BLIND-EYE POLICY

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 17, 21 January 1938, Page 8

BLIND-EYE POLICY

THE STORY OF INDIGO

LESSON FOR WOOL MEN?

ARTIFICIAL FIBRES

There was a time when the Indian indigo planters refused to believe in the competitive value of synthetic dyes. Therefore, when this competition developed, they were unprepared for it. Has this piece of history any lesson for wool-growing countries that refuse to credit the possibilities of artificial wool?

That is the important question— important especially to New Zealandarising out of some remarks by Mr. G. A. Lawrence, of Wellington, in his presidential address to the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry, delivered at Christchurch yesterday. In 1881 Sir Henry Roscoe^ warned the indigo planters and the indigo industry generally that there was enough in "artificial indigo" to put them on their mettle. But their mettle was not equal to putting them, when the competition later developed, in the state of preparedness which they might have been in, for their own protection. FOREWARNED: FOREARMED. "The products of scientific discovery," said Mr. Lawrence, "must not be allowed to dominate man—man must develop a higher order of intelligence to prepare and meet advance in knowledge. To be forewarned is to be forearmed; discovery, gradual as it is, causes a certain amount of dislocation and distress in the established order of things. In order to minimise this dislocation we must be continually preparing for what is to come by an intelligent estimation of what is likely to result from scientific discovery.

"In an address two years ago at Dunedin, I issued a warning concerning the likely advance in the production of artificial wool; and in this connection I am glad to see that Governments have moved in the matter of promoting within the Empire a more co-ordinated effort in wool research, and publicity. But there are still some who are Inclined to under-estimate the chances that this substance is likely to materially affect natural wool. We in New Zealand, depending as we do so largely on the production of wool, and in view of the fact that it is so largely bound up with our meat production, cannot afford to ignore such a vital point. PRUDENCE, NOT PANIC. "I am not suggesting that there is need for panic. Artificial wool is not likely to replace the natural article, but it may in the future affect our sales. Artificial wool may not be j satisfactory at the present stage of its development, its production may be costly, but past experience of similar ventures must lead us to the conclusion that these difficulties are likely to be overcome in the future. In this connection it is interesting to turn back the pages of history and read what Sir Henry Koscoe had to say in 1881 in the first presidential address to the Society of Chemical Industry regarding artificial indigo. 'At the present moment,' said Sir Henry, 'artificial indigo cannot compete' in price with the natural dye stuff. This, however, is scarcely to be expected, as it is not more than twelve months since Baeyer's discovery was made. Baeyer's discovery will have the wholesome effect of putting the indigo planters on their mettle.' Within about two years of Roscoe's address 400,000 acres were put out of cultivation in India as a result of the competition of artificial indigo. UNPREPARED GROWERS. "The growers were not prepared for this. They and those interested in the existing indigo industry had done everything in their power to belittle the success of the artificial product by arguments such as that it would never be produced cheap enough to compete with the natural product; that its colouring and lasting properties were inferior to the natural product. In short, everything was done to combat artificial indigo except searching for ways and means of improving the natural product or looking into the question of finding a substitute crop to grow on the land used for growing indigo. The consequence was that a serious dislocation took place in India and it was some years before a state of balance was estab-. lished.

"There is an old saying that 'when one door closes, another one opens.' At the present time it is said that casein is the main raw material for the production of artificial wool. In addition to milk, New Zealand produces many other nitrogenous substances which may in the future become suitable for the production of artificial wool. Preparation for a competitive product does not necessarily mean establishing protection for the product which is likely to be replaced, but includes a wise review of the possibility of consolidating the position of the threatened product, improvement of quality and reducing the cost of production. Preparation also includes a review of the possibilities of supplying a raw material for the production of the competitive product, and as a last resource of producing'something in place of the threatened product. AVOIDING DISLOCATION. "It is well known that new scientific discoveries cause a great deal of dislocation in industry. We find machinery and plant often become obsolete and in many cases the workers are affected and the prosperity of a whole district or country is seriously interfered with by such changes. This dislocation is often the result of not j being prepared for change, not follow- j ing and keeping up with the trend of industrial progress nd in many cases deliberately turning a blind eye to the possibilities of modern discovery. Very few industries have spectacular beginnings such as to .cause the world to sit up and take notice. The development is usually gradual and it is only when costs and quality become competitive that the man in the street begins to take notice.

"Take, for instance, the modern automobile industry. Those of us who knew the early products of this now tremendous industry could not in our wildest dreams have visualised the enormous progress made in a period of 30 or 40 years and the tremendous influence which it has had on all phases of human existence. Then again, take the rayon industry. Robert Hooke predicted the production of artificial silk in the 17th century. It took Cross and Bevan about 20 years of long and painstaking research to bring the project to anything like perfection and it is doubtful whether even they realised the enormous development of the industry as we know it today.

"Failures in the early stages of i\ new project are likely to lull the unsuspecting community into the belief that the new product will never become competitive, the consequence is that valuable time is often lost preparing for changing condition."