DEVELOPMENTS IN PAINT

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29068, 3 December 1959, Page 23

DEVELOPMENTS IN PAINT

“Improvements Are Continuous” “When people say today ‘paint is not what it was’ that is a wrong statement. Continuous improvements are going on in the manufacture of paint.” said Mr D. P. Wines, commercial director of the B.A.L.M. Paints organisation in Australia and New Zealand, in an interview yesterday. Mr Wines, who has been on a world tour, said it was obvious to a visitor that New Zealand was well painted. He had not

seen any better in his travels. He was referring to dwellings and said it held good right throughout the country. In. Australia, . for instance, one could see houses I in country districts which had no paint on them. He wondered whether the position in New ' Zealand was due to the high percentage of owner-occupiers and who took a pride in keeping their properties in good prder. The amount of paint used in New Zealand was comparable with that of any other country though it was not the highest. The country with the greatest usage of paint was the United States where so much was used i industry. Imperial Chemical Industries of Australia and New Zealand held a 70 per cent holding in the company, said Mr Wines. 1.C.1. ran courses in management, production, sales management, economics, foremanship and so on at its establishment in Melbourne and his company got the benefit of them. He had visited Malaya, India, Britain, Canada, and the United States to investigate marketing methods, new paint products and trends in the paint market and also to confer with his company’s associates overseas, 1.C.1. in Britain and C.I.L. in Canada. One thing of great importance resulting from these associations was the benefit from valuable research work. “We probably spend more money in research in the paint field than any other company in the world,” said Mr Wines. Thirty-five years ago very little research work was done in paint The painter bought the ingredients and mixed them himself. It was very different now.

When the Du Pont company developed Duco after the First World War, that was the first revolutionary change in paint. Had it not been for the quick drying qualities of that paint there could not have been the mass production of motor-cars in the present volume. An important new development in paint was the greatly improved finish on cars in the United States. This would hold its gloss for very much longer than other types of finish, said Mr Wines. Paint had made an important contribution to living by making people aware of the advances in colour. Today factories and offices were painted in colours which provided more pleasant surroundings for workers and they were more contented and efficient Paint was also used as a safety code in industry. Another thing that impressed

him when he was overseas was the extensive use of multicoloured paint, especially on the west coast of America. It was amazing in its wearing qualities and was in increasing demand. Linseed oil paint was not much in use in Germany or Italy. The emulsion paints were the ones in common use there. There was not a ready supply of linseed oil but they had chemicals for plastics. Mr Wines said that any recession there might have been in Britain and Europe seemed to have disappeared. Trading in Britain was good.