AUSTRALIAN WOOL

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 122, 26 May 1941, Page 9

AUSTRALIAN WOOL

NEEDS OF THE ARMY

YARN AND BLANKETS

SHORTAGE IN SIGHT

(Rec. 11 a.m.) MELBOURNE, This Day,

Woollen yarns will not be available in future for civilian needs in Australia. Senator Mcßride said today that all the yarn produced was needed to clothe the troops. This did not mean that there would be a shortage of stocks of civilian suitings for twelve months, as stocks held by manufacturers, distributors, and retailers would not be interfered with. Senator Mcßride said that a shortage of civilian supplies of blankets must occur soon, as henceforth every blanket manufactured would be taken by the Defence Department, but present stocks would not be requisitioned.—U.P.A.

Inquiries made locally indicate that several wholesale firms and retailers feel some apprehension as to future supplies of woollens in New Zealand. In many lines of imported material there is already a shortage. "You will be able to get your suit next spring all right," said one tailor in a large way of business, "but you will not have such a wide choice of material to select from, and of course you will pay more for it than you did last year."

Much of the cloth now being produced by local mills is being used for war purposes, and this is naturally having an effect on supplies for civilian use. New Zealand, however, has always depended to a large extent on imported material for suits and costumes, said one merchant, and the shortage caused by import difficulties cannot be completely counterbalanced by increased local effort under the present conditions. "The position, therefore, is that there will not be any surplus material available. We shall have to make what we have go round."

Another aspect of the question was mentioned by a dry-cleaning firm. The manager remarked that suits and costumes would be made to give longer service than in the past. They would be pressed and cleaned until really worn out, instead of being discarded when only inclined to be shabby. There were already indications of this, he added.