MACHINE-SEWN BAGS

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29108, 21 January 1960, Page 12

MACHINE-SEWN BAGS

Rejection In Ashburton

Machine-sewn sacks are no longer acceptable to Ashburton grain merchants. A decision to fall into line with Ashburton’s two flourmills in refusing to handle machine-sewn bags was made at a special meeting of the merchants’ association this week. A statement to this effect was issued after the meeting by the president (Mr R. F. Shearman).

Mr Shearman said that the merchants had received no machine-sewn bags so far. "The whole business hinges on the fact that the cotton is not the right quality,” he said. “As soon as licences are obtained to import the better quality cotton, the position should improve,” said Mr Shearman.

The secretary of the association (Mr M. R. Cuneen) said the association agreed with the millers’ viewpoint that although no fault could be found with the type of sewing, the twine being used was not strong enough. The possibility of bags bursting under pressure in a stack presented a hazard to men’s safety in the stores which could not be accepted, he said. The president of the Agricultural Section of Mid-Canterbury Federated Farmers (Mr A. N. McIntosh) said that farmers who had had the sewing attachments fitted to their headers at a cost of £l5O were now sewing the bags by hand.