Man-Made Fibres Not Thought Threat To Wool

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27801, 28 October 1955, Page 9

Man-Made Fibres Not Thought Threat To Wool

A man whose business Is synthetic fibres was wearing a suit in Christchurch- yesterday which he had made in August and which has not been pressed since, yet it has been worn more than halfway round the world and been crumpled in suitcases. Its owner, Mr P. c. Allen, is a director of Imperial Chemical Industries, and is productfon 0 “"“"'s synthetics

A P e ?- Christchurch by air for Australia yesterday, after a ninpNew Zealand. He recently visited Canada for the opening there will 1O a n ? la t nt ’ a s d in Aus?r g alia hl will see a start made on the building Me?bour°n n e: manUfaCtUring P ’ ant ° UtSid ®

almol? M J A and h,s wife have an almost complete wardrobe of synthetic materials, and they are na"in C « U 1?, rly for travelling. Wash- !.? S +in Present ? few Problems, and the clothes retain their creases. 7 As Mr Allen told officials of the m®, Z ealand Wool Board in Wellingas a not I ; egard the synthetics a thre a t to wool, or wool as a threat we a e re ma at‘Ti a i de at flbreS: “ I don ’‘ at all at va nance with the thetS O m!v’ ■ he Said ' “ Wool and syncan hl ™ a ver y . well, and each i?” ... y^ de , to need the other. Wool ahsnr » ded for its w armth and its durabnit°v^?a n ' made fibres for their ties" Ity d crease - resis tant quali-

There was no prospect of a nylonmanufacturing plant in New Zealand t °vtiF’ any years - Mr Allen said, but were now mPa ? leS in the Dominion . u ms up gar ments from imported synthetics. Asked whether on eW u, Zea ? n ? Y ould bo able to draw ?a n ke h a e bo A i U ? rallan plant ' which will Allen r a I s .K tO c °mp!ete, Mr Alien said the plant there would nronnS e ta b ? Ut 4 - 000 00 01b’of fibre a year ?bt? a 4113 .* V’ as designed to meet only lhto A H Stra i! lan market 14 would profit ably be cheaper for New Zealand to continue to buy nylon and terylene usetol B tn t h lr ‘’ aHhough it might be useful to have an alternative source Mr P ? ?' available in an emergency lle ? was sur Prised to see how ZMland ery «» e W a S te ing sold in N ew z-eaiand He said there were somp initial difficulties to be overcome by

tailors and garment makers, but they SO mu * oun d h° w to use the material. The development of a combination of wool and terylene had been highly successful, he said, and terylene was now being combined with cotton; but the progress in that line was not nearly so advanced. An indication of the popularity of wool and terylene was that 500,000 wool and terylene skirts had been sold in Britain. Women liked them because they retained their pleats. Man-made fibres were being put to ever-increasing industrial uses, Mr Allen said. No longer would fire hoses hanging out to dry need to be a fire brigade decoration, for synthetic fire hoses dried quickly. A difficulty in introducing the synthetics to industry was to substantiate the claims that synthetics would have a greater life, he said. That had to We shown. At one of his company’s big limestone quarries, a synthetic conveyor belt had been in use for a long time. It had outlasted the normal canvas, but as it was dearer, users had to be shown that it would outlast older fabrics to such an extent as to offset the extra cost.

Americans were using a percentage 011 their military uniforms, Mr Allen said, but in Britain synthetics fabrics were not being used for normal defence equipment and clothing, although they had special uses. The British Everest expedition had made great use of nylon, and he thought that it would also be used a lot in the Antarctic expeditions. Mr and Mrs Allen are two visitors u ° x not echo rec ent complaints about New Zealand hotel accommodation. Everywhere they had gone they had been welcomed, they said, and they had no fault to find with the service. At one North Island hotel, on Mrs Alien’s birthday, the chef cheerfuHy and quickly made and iced a birthday cake. “Of course, we have not been into the country places, but those who complain seem to forget that, if you get outside the main towns in -ii ri l ai j’ even in America, you will find hotels where the service leases something to be desired,” Mr Allen said.

Both the visitors are keen to return to New Zealand to see more of the country, much of which reminded them of England and some of Scotland.