Objective measurement of New Zealand wool

Over the past couple of decades most of the research and development on phy sical methods for the testing of wool has been carried out in New Zealand a nd Australia, the world's largest exporters of wool, However, there are sig nificant differences between the Australian and New Zealand wool clips, and in the respective proportions of their wools that are exported in the scou red state. Therefore it has been necessary for New Zealand to largely follo w its own path in developing systems of raw wool specification that meet it s marketing needs. This paper outlines technologies for the testing of New Zealand wool that h ave become commercialised. While some initiatives have involved the develop ment of new testing systems, others have required the adaptation of instrum ents that have been already available. There is further scope for further i nnovations in wool testing in order to exploit the improvements in speed, p recision and economics promised by modem technology.