FARMING & COMMERCIAL

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 80, 28 December 1917, Page 10

FARMING & COMMERCIAL

YORKSHIRE LETTER

STANDARD CLOTHS

; ' Bradford, November -8, 1917. •/■ The subject of standard cloths is well to I ; tho fore to-day, and a eood deal has been •» inado of it in the Yorkshire Press, far I : , more than it actually dcserve3: Really, it j ... is tho latest "baby"-'of tho Labour Party>>j j Eome of. tho members belonging to that i section 'of the Board of Control conceiv- j ""ing tho"-idea that' clothes are now so i ■■ dear that it is essential for -the Qovefnment : 4o "6tart';making standard -cloths for the million.-There.is'much dif- - forenco of opinion regarding; the advant- ;.-,- ages to be gained■ by;such a.movement; ",-., in fact, not until "tsb*..-B6ard of Coutrol ■actually decides to produce .the cloth can "a great deal be said. JTo"doubt:thcro still remains a portion of the inhabitants of ■? Great Britain who are struggling; m poverty, but wages have almost doubled, and ■- bo far as the North of England is con■..eerned, it is very doubtful if standard .. cloths will ba supported by the working eclsaes. ' Of course,', tho idea is born ot 'the Department-having made arrange- ' ments.■ for .producing standard officers" cloths", "und"it remains to be seen how ""these will go down with tho men for whom ■they have been designed. Fixed couvcr. : ' Bion costs' havo been arrived at by the I .Department, and prices, riilo the same all ■'. through this country, being fixed to cover every operation from the raw material *to the suit sold by the tailor. No doubt ■"■ in some of the high-class shops in Eue- ' land, officers have been "fleeced," "and it may interest readers to know that 13 to 146z. woollon whipcords are to-day being' retailed at 12s. 6d. per yard by the tailors and clothiers but" for heavier whip- . cords, 18} to IDJoz. in' weight, tho retail | price is 163. 3d.. Bedford cords Us. per ' yard narrow width, and cavalry twills Us. 9d., narrow width ,15 to. 16oz. per yard. It is rather interesting to know that the wool for these officers' cloths its being handed out by the Department at less money than where wanted for making • ordinary soldiers' military fabrics, and •why this should be is beyond the comprehension of the rank and fllo. Jtowever. the fact remains that with the price of ' officers' cloths now being fixed, , there should bo no 'difficulty- in en- " Rbling manufacturers to produce standard cloths for tho million. 'T ; .

I i.',■'.-..■ A Samplo.. Fabriq Made. -. ■ ' '■ : , •■; 'We'.are .in a. pqsitionyto -state that a ;. - Btandard. cloth-has, be'eij.' maae) it. being • ' a-'niceVtweed of i a ■<■■. quiet order. Several i 'ehadea liave been niade to- the pattern,' .-■■■- and we are able to'say,that.it is-56.in'chos '.wide, '20 to 21oz.- Ip the/yard, and;the ; ; „ manufacturers'., prico is ls.<*6d. per yard.' 'Wo are divulging no secret in. giving these -'• ''details,-.it ''bcine common • property in : - "'manufacturing circles throughout the Jfeßt Hiding and elsewherq. ' The price per yard .' 'Indicates at onto that'the cloth is not a : worsted, but is solid woollen. Let no -reader run away with the idea that it is made from all pure virgin, wool-nothine ,of the sort.. It is woollen both warp and '■:■ weft, and at the price contains a fair '■■ eprinMing of noils, along with a certain ' percentage' of nure wool and waste. ;. Considering the price, the clpth is Jl good, bnt as already stated, tho '. Buccess - of the fabric is- very

NSW9 ANB NOTES.

much doubted in woollen circles. It will never go down with, the $ri:ieh publio for a multitude to be dressed in the aatno fabric, although there are thousands of men and women to be soen dressed in a bluo serge, and nothing looks smarter. Iho only way to make standard cloths n euccess is to produco a variety, and thero should be no difficulty in doinß this. Wo have not as yet seen a fabric, but feel certain it will be the ordinary four-cud twill, which is eo largely employed in Dewsbury and the Heavy Woollen District as well as tho Oolno Valley (Huddersliold), whero the choap tweeds are mostly made. Be it said to the oredit of the Oloth Office of the Department", the Director of Wool Textile Production is very anxious to keep' prices for wool well in hand, and to provide a good serviceable fabric suitable for the pqpulace. ,

Larger Use.of. Wool Substitutes. .' It is'a fact.that increasing use is being ruadn of the by-products of the trade, both in tlio production of military fabrice as well as iii'the civilian trade. The present etato of. supplies demands this, and thero is absolutely no nee"d on the part of anyone to refuse to use such useful manufacturing materials as laps, noils, Rarnettcd wastes, mungo, and cotton. If these are used in conjunction with a reasonable percentage of virgin wool, some excellent fabrics can easily be made. In large manufacturer, who for months has been making big.'quantities, weekly, nf drab serge for Tommies' tunics, said this ■ week to the writer that with the use of I these excellent by-products the tout i strength of his pieces was fully as good as twelve monthe ago when ft large percentage of virgin wool was being used. English crossbred wools arc being very largely used by-,woollen manufacturers, particularly English skin wools, and these if blended with a reasonable proportion of New Zealand crossbreds produce fabrics that will mill readily and give every satisfaction. The fact that nothing can now j be exported even to British colonies except ! I'ader licence' shows ; clearly enough tho entice position of the Department in their determination to preserve supplies for home use, a policy which no one can object to. All shipments have been stopped now for a month to both the .Netherlunda and Scandinavia, and what is now wanted is the arrival of" big weights of colonial merinos and crossbreds. Hours of Merino Combing. Up to last Monday merino combing maohiuery throughout the West Hiding has been standing all day on Monday and during Monday night, but a new order has been published this week granting permission to run combing frames a full working wock, which means day and night from Monday morning to Saturday noon. The-condition is madu that there-shall be no increased output which means that less niaoflinery. mtist be run, but full working, hours jaro to be allowed/This may seem s'trango to those at a distance, but it is tho decision arrived at by a conference between the masters, men's representatives, and the Department, and it is gen. erally agreed that it will serve all.interests better to run day ' and ■ night as hitherto, but to allow a. certain percentage machinery to stand." - We havn heard lately, a rather 'persistent cry of Bhortage in tops, and *his is an. actual fact. Whether tho Department ie limiting wool _being combed 'or, there is' an actual shortage of raw material is a question upon which nothing authoritative Is known, but this last three weeks tho top section of the_Departmcnt have kept a very Mm hand upon supplies, and.for civilian purposes nothing has; been allowed to go out. Some fine botany spinners who have .been running their plantß almost entirely on civilian work have been frankly told this week that,if they do not put their frames on to Government work all supplies of tops' will be stopped. That certainly is the "hard, word," as they eay m Yorkshire, and those spinners .turn.ing ouf such fine counts as 2-60's, for which they have been able to make as high a? 10s. 6d. per 1b.,. feeli to-day that they aro in the soup. If there is ■ any department of the trade which could have been controlled to advantage it is spinning margins, there beiug here outrageous differences between the prices of the top and the yarn. " One has only to give an instance to show how this obtains. Next December 1 the Government, price of warp 61*e will be 6s. 2d. per lb. From this top a 2-46*3 yarn can easily be spun, and thin week one of the bicrtjest Bradford spinners quoted a manufacturer Bs. 6d. per lb. for the yarn, and another 9s. 7d. Even at the former price the spinning margin is excollent, and distinctly above anything ever known in pre-war times. The. writer knows for a fact tha.t for 2-48's, a spinner was bid last week 9s. 3di if he; would guarantee reasonable delivery. Such margins .are indeed outrageous.