WELLINGTON COMMENT.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 219, 15 September 1924, Page 8

WELLINGTON COMMENT.

OUR PRIMARY INDUSTRIES. DEPRESSION IST WOOLLENS. (From Our Special Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, September 12. There appears to be a general depres- . sion in the soft goods manufacturing • industry, and almost every establish- ' ment engaged in tliis -work has curtailed ; the number of employees. A Wellington draper in a big" way of business, and who has had to shorten sail ill his i workroom, when seen on the matter, stated that the depression in the indus- ', try was the direct result of a drastic ' change in fashion. The blouse and skirt have ceased to t>e fashionable, and ■ in their place we have knitted goods. The jumper ha 3 been extremely fashion- , able, and many thousands of such garments have 'been knitted 'by the wearers themsel.es. The knitted costume has enjoyed a great vogue, and , one has merely to walk the streets of , Wellington to realise how very popular such costumes are. Then again in fabric frocks the loose style is now i favoured, and the fabrics are made up . of fine wools, mainly merino wool. There is not a great* deal of fitting ' necessary in respect to such frocks, and '■ most women are now buying ready-to-wear dresses wh:ch are extremely .well : made and beautifully trimmed, and they ; have the extra attraction of being very much cheaper than the madc-to-order garment. Thus it will be seen that fashion is running on lines absolutely against the soft goods' manufacturers who cannot supply in any volume the class of garments now fashionable. The trend of fashion has been in the direction of cheapening clothing as far as i possible by making the style simple, as i with the loose frocks. . Woollen Wool Packs. Woolbrokers here agree with the trade in Bradford that better wool packs than the present jute packs would be a desirable .and profitable change. Wool containing seed can be i cleaned by carbonising, and other < similar defects can be overcome by burling, but when jute gets mixed with wool it is difficult to detect, and jute will not take the dye. It is estimated i that it coet3 Bradford fully half a i million sterling a year to get rid of the foreign mixtures in wool, and this could ' be saved if the growers of wool would ' give - a little more attention to the ' packing of their wool. However, it is ' the jute mixture that is most obnoxious ' and costly, and Bradford has been ' recommending a change in the wool pack, and mail advices from Bradford ; state that it has been decided to pro- ' ceed on experimental lines with the production of wool packs made entirely of wool to be used for the packing of * colonial wool. If a, suitable pack made ■ of wool can.be produced,' and the cost t is not too great, growers could be i easily induced to give the new packs a ) trial. Butter and Preference. J At the wool trade conference in i Bradford the other day the New Zealand representative, Sir Thomas Mackenzje, worked in the old gag of pre- i ference for New Zealand products, and i stated that Britain was again taking the bulk of Denmark's butter. This matter has caused no little amuse- l ment among those who have some ' acquaintance with the butter trade. According to Messrs. W. Weddel and Co.'s annual review of the dairy pro- ] duce trade the imports of butter into ' the United Kingdom from within the ' ■Empire, for the year ended June 30 ' last, was only 35 per cent of the total, ' /while ; the proportion was as high as 52 ' per cent for as recently as the year ' June 30, 1922. Can we complain with any show of justification if the British ' consumer looks to other sources of * supply. He has been buying Danish butter for a very long time, and because it suits him he is paying a higher price . for the Danish product than', for New ' Zealand. The Empire is a long way ' from being able to supply the British market with the butter it wants, and , it seems foolish to ask for preference under the circumstances.