Australian Wool Research Articles

British pastoral companies and the Australian wool industry during the great depression

Abstract In the 1930s Australian wool marketing was dominated by six large pastoral companies, two of them largely local owned and the remainder being British based. Apart from their marketing role the companies were major sources of credit and suppliers of farm requisites and machinery for woolgrowers. The article examines the behaviour of pastoral companies when faced with the financial stress of the great depression. The main conclusion of the analysis is that a rural mythology, which portrayed them as exploiters of vulnerable woolgrowers, fails to recognize the true nature of their behaviour and the constraints in which they operated.

Book reviews

Book reviews

Australian Sheep and Wool Handbook

Australian Sheep and Wool Handbook

ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF RESEARCH INTO TRADED GOODS: THE CASE OF AUSTRALIAN WOOL

The final incidence of benefits and costs of wool industry research and development (R&D) undertaken in Australia depends greatly on the nature of the R&D and the way it is funded. Using preferred parameter values, the Australian share of benefits from farm‐level R&D is 58 per cent (falling to 40 per cent if there is 50 per cent adoption of the new technology by producers overseas); the Australian shares of benefits from wool‐processing R&D ere 24 per cent (topmaking) and 27 per cent (textile‐processing). Under current funding arrangements, an Australian wool tax provides about one‐eighth of total R&D funds, a matching government grant provides another one‐eighth, and other public sector funds make up the remaining three‐quarters. Under these arrangements, the final incidence of the costs is 95 per cent on Australians (mostly taxpayers at large), and the wool industry bears only 12.5 per cent of the costs of its R&D. One implication is that a wool tax alone is a more equitable and efficient means of financing wool‐industry R&D than the current arrangements.

Book reviews

Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce 1450–1680, Volume One: The Lands below the Winds by Anthony Reid. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1988. Pp. xvi + 275, maps, illustrations. £30.00 (hardback), £10.95 (paperback). The Merchants Adventurers and the Continental Cloth Trade (1560s‐1620s) by Wolf‐Rüdiger Baumann. European University Institute, Series B/2, and Berlin, de Gruyter, 1990. Pp. xiv + 425, 2 maps, 3 charts, 46 tables, appendices. Work and Labor in Early America edited by Stephen Innes. Chapel Hill and London: Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1988, 1989, Pp. vii + 297. $32.95 (hardback), $10.95 (paperback). The Fuller Letters 1728–1755: Guns, Slaves and Finance edited by David Crossley and Richard Saville. Sussex Record Society, volume 76. Lewes, 1991. Pp. xxxvii + 307, illustrations. £17.50 (hardback). United States Expansionism and British North America, 1775–1871 by Reginald C. Stuart. Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1988. Pp. xiii + 374. $42.00. Border Diplomacy: The Caroline and McLeod Affairs in Anglo‐American‐Canadian Relations, 1837–1842 by Kenneth R. Stevens. Tuscaloosa and London: University of Alabama Press, 1989. Pp. xii + 225. $36.95. The Ideal of the Self‐Governing Church: A Study in Victorian Missionary Strategy by C. Peter Williams (Studies in Christian Mission Series). Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1990. Pp. xiii + 293. $84.57. New Women for God. Canadian Presbyterian Women and India Missions, 1876–1914 by Ruth Compton Brouwer. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1990. Pp. xi + 294, tables. £30.00/$55.00 (hardback), £12.95/$20.95 (paperback). Path to Gallipoli: Defending New Zealand 1840–1915 by Ian McGibbon. Petone: G.P. Books; 1991. Pp. xiv + 274, maps and photographs. NZ $49.95 (hardback), NZ $39.95 (paperback). Defending the Empire: The Conservative Party and British Defence Policy, 1899–1915 by Rhodri Williams. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1991. Pp. x + 306, illus. £25/$40. Tin‐Pots and Pirate Ships: Canadian Naval Forces and German Sea Raiders 1880–1918 by Michael L. Hadley and Roger Sarty. Montreal and Kingston: McGill‐Queen's University Press, 1991. Pp. xv + 387. $34.95. Arthur Berriedale Keith 1879–1944: The Chief Ornament of Scottish Learning by Ridgway F. Shinn. Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press, 1990. Pp. xv + 386. £25.00. Cyprus and the Governorship of Sir Ronald Storrs: The Causes of the 1931 Crisis by G.S. Georghallides. Cyprus Historical Centre: Nicosia, 1985. Pp. 1079. The Making of Modern Cyprus: From Obscurity to Statehood by Stavros Panteli. Interworld Publications: New Barnet, 1990. Pp. 287. £6.50. Urbanism, Colonialism, and the World‐Economy. Cultural and Spatial Foundations of the World Urban System; and Global Cities. Post‐Imperialism and the Internationalization of London. Both by Anthony D. King. London andNew York: Routledge, 1990. Pp. xii + 189, xiv + 194. Markets, Money and Empire: The Political Economy of the Australian Wool Industry by Kosmas Tsokhas. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1990, Pp. viii + 235. The Hongkong Bank in the Period of Development and Nationalism, 1941–1984 by Frank H. H. King. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991. Pp. xlviii + 991. £60.00 China, Britain and Hong Kong 1895–1945 by Chan Lau Kit‐Ching. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1990. Pp xvi + 479. US$30.00 Promoting Prosperity. The Hong Kong Way of Social Policy by Catherine Jones. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1990. Pp. iv + 374. US$25.00 Asia in Western Fiction edited by Robin W. Winks and James R. Rush. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1990. Pp. x + 229. £14.95 (paperback). Nationalism and Communal Politics in India, 1885–1930 by Mushirul Hasan. Manohar, 1991. Pp. x + 338. Rs. 250. Edwina Mountbatten ‐ A Life of her Own by Janet Morgan. London: Harper Collins, 1991. Pp. 508. £20.00. Resistance and Control in Pakistan by Akbar S. Ahmed. London: Routledge, 1991. Pp. xxiv + 207. £12.99 (paperback). The New Cambridge History of India: The Politics of India Since Independence by Paul R. Brass. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990. Pp. x + 357. £22.50.

THE RETURNS TO INVESTMENT IN RESEARCH ON AUSTRALIAN WOOL PRODUCTION*

A production function approach is used to estimate growth in farm productivity in the Australian wool industry from an estimated level of expenditure on wool production R & D. A market equilibrium model of the wool industry is then used to measure the share of total benefits from this productivity growth accruing to Australia and its wool growers. A net return is estimated after allowing for lags in the development and adoption of technology.

Comparative performance of South Australian Merino and Poll Dorset × Merino ewes mated to Suffolk rams

Reproductive performance of Poll Dorset × South Australian Merino (PD × M) ewes was superior to that of South Australian Merino (M) genotype with 10% more pregnant ewes, 11% more lambs born per pregnant ewe, and a 7% better lamb survival rate. This resulted in 22 more lambs slaughtered per 100 ewes exposed. Merino ewes produced more greasy wool (6.08 vs. 4.35 kg) of finer fibre diameter (27.5 vs. 32.9 μm) than PD × M ewes. Mature liveweight at mating of PD × M ewes was 17% more than that of M ewes (57.8 vs. 50.1 kg). Carcasses of lambs from PD × M ewes were heavier (18.7 vs. 16.8 kg), shorter per unit carcass weight (698 vs. 783 mm carcass length per 16.9 kg carcass weight), and fatter (13.0 vs. 11.6 mm; GR fat depth) when evaluated at similar carcass weight as compared with carcasses of lambs from M ewes. Skin weight and skin wool characteristics of lambs were similar between genetic groups. Under 1987 and 1988 Australian wool and sheep meat market price conditions, the economic worth of M ewes per unit metabolic weight (mature weight 0.75) was 45% more profitable than that of PD × M ewes.

THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF TWO AUSTRALIAN WOMEN SCIENTISTS TO ITS WOOL INDUSTRY

By the early 1960s there was a general decline in the consumption of wool, Australia's leading export. Prices were falling and it became clear that wool was suffering from the competitive advantages of the artificial fibres then starting to flood world markets. If the wool industry were to compete successfully, a high quality fleece would have to be produced by growers and the disadvantages of felting and shrinking would have to be overcome. Two Australian women scientists addressed these problems. One was concerned with the genetics of sheep breeding; the other worked on the physics of wool fibres to reduce their limitations in the textile product. The paper examines the major contributions made by these women in meeting the threat to the Australian wool industry posed by the development of synthetics.

RESEARCH NOTE: EXCHANGE RATES AND SOUTH AFRICAN WOOL PRICES / Wisselkoerse en Suid-Afrikaanse wolpryse

Abstract The effects of the exchange rate of the Rand and of the Australian Dollar, as well as the effect of general price levels on South African wool prices were analysed. The results fail to show an effect of general price levels and the exchange rate of the Rand. South African wool prices are materially affected by Australian prices. However, Australian wool prices again, which dominate the market. are affected by exchange rates of the Australian Dollar. Thus, South African wool prices are indirectly affected by the exchange rate of the Australian Dollar.

ESTIMATING SOURCES OF FLUCTUATIONS IN THE AUSTRALIAN WOOL MARKET: AN APPLICATION OF VAR METHODS

Vector autoregression (VAR) methods are used to analyse the contribution of supply, demand and policy shocks to unpredictable fluctuations in the market for Australian wool. VAR procedures are compared with conventional structural econometric models as methods for decomposing sources of instability. While each has advantages and disadvantages, VAR procedures might be viewed as preferable when the underlying market structure is complex and uncertain, as it is in the case of wool. Based on the results obtained, demand shocks are the dominant source of uncertainty in the wool market in the absence of Australian Wool Corporation intervention, but intervention has blunted their effects, reducing market uncertainty and increasing the average level of prices and revenues.

The forecasting approach to efficiency in the wool market

This paper develops and presents estimates of a simultaneous equations model of the Australian wool market, the world's largest producer and exporter of fine wool. The model contains functional relationships for unhedged inventories, consumption of raw wool, and the activities of both hedgers and speculators in wool futures. Expectations are represented by the adaptive hypothesis. This model extends the work of Leuthold and Hartmann (1979) and Leuthold and Garcia (1988) by including expectations in the spot-futures model, and that of Goss and Giles (1986) by including composite equations for hedger-speculators, extending the expectations hypothesis to the consumption equation, and by using the model to test the efficient markets hypothesis. Wald tests and likelihood ratio tests for unit roots in wool cash prices are conducted and in no case can the hypothesis of a single unit root be rejected. Estimation is by three stage least squares, with correction for first order serial correlation. The model provide...

THE PROSPECTS FOR FURTHER PROCESSING OF WOOL

Economic Papers: A journal of applied economics and policyVolume 9, Issue 1 p. 65-76 THE PROSPECTS FOR FURTHER PROCESSING OF WOOL BOB RICHARDSON, BOB RICHARDSONSearch for more papers by this authorJOHN O'CONNOR, JOHN O'CONNOR Australian Wool Corporation. An earlier version of this paper was presented to a Conference of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences.Search for more papers by this author BOB RICHARDSON, BOB RICHARDSONSearch for more papers by this authorJOHN O'CONNOR, JOHN O'CONNOR Australian Wool Corporation. An earlier version of this paper was presented to a Conference of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences.Search for more papers by this author First published: March 1990 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1759-3441.1990.tb00593.x AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume9, Issue1March 1990Pages 65-76 RelatedInformation

THE IMPACT OF FARM AND PROCESSING RESEARCH ON THE AUSTRALIAN WOOL INDUSTRY*

An equilibrium displacement model of the world wool top industry is used to estimate the returns to the Australian wool industry from productivity improvements in farm production, in top making and in textile manufacturing. The returns to the industry from these different types of research and development are sensitive to the extent of substitution possibilities between Australian wool and other inputs used by the wool processing and textile industries but it appears that research resources have to be much more efficient in off‐farm activities for the Australian wool industry to receive benefits similar to those from farm research activities.

Temperate Pastures. Edited by J. L. Wheeler, C. J. Pearson & G. E. Robards. 609 pages. Melbourne: CSIRO and Australian Wool Corporation. 1987. Price $A70.00, including surface postage, from CSIRO Editorial and Publishing Unit, PO Box 89, East Melbourne, Vic. 3002, Australia (hard covers). ISBN 0 643 04773 5.

Temperate Pastures. Edited by J. L. Wheeler, C. J. Pearson & G. E. Robards. 609 pages. Melbourne: CSIRO and Australian Wool Corporation. 1987. Price $A70.00, including surface postage, from CSIRO Editorial and Publishing Unit, PO Box 89, East Melbourne, Vic. 3002, Australia (hard covers). ISBN 0 643 04773 5. - Volume 112 Issue 2

Coming to Terms: The Politics of Australia's Trade with Japan 1945-57.

IntroductionThe trade relationship between Australia and Japan in the mid-1980s is rich andnhttps://espace.library.uq.edu.au/js/fckeditor/editor/images/spacer.gifcomplex, representing 40 years of close, largely cooperative and generallynbeneficial postwar economic exchange. Japan is Australia's most importantntrading partner, several Australian States depend on trade with Japan to supportntheir major industries, and Japan's rapid economic growth in the 1960s led to anboom in Australia-Japan trade, principally in mineral ores. This trade isnmutually important; Australia has been, since before World War II, a vitalnsupplier of resources to Japan -- initially wool, later coal and iron ore, and othernmetals and ores. The growth and prosperity of many Japanese industries havenrelied heavily on the reliable and stable supply of low-cost and high-quality rawnmaterials from Australia.The bilateral trade relationship was founded on strong and clear comparativenadvantage, Australia primarily the supplier of food and resources, and Japan thenprocessor and manufacturer. Steadily growing goodwill between business andngovernments was also important: for a decade after the war official attitudes innAustralia still reflected wartime enmities, but thereafter an infrastructure ofnpolitical cooperation and ideological compatibility developed that still stands innthe 1980s.This book will examine how trade with Japan re-emerged from the disruptionnand hatred of the war years to become a burgeoning force in cementing bilateralnrelations. How were the barriers bridged and ties re-established after then1941-45 war intervened in Australia-Japan trade? What mechanisms werenresponsible for re-establishing trade links? Why did Australia take until 1957 tonagree to formal trade arrangements with Japan, when from the very beginningnof the peace Japan was wanting Australian wool and Australia was wantingnJapanese silk and other goods? How did a trade policy towards Japan developnindependently of Great Britain, when Australia was all along linked to Britainnfinancially through sterling and to sterling area approaches to internationalntrade?How did Australia adjust to the needs of the American-controlled Occupationnof Japan? How was Australia influenced by the difficult mixture in the earlynpostwar world of pressures for liberalisation and reform in the internationalneconomy, contrasted with restrictions and controls placed by many countries (such as Australia) on trade relations with Japan? What brought the AustraliannGovernment to the point of agreeing to deal constructively with Japan, and tondismantle trade barriers? Why did Japan have a vital interest in trying to makenAustralia change its policies? n

Role of Nonkeratinous Proteins in Crimp Formation of Wool Fibers by Draft and Immediate Relaxation

The role of nonkeratinous proteins in the crimp formation of wool fibers by draft and immediate relaxation was investigated. For this purpose, Australian Shropshire wool fibers were treated with formic acid and pronase (proteolytic enzyme) to modify the nonkeratinous proteins. Formic acid is known to remove some of the intercellular cement, one of the nonkeratinous proteins, from the cell membrane complex, while pronase removes all nonkeratinous proteins. Little crimp formation occurred in the wool fibers treated with formic acid and pronase, indicating that the nonkeratinous proteins, especially the intercellular cement of the cell membrane complex, play an important role in the crimp formation of wool fibers by the draft and immediate relaxation process. A similar effect on crimp formation also occurred when the wool fibers were steamed in a relaxed state.

The CSIRO Automatic Tester for Length and Strength (ATLAS)

Use of the CSIRO Automatic Tester for Length and Strength (ATLAS) for the characterization of greasy-wool staples enabled sale with additional measurement to be introduced into the marketing of Australian wool at the beginning of 1985. Three instruments produced by CSIRO have been installed in the Sydney laboratory of AWTA Ltd to perform commercial testing together with the first unit made by an instrument manufacturer. Further instruments are being manufactured. The instrument accepts up to 70 staples on its feed belt and delivers them one by one to the length-measuring section. Each staple is then conveyed past a bank of photocells, where its length is assessed as the distance travelled by the staple while the light to the photocells is interrupted. The staple is next picked up by a pair of belts and is fed to a set of jaws in the strength section, where it is gripped A each end and stretched until it breaks while the applied force is measured. The broken pieces are blown down to two balances, where the...

WOOL PRICES AND PUBLICLY AVAILABLE INFORMATION

This paper examines the semistrong form efficiency of the Australian wool futures market, using the forecast errors approach, and find s that there may be a slight inefficiency in this market. The informa tion set is assumed to comprise forecast errors of Sydney wool, Londo n wool, gold, and Australian dollar exchange rates for the U.S. dolla r, pound sterling, and Japanese yen. Estimation is by OLS with daily data, and there is no evidence of serial correlation. The implication s of the results are discussed from the viewpoint of the functions of a futures market and the Australian Wool Corporation. Copyright 1987 by Blackwell Publishers Ltd/University of Adelaide and Flinders University of South Australia

Networking or Refined Transhipment: Optimisation Alternatives for Processing and Handling the Australian Wool Clip

A search for rigor, relevance, and efficiency in formulating plant location problems has resulted in longstanding experimentation with alternative formats and techniques. Most notably, these have spanned the full range of programming methods from transportation/transhipment models through concave and quadratic programming to mixed-integer formulations. While researchers have reported major drawbacks with mixed-integer programming, a popular current approach, viz. minimum cost flow network analysis, seems to have overemphasized the virtues of this otherwise promising innovation. To illustrate that not all “traditional” methods need be “limiting” and “unaccommodating” by comparison with network analysis, this paper presents a refinement of a “traditional” model and argues that the alleged superiority of network analysis cannot be sustained. The refined transhipment model is applied to policy issues associated with alternative ways of assembling, packing, storing and transporting the Australian wool clip at minimum cost, given the changing overseas shipping environment following containerisation.

High Technology Options for Sheep Shearing: II – Automated Mechanical Shearing

In the first article of this trilogy [1], the cost-price squeeze facing the Australian woolgrower was advanced as the motivation for spending more than $3 million p.a. on the Australian Wool Harvesting Programme. The first article summarized the use of technology to improve wool severing devices. This article addresses the progress of a novel technology – the use of robots to shear sheep.