DANGERS SEEN IN COMPLACENCY

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31786, 17 September 1968, Page 10

DANGERS SEEN IN COMPLACENCY

"The Frees” Special Service BLENHEIM, Sept. 16.

Complacency about the future of wool would lead to the industry being swamped by the products of chemical giants, the president of the Federation of New Zealand Wool’ Merchants, Mr H. J. Dewe, said today. He was addressing the annual conference of the federation in Blenheim. “I deeply dislike the attitude of some organisations which, in effect, would say that everying in the garden is lovely—‘she will be right Jack’—because this sort of complacency wjll permit our industry to be swamped by the chemical giants,” he said. “We must do better, a great deal better, but I deeply distrust any system which places the industry in a strait-jacket. “Ways must be found to ensure that the grower is adequately, in fact well-reward-ed, for harvesting a good harvest, and also ensure that the manufacturer is provided with a fibre from which he can make money as readily as he can from man-made fibres.

“These objectives must be achieved within a framework which is flexible, not too restricting on liberty, and certainly not dominated by the Government,” said Mr Dewe in a reference to the proposed wool marketing organisation. Crossbred Prospects

Prospects for New Zealand's “rather ordinary crossbred” wools in thte immediate future were not very bright, said Mr Dewe, but those wools which could be used for high quality fabrics were likely to command an ever-in-creasing premium.

At the federation's annual conference in Blenheim. Mr Dewe said wool as a textile fibre had never before faced such direct and abrasive competition. “Therefore, never before has the need arisen to meet the competitive challenge face to face.” Scientists had been successful in producing a fibre which competed with wool, but they had not been able to synthesise the great virtues of wool, and it was doubtful they could do this in the foreseeable future. Meanwhile wool seemed to have an assured place, and in due course, with world production more or less static, it i could become a luxury fibre. | “In this connection it is in- j teresting that the Australian I

fine Merino wools this season have been at a high level relative to their average value over the last decade or so,” said Mr Dewe. New Zealand's "rather ordinary crossbred” wools, however, could not be made into premium fabrics and it was the sort of wool which competed not with the best synthetics, but with the cheaper varieties. Under the free marketing system it was probable that premiums for wool which could be used for luxury fabrics would continue and increase. “The more this becomes evident, the more likely it is that the balance between quantity and quality will be regained. It is essential for the welfare of wool that this should happen,” he said.