RAYON IN BRITAIN

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20379, 16 October 1940, Page 9

RAYON IN BRITAIN

VOLUNTARY RA*ribNING , WOOD PULP SHORTAGE The use of goods made from, rayon in the United Kingdom is being reduced by 25 per cent under a voluntary . rationing scheme. Artificial fibres have; therefore, not escaped the wartime reductions which have been found necessary with cotton and wool for the .civilian trade. The Scandinavian countries have been the largest suppliers of wood pulp for the manufacture of artificial fibres, and the quantities procurable from those countries are now to a great extent cut off. It will, therefore, be difficult for millrnen in the United Kingdom to offset the reduction of wool supplies for civilian goods by blending staple fibre or cotton with wool. The war has, therefore, administered the, first check to the forward march of. synthetic fibres in the output of textiles. In 1913 the world production of laycin was 27,000,0001 b., and in 1939, 2,150,000,0001 b. The growth in output has been remarkable. Its increase has .cut most severely into silk and to a much lesser extent potton and wool, but,: the world’s annual clip of the latter has constantly found consumers despite the competition of the artificial products. ■