Commerce.—Of wool and hair the chief raw materials consumed in the industries noticed in this article, in addition to the home product, the country requires a large supply from extraneous sources. The principal of these are Australia, New Zealand, the Cape of Good Hope, S. America, Russia, and smaller amounts from many other places. The Annual Abstract of the Board of Trade Returns for the year 1880 gives the following figures as those of our total imports of these articles for the under-mentioned years :—Of sheep and lambs' wool our imports were 160,960,9071b, value 26,194,310/., to which must be added for other kinds and flocks 2,135,772 lb., value 115,352/. Of goats' hair or wool, 13,566,019 lb., value 1,233,855/. ; alpaca, vicuna, and llama, 2,548,056 lb., value 181,097/. ; horse-hair, 27,471 cwt., value 181,215/. ; cow, ex, bull, or elk, 85,122 cwt., value 103,482/. ; unenumerated varieties, value 227,029/. ; and woollen rags 41,266 tons, value 820,366/., or a total value of 29,062,7061. Against these must be set exports of native grown and imported:— Sheep and lambs' wool (British), 17,197,300 lb., value 1,187,113/. ; other sorts, including flocks e.nd rag wool, 12,967,900 lb., value 546,671/., or a total per contra of 1,733,784/.
Of manufactured and semi-manufactured articles from these industries we exported during 1880 :—Of woollen (carded) yarn, 851,800 lb., value 106,922/. ; of worsted (combed) yarn, the amount was much greater, 25,612,500 lb., value 3,237,818/. Of woollen manufactures :—bread-clotbs, coatings, duffels, &e., plain. all wool, 19,406,400 yd., 11,430,400 lb., value 2,382,492/. ; same articles of wool mixed with other materials, 26,509,100 yil., 28,988,300 lb., value 3,077,271/. ; narrow cloths as in first item, all wool, 4,430,900 yd., 2,840,600 lb., value 537,933/. ; same descriptions in mixtures, S,1;5:1,s00 , 5.775.800 lb., value 7:N,:i65/ Worsted stuffs, all wool, 17,192,900 7,083,200 lb., value 1,028,631/. ; worsted stuffs, of wool mixed with other materials, 172,747,800 yd., 42,452,300 lb., value 6,212,525/. Blankets and blanketing, 6,388,700 yd., 7,453,000 lb., value
586,580/. ; flannels, 6,697,800 yd., 2,400,300 lb., value 310,508/. Carpets, not being rugs, 9,328,300 yd., 14,593,900 lb., value 1,133,545/. ; rugs, coverlets, or wrappers, No. 1,168,840, value 360,526/. The subsidiary branches yield the following :—Shawls, No. 736,892, value 157,803/. ; hosiery, 320,026/. ; small wares and manufactures of wool and worsted unenumerated, 418,312/. ; yarn, alpaca, mohair, and other sorts unenumerated, 877,953, The total of these amounts is the grand sum of 21,487,810/. representing the value of our manufactured and semi-manufactured goods of which wool forms the principal ingredient.
The following figures affoid FL comparison of our imports of raw materials for several years past :— These figures, however, only imperfectly represent our supply imported to supplement our domestic production. There requires to be added the amount accruing from the importation of live animals for slaughter, dead or skin wools and hair, and the vast quantity of rags needed to swell the total required for the production of shoddy.
Bibliography.—J. Smith, Chronicum Rusticum Commerciale : or Memoirs of Wool ' (London : 1747); ' Wool and Woollen Trade of Great Britain ' (London : 1800) ; R. Bakewell, Observations on Wool ' (London : 1808); J. Bischoff, • History of the Woollen and Worsted Manufactures ' (London : 1842) ; J. Yates, Textrinum Antiquorum ' (London : 1843); T. Southey, Colonial Sheep and Wools ' (London : 1852); J. James, • History of the Worsted Manufacture in Englancl ' (London : 1857); M. Alcan, • Traitd du Travail de la Laine Cardde' (Paris: 1867) ; Carcenac, Des Textiles Vagetaux et des Laines ' (Paris : 1869); C. Leroux, ' Manufacture of Worsted and Carded Yarns ' (Philadelphia : 1869); W. Smith, • History of Morley, Yorkshire ' (London : 1876) ; W. Youatt, Sheep ' (2nd ed., London : 1878); Lorin Blodgett Textile Industries of Philadelphia ' (Philadelphia : 1880) ; "Textile Manufacturer ' (Manchester : 1875- ) ; Manufacturers' Review and Industrial Record ' (New York).