International

In the 1930's woolgrowers in Australia. South Africa and New Zealand were realising the need for producer interest in the orderly marketing and promotion of wool. In all three countries they had established organisations; South Africa a Wool Council, Australia a Wool Board. New Zealand a Wool Publicity Committee. Representatives of these met in Melbourne in 1937, concerned themselves with wool promotion, publicity and research, and established the International Wool Secretariat' (IWS) in London, providing it with funds raised from levies on wool grown in the three countries. It was plain that all realised the necessity for wool to be dealt with by a central organisation on an International basis and recognised the threat to wool arising from competition from manmade fibres, the principal of whch at that time was rayon.

During World War II when all wool was commandeered; little progress occurred, but in post war years, marketing problems revealed more plainly the need for undertaking research more actively, but it was not until 1935 when W. H. Carolhers in his studies on the molecular structure of fibres discovered nylon, and others followed with terylene, orlon and acrilan in the course of years, that the real challenge from synthetics became evident and made the need for greater scientific effort on the part of wool urgent and essential. First listed commercially in 1947. today. 20 years later, the production of true synthetics or non cellulosic fibres has shown such a phenomenal increase that they equal in amount the total world production of wool.

It is now appropriate to; examine briefly the position of wool science on a world scale as it exists today.