State Library of NSW
106 a stoppage of the trade which then occurred all wools fell, but the fall in fine wool was double that of the Course descriptions, & failed to rise again in proportion -. The Stockholders then found themselves in the greatest difficulty, a small price for their wool & little of it, and as such wool is only produced by an [?] of weakly Constitution, their selection of such sheep with breeding 'in an in' has so reduced the stamina of their flocks, as to render it an exceedingly difficult [matter?] for the most skilful to breed back to the original qualities - They had neither quantity quality nor Constitution. LEICESTER SHEEP - The breeding next resorted to was from Coarse Sheep Chiefly Leicester [?] is equally reprobated.
'To awake the Australians alive to what a pitch of wool growing degradation they have fallen we must explain what 'Shoddy' is.' All the woollen rags that can be collected at home or abroad are ground into a powder, which is called Shoddy, it is too short to be worked up by itself, & is therefore teazed up with some descriptions of Coarse wool with which it is wove into a clumsy thread, & manufactured into various heavy goods, of which Coarse pilot cloths are the finest. Near Leeds is a village called Batley, in and around which is a population little superior to that of Sydney, & entirely engaged in this trade. In Common with other wools which have no distinct character they Consume a large quantity of Australian, & is it not degrading [they?] think that the soil & Climate which would produce wool fit for the finest & richest Cloths would be so utterly prevented by the ignorance of a body of intelligent English gentlemen, that it yields an article fit only to be had under shoddy
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