac ture is, when left to itself, to derive aid from the use of foreign wool. All the finer wools used to be brought from Spain ; but in 1765 the elector of Saxony imported into his dominions a few Merino sheep, which have had a most surprising influence on the trade in wool. The Saxony Merinos, instead of degenerating, improved upon their Spanish progenitors, and the wool ,efforded by them has almost driven the Spanish wool out of the English market. In 1800 the imports of wool from Spain were fourteen times as large as from Germany ; whereas in 1840 those from Germany were seventeen times as large as those from Spain.
The inquiries made within the last twenty years, into the history of the wool-trade, present many points of interest. How many sheep there are grazing in the United Kingdom at one time, and how much wool is obtained from them, are matters on which no trustworthy figures have been given. All is guess-work. In 1860 Mr. P. L. Sinirnonda gave a curious comparison of estimates made at different times during the present century, relating, in most instances, to the number of sheep supposed to be living at one time, but more especially to the supposed weight of wool annually obtained from them. These estimates are eleven in number. The quantities, or round numbers, arc as follows :— Mr. Leonard Wray, in 1860, made an earnest attempt to arrive at the truth ; the opinions expressed to Min by wool-growers and wool staplers were most discordant ; but he arrived at a hypothetical result very similar to one which Mr. Southey had put forth in 1851. .311.. Simmonda has given a curious comparison of the wool-produeing powers of various kinds of sheeps' food, only possible since the wide development of the study of agricultural chemistry. According to this comparison, equal weights of the following kinds of food will lead to the production of the following weights of wool :— Peas, wheat, and rye with salt, thus appear to be the best. What is the beat matfea-producing food for sheep, as contrasted with wed-pro ducing, we have no concern with here. There are six different quali ties which manufacturers look for in wool—fineness, or equable thinness of fibre ; fullness, or closeness in the growing of the locks on the sheep ; freeness, or absence of entanglement In the fibres; soundness, or strength of fibre when pulled in combing ; length, or a fitness in the length of fibre for each particular kind of manufacture ; and softness, or a certain degree of silkiness to the touch. According to the degree in which wool possesses any or all of these qualities, so is the price which it will command in the market. During the latter half of the last century, English wool commanded from 6d. to Is. ld. per pound. During the first quarter of the present century, the price varied between the wide limits of 7d. and 3r. Since the freedom of import and export, the price has depended more con sistently on the actual quality. While English wool, very little applicable to the manufacture of fine cloth, sells at 10d. or ls. per pound, Saxony or Merino wool will often command 2s. to 4.1. The good Saxony fleeces are always smaller in weight than the coarser English ; the former varying from 2 lb. to 3 lb., the latter from 4 lb. to 5 lb. About half the home supply is used for worsted goods, and half for cheap woollens ; the best woollens now depend wholly on the use of foreign wool.