TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14547, 26 December 1912, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

It is usual to think of the Wool wool trade as having only one from raw material, but in reality Rags, thero is n second raw—mate-

rial which constitutes a considerable part of tho world's wool supply—rags. The uses to which the apparently useless rag can bo put are legion, and the manufacture of shortwool fibre is one of the most important. Rags pour in from all quarters of the world to tho towns of Batley and Dewsbury, tho centres of the rag-wool manufacture. The auctions at which the rag bales are sold (says tho London correspondont of tho "Sydney Morning Herald") are as interesting to watch as a big wool auction, and quite as lively. Buyers becomo almost incredibly expert in the science of rags. By merely looking at a bundle, a buyer can toll from what country it comes. The most valuablo aro "naturally those from the colder Northern countries, tho poorest from hot Southern lands. Tho rags reach tho market by devious routes, starting with tho rag-and-bone hawker who goes from houso to house on his collecting expeditions, and next passing through tho hands of the marine store dealer, who ships them to tho market. They are bought just as wool is, and afterwards chemically disinfected and cleaned, and then teased out by machinery, so that tho wool can be shredded into something liko its original fibres and used a second time for manufacture. Where there is a cotton mixture in tho rags this has to bo first of all burnt out by chemicals, and the wool is then called "extract." Bagwool loses a good deal of its original elasticity through the stretching of tho cells of the wool fibres during its first manufacture and wear. Hence tho tendency of cheap' "shoddy" trousers to bag so readily at tho knee. Although tho stuff thus produced is of an inferior quality, "shoddy," combined with raw wool, has proved itself to bo an article of great use, and the industry seems to be ono for which there is a genuine need, ©specially at a tiino when the price of wool is high.

The recent discovery by A Captain Davies, of the Lost Antarctic exploring ship Continent. Aurora, of a submarine mountain ridge GOOO feet in height, situated 200 miles south of Tasmania, is of particular interest owing to the light which it throws upon the existence 0 of a one-timo continent linking up Australia with South America and the Antarctic continent. The theory is one which has long been entertained by scientists, and rests, according to a well-known Australian ecientist on two main arguments, the geological and the biological. Comparing the forms of life found in South America with those of Australia, zoologists havo noted the existence in> America of the opossum, which, unlike the Australian opossum, is carnivorous in its habits, also of a small marsupial whose habitat is in Chili, and is surmised to bo the ancestral typo from

which tho Australian marsupials have descended. Late geological formations in tho Pampas of South America reveal the existence of an early typo of the Tasmanian striped wolf or tiger. The. evidence of fish, as for instance that afforded by tho lamprey eels and the mountain trout common to rivers in both Tasmania and Chili, also points :n the same direction. Turnins to the plant kingdom, v:o note the close resemblance of the Patagonian beech to the Tasmanian myrtle. Tho geological structures of Tasmania and that part of the Antarctic continent that lies nearest t-o it exhibit two well-marked trend-lines, which converge southwards and might ha expected to meet very near the spot where Captain Davies has discovered this submarine mountain range. Of this theory of a vanished continent ante-dating in all probability the habitation of this planet by man, Captain Davies's discovery comes therefore as a distinct eorroboration. Tho position of his .submarine mountain range could, in fact, have been stated more or less accurately, just as that of the planet Neptune was, by a purely theoretical calculation.

Some years ago the triumph British of the American-made over Boots, tho British boot was loudly proclaimed, and regarded as assured. But the British boot manufacturer has shown that, whilo he may nod at times, he is a match for anyono when roused, and the trade in England has succeeded in distancing foreign competitors. Tho broad facts of tho situation aro revealed by statistics which have been quoted recently by Mr John T. Day, editor of the "Shoe and Leather Record," in an article in tho "Daily Mail." The figures for leather boots for five years show a decreaso of £100,000 in the imports, whilo tho valuo of exports has risen from two to considerably over threo millions sterling. Of tiio imports of boots and shoes, half of them, roughly speaking, come from the United States. Tho receipts from British possessions abroad aro trifling, and whilo moro boots are exported from England to tho oversea Dominions than to foreign countries, it is the foreign trado which is shooting ahead. In 1907 the exports to British possessions totalled £1,533,964, and to foreign countries only £506,590. In 1911 . tho figures were:—British possessions £2,086,606, foreign couniries £1,265,080. The rapid increase in the foreign exports, which have moro than doubled themselves in those fivo years, 1907-11, is significant. Mr Day adduces a number of reasons accounting for tho regained supremacy of tho British boot. America scored for a time with her labour-sav-ing machinery, but the British manufacturer has adopted, with improvements, the machinery used by his trans-Atlantic rivals, and, unlike them, he is not confined to tho machinery put out by tho enterprising company which has secured a practical monopoly in tho shoo machinery trade of tho United States. Tho British manufacturer, again, uses many- kinds of leathers, but tho best of all is made at home. Foreign leather he can get, if he wants it. sometimes more cheaply than his competitors in protected markets. In tho lighter kinds of leather, such as are used for boot uppers, French and German manufacturers tend to excel, but in tho tanning of solo leather, Mr Day says, tho British tanner has never had to fear competition.