Bay of Plenty Times. EVENING DAILY MONDAY, APRIL 27th., 1936. BOROUGH ADMINISTRATION

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXIV, Issue 12007, 27 April 1936, Page 2

Bay of Plenty Times. EVENING DAILY MONDAY, APRIL 27th., 1936. BOROUGH ADMINISTRATION

The special, committee which the Borough Council appointed some three months ago to inquire into the administration of borough affairs has presented a valuable report, which the Council has adopt" cd in its entirety, deciding to give immediate effect to the recommendations contained therein. That means, of course, that a start, will be made, but it will necessarily be some time before the various schemes as outlined by the committee can be made fully effective. As the committee states, it will involve some expenditure, but this will ultimately prove true economy. We imagine that the proposals will involve more expenditure than is implied in the report, as it is difficult to see how the staff of practically all departments can be housed as proposed without additional accommodation. The order of reference for the Committee, as we understand it, was that it should—- “ Fully scrutinise and report fully upon the fundamental organisation of the borough establishment, the system upon which each branch is working, and to make suggestions and recommendations where such were considered necessary, 1.e., in general to produce a report that could be utilised for, and form the basis of, a sound businesslike and up-to-date concern.”

* ‘ While* in some respects the Committee has reported in the desired direction, and indeed may have gone beyond its order of reference, in other respects it does not seem to have covered the full ambit of its allotted task. A careful reading of the report clearly shows that the Committee has

placet! its finger on many weaknesses in the present administration and has recommended suitable remedies. It makes strong indictments on certain points, glossed over with commendation for good work performed, but it is strangely silent on some of the most important branches of borough administration. We do not suggest by this remark that there is 'anything amiss, we have no knowledge on the point, and so far as it is possible to judge without an intimate acquaintance of the details of the work in the directions we refer to, we should be surprised to find anything wrong. But the fact remains that while the order of reference calls upon the Committee to “scrutinise and report fully upon the fundamental organisation of the borough establishment, and the system upon which each branch is working,’’ the report is almost wholly confined to the administration .of the Town Clerk. The Engineer’s Department is left severely alone. It may be that the Committee wisely felt it would be entering upon a difficult field and cautious" ly avoided committing itself to an investigation which from its constitution it could not enter upon with the same confidence as in the realm upon which it has provided its valuable report. The Electricity Department in particular is by far the greatest revenue and expenditure branch of borough activities, but beyond dealing with the accounting end of it the Committee has nothing to report. There are also the other branches —roads, water, etc. —under the Engineer’s control which have not been touched upon. This surely is an omission. It may be that the Committee did make some investigation and was satisfied that the system under which these branches are working is thoroughly satisfactory and therefore had no recommendations to make. But it does not" say so, and in this respect the ratepayers may feel that the Committee has not gone as far as its order of reference permitted or indeed required. Among the matters dealt with that may seem to be beyond the strict interpretation of the order of reference, but nevertheless valuable and important, there is one that appeals to us as strangely ambiguous, and that is in respect to Domain Boards. The Committee naturally would have in mind what it is aiming at, but has certainly not been specific. Which Board of the two it might have had in mind does it refer to, or is it both?

So far as it lias gone 1 lie report, as we have remarked, is a most commendable one, and the Council very rightly decided that the recommendations should be given effect to immediately. From this it is reasonable to conclude that in the near future the Council will come to a definite decision in regard to the all-important question of providing public baths in keeping with the importance of the town as a tourist resort. WOOL PUBLICITY. It is fairly certain that Australian wool growers will take active steps to establish a fund to advertise wool. Several leading men in the wool textile business in Bradford have urged this being done because they fear that the wool trade in all its branches is liable to be affected by the menace of wool substitutes. In Germany the advance in the price oi wool has stimulated the production in synthetic fibres. This innovation having passed the experimental stage, merits interest on the part of sheepmen. It is said that Germany is gradually nearing a point where contention between wool and cellular products has been reduced to a matter of comparative cost, and not of relative utility, which is similar to the situation that existed in the early period of the silk and rayon controversy. Spun and woven “Zellevolle” is no longer considered a product directly competing with sheep’s wool, but stands on its own merits and has become valuable in supplying the masses with a serviceable cheap wearing apparel not subject to the fluctuations as in the price of wool. There are other factors helping to extend the use of the synthetic fibre, and wool may be said to have lost as customers the masses in Europe. The production of a wool substitute would appear to have been an economic necessity. Europe is impoverished and cannot do much in international trade, but internal conditions are satisfactory, owing to public works, including armaments, being financed with' paper money. The future of wool rests with Britain and the better classes in Europe, and to extend,the use of wool a strong advertising campaign becomes necessary. There is no fibre synthetic or otherwise “just as good” as wool for wearing apparel. The British Research Association for the woollen and Avorsted industries, an organisation supported by some of the largest manufacturers in England, published not long ago a statement of ten scientific reasons for wearing Avoollens. it Avas pointed out that the ideal Avearing material possesses, first, elasticity, that is, it should neither tear nor sag Avhen stretched and must remove creases by its properties. In this respect avool is unique, as a single fibre, Avhen Avet, can be extended by 70 per cent, of its original length, and Avill then return to its former size. Clothes made of avool, if carefully folded and stored, due to this elasticity, show no tendency to crease, or lose their shape. - Secondly, a clothing material must possess strength to Avithstand strain and heavy Avcar. Fibres must not rupture under strains such as occur in bending. Wool strands Avhen compared Avith metal AA'ires of the same diameter, proved to possess a tensile strength greater than that of aluminium and only slightly less than that of annealed copper. It is thus no exaggeration to say

that wool is as strong as metal. Unless this strength ean be obtained without making the garment unduly heavy the material is unsuitable. Investigations have shown that one ounce of an ordinary fine fibre of wool will measure 10*0 miles in length. Finer fibres than these are available, and ean be made up into garments of the finest and lightest kind. Not only are these fibres light, but they fill the next requirement of a clothing material, heat, retaining power. Wool has the lowest conductivity of heat of any standard material, that is it best prevents heat escaping from a warm body. Even when wool becomes damp its conductivity increases much more slowly than other fibres, and in this way colds due to sudden chills are avoided. Under ordinary atmospheric conditions wool will absorb water equal to l(i per cent, of its own weight. As the humidity of the atmosphere varies the weight of water absorbed changes slowly in the case of wool, but much more rapidly with other fabrics. These and the othei merits of wool require to be brought under the notice of the people, for it is just as necessary to have hygienic clothing as it is to have good wholesome food.