N.Z. WOOLLEN MILLS

Greymouth Evening Star, 10 March 1939, Page 5

N.Z. WOOLLEN MILLS

TYPE OF EQUIPMENT [PER- PRESS ASSOCIATION'.] DUNEDIN, March 9. Comment on a statement made last week by Mr. John Redshaw, of Bradford, that the woollen manufacturing industry in New Zealand would benefit if up-to-date machinery were installed in the mills was made to-day by Dr. S. Townend, textile research officer for the New Zealand Wool Manufacturers’ Research Association. Dr. Townend. who arrived in Dunedin in October of last year to take up his present position, was formerly on the. staff of the. Wool Industries’ Research Association in England. He recently completed a series of visits to the mills of members of the Wool Manufacturers’ Research Association throughout New Zealand, and has been able to form an authoritative opinion of the industry in this country. “It has been most encouraging to find so many technically trained men, alive to modern progress, holding key positions in the industry,” Dr. Townend said. “That the industry is truly progressive shows itself in a number of ways, the chief of which has been its coming together about two years ago for the purpose of forming this research association.

“Many of the manufacturers are conversant with most of the developments taking place overseas, and some of the very latest equipment and machinery are to be found in their combing, spinning, weaving, and knitting departments. As is to be expected. there are also in the industry machines 40. 50, and 60 years old. yet still giving good performance. “These ‘old-timers’ are also to be found scattered through the industry in the Home country and in every textile country in which the industry has been established for any length of time. It is evident that the Redshaw textile machine-maker whose impression of this industry was reported last week must have seen some of this class of machinery.

“While his statement that ‘by the installation of up-to-date machinery, mills would be able to turn out woollen textiles of a better and more even quality at cheaper cost’ is undoubtedly true with reference to certain plants, it must be said in fairness to the New Zealand industry that similar remarks of equal validity would also apply to sections of the textile industry in Great Britain, the United States, and the Continent. “One important difference between English and New Zealand industry,” Dr. Townend said, “is that in the Homeland, trade is far more specialised. This, of course, is due to the larger population served by the industry. The quality of most of the textiles produced in this country is very good, as can be expected from the quality of the wool used. Even for the lower section of the woollen trade there is very little of anything else used but virgin wool, in sharp contrast to practice in most other countries.”