Wool Board Members Praise Carpet Industry At Riccarton

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28013, 6 July 1956, Page 9

Wool Board Members Praise Carpet Industry At Riccarton

, "This is a really wonderful industry .and it means much to us." Mr W iHorrobin. chairman of the New Zealand Wool Board, told Mr H R H Chalmers, chairman of directors of the Carpet Manufacturing Company of New Zealand. Ltd., at the end of the board s inspection yesterday morning of the company’s factory in Peer street. Upper Riccarton. Opened in 1947, the factory, covering four acres, stands in a block of nearly 10 acres. The open land to the north of the modern brick factory is grassed as a park and lined with trees. Three hundred workers, including 140 women are employed About 3000 bales of scoured New Zealand wool are used in carpet production every year at the factory Sixty per cent, of the company’s shares are held by Felt and Textiles (N.Z.). Ltd., and the balance bv the Carpet Manufacturing Company of Kidderminster, England. Floor coverings and textile making, both at Upper Kiccarton and Wellington, absorbs between 8000 and 10.000 bales of wool annually, or 30 per cent, on an average. of wool used by ail New Zealand mills.

The members of the Wool Board were keenly interested in seeing all the processes from the arrival of wool at the factory until, as carpet, it went into the factory store for distribution Jute for backing of the carpet made at Kiccarton is imported, but New Zealand w ool is the only commodity and Textile

Comprehensive Processing he , s . c ? uril ?S a-id a little blending at Karakin, which was built ?Lt fr £ eZUIg . w^ rks by the Wellington r I O I? t ! > E a p m rt . t r om P any and soid to Textiles before it operated. ? ( ? e <p ro i es ? es from the raw material to the finished carpets are carried out at Riccarton. The wool ranges from 44 to 4b counts for preference. The jute comes from India, the dyes from England, and Switzerland, and the machinery from England. Carpet is a commodity which can be made by hand, but even with machinery the labour content of the total cost is high Although production is planned monthly as orders are received, the carpet is the result of a programme covering seven months. The industry is delicately balanced in that a bottleneck in any one of the departments ho ' ds up . Production all along the line. The Riccarton factory has been successful and it now produces one-third of the carpeting sold in New Zealand, has specialised in producing typically New Zealand designs In the i yarn room are 280 to 300 different shades of yarn. The “bank of shades’’ is at all times maintained at an equiva- ° f ° ne month s Production of car-

j Up to 20 per cent, of Scottish blackN°° ’v a hai s y flbre > is blended with New Zealand coarse wool on the » floor and then run through the • teaser, from which it is taken along a tube high on the wall and blown into bins near the carding machines in the next room. The wool is given a J?Y' o_foid s P in in the spinning frames The operatives have nimble fingers’ They are so dexterous that a casual’ visitor cannot follow their movements in restoring breaks in the fibre. After hanking in standard hanks of 3001 b the white yarn is dyed. The dye-house is the noisiest room

itelm fac ‘ ory be cau S e of the escaping b" d ’ s!r angcly. U is also th | has Wven ?of drau B hts - The house Cat Th» Y? ts and one sad dle crane o u r°n) I,ftcd by ar > electric dyed for th f ‘ he Vats after bcm « and if ree-quarters of an hour. d-v„ ~?,'. ftcd across to a big spin moved Yh th h m °. St 01 tbe moisture redrtordh ? ha r s pass through a long and ntorl°J e - b Tu ng spun on bobbins and placed in the “shade bank.”

. Intricate Designing job e Ao n J n a ° f a ear P et is an expert job. Any design can be prepared so sma 8 li aS Th ° r 2 er is not embarrassingly mwl' »Jh design pattern has 234 a?raneem»nt r ° W having a different tbToarL n T'h d - multi-coloured J br ® ads - The girls working on the patJhe?r frames are skilful and neat in th Th njovements on intricate work. nu., h . j e -. ° oms ' , four times as many at fartorv°to ln n the ° nly other carpet y .I? the Dor ninion. at Auckland, 3in a t V o e Q^ e h Carpets in widths fr °m 2ft 3m to 9ft broadloom. One loom is now being converted to make 12ft broad-

‘beearpet has been backsized ana shaved to give evenness of tuft over the whole length of surface it goes to the repair tables. As the carpet moves along the trained girls spot the slightest defects and, unerringly, stretch out to piles of yarn to select the right colour for threading on to their needles. Then the carpet is inspected, tagged, and shifted to the store.

. the early stages, labour was a difficulty at the factory. The situation has improved, and the management yesterday expressed satisfaction with the quality of the workers. Training under close supervision is given to every girl or man joining the staff for weeks before they are placed in charge of machines. A fully-qualified nursing sister has charge of a clinic in the sunniest part of the factory, adjoining the cafeteria. Even workers with common colds are treated.