ARTIFICIAL WOOL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 30, 6 February 1939, Page 8

ARTIFICIAL WOOL.

IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED.

e (To the Editor.) One would like to see repeated in every? s newspaper in New Zealand the warning l ( sounded bv your correspondent "Your Glory ,j Has Departed." Only in one respect may 4 word or two usefnlly be added. Your respondent says: "The policy and attitude the won! grower seems to be that what is not s here cannot harm lis."' As a matter of fact, £ artificial casein wool is most decidedly heiet c New Zealand purchasers of imported stocking*, sr cardigans. pull-over* and so-called ' woollen" t garment* of many kinds are being exploited to the tune of thousands of poundg per t annum. It has been the experieiife of tbeee v purchasers during the past few years that * expensive "all-wool" fabrics become dotted r with small holes almost from the first time <' of wearing. This fault arises from the fa<£ "• that the casein wool which overseas mans--1 facturers often use along with the real frool '• is susceptible to the attacks of practically - every microbe in existence. Experiment* carried out overseas l>v unquestioned scientifle authorities have yielded the result that casein woo! is unable to withstand the biological agencies provided by Nature. These agencies f take the form of organisms whic-li assimilate 2 mid mineralise protein substances of the claf* ■- ',o which casein belongs. Such organisms, " attracted to the "food" in the casein-woollen ,1 fabrics and garments mentioned, simply e»t I, them away in parts, leaving the numerate r /small holes that short and easy wear cannot ji have caused. It is a scandal that a magnifi* p cent industry should be permitted to be destroyed in this way. It is incomprehensible P that the New Zealand Government has not f followed up this line of attack against tie 6 usurper which threatens our prosperity. To e stiffen up the tariff against imported woollen e manufactured articles will not meet the Mue, p for it is clear that the purchase in all countries r of artificial wooliefi garments has already r> aroused a strong prejudice against any aad f every form of "woollen" wear, v ■ l MOTHER MACHREL