The Hawera Star. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1926. ARTIFICIAL WOOL.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 6 February 1926, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1926. ARTIFICIAL WOOL.

Delivered every evening by 5 o'clock in Hawera, Manaia, Nonnanby, Okaiawa, Eltham, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Alton, Hurleyvflle, Patca, Waverloy, Mokoin, Wbakaraara, Ohangai, Meremere, Eraser Bead, and Ararat#.

The reported successful production on the Continent of artificial wool warrants consideration by all who are in any way concerned in the future of the natural product. There were those, at Home and in Australia, who became alarmed at the very first mention of the new fabric, while, at the opposite extreme, others have poohpoohed the idea, of a wool which is not wool. It may be, that, as Sir John ’Higgins put it in Sydney recently, “irrespective of what substitutes are produced wool will always hold its own”; but observers in Yorkshire tend to the view that “snia.fi!,” as tli© new material lias been named by the producers, should not be belittled. Sir 'Frank Heath, secretary of the British Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, who arrived in Wellington this week, is similarly impressed. “It is impossible to say yet what the price of these neiv artificial wools will be,” he said, “and it is equally impossible to say how far they will go in competition with natural wool. I am not an expert in wool, but I do know something 'of the. history of scientific development, and I am quite certain these products havei got to be reckoned with. ’ ’ Nothing is to be gained by arguing that science cannot produce “wool” from a foundation of "paper pulp; science has done it. On the other hand, it would be foolish to imagine that artificial wool is going to repeat the triumph of synthetic indigo, nnd to drive the natural product from the market. Rather may the influence of sniafil be expected to correspond to that of artificial silk, which has by no means put the silkworm out of business. At the first impact of the new competition, the natural silk industry did suffer a temporary set-back, but it. recovered and to-day, if not more firmly established than ever, the trade in real silk certainly shows no signs of weakening. As a. matter of fact, the very success of the artificial article increased the demand for silk goods generally, with the result that

Hie natural product benefited as well. Wood pulp is the base of artificial silk

as of sniafil, and the Italian firm which has produced the new cloth is also one of the world’s largest manufacturers of artificial silk. Of course that, does not complete the analogy be- ■ tween the two fabrics, but it prompts the thought that their influence on the market for. the natural product may be much the same. It is probable that sniafil will prove to be as different from sheep’s-wool as artificial silk is from real silk, and that distinctiveness will be the saving of the natural clip. Even the coarsest grades of wool have qualities of warmth and lightness which cannot' easily be counterfeited, and it is with the coarser crossbred wools that sniafil is expected to come into most, direct competition. The chances are, however, that this competition will resolve itself largely into co-operation. Artificial wool will no doubt find a large following of consumers—whatever its wearing qualities', it will bo considerably cheaper than natural wool has been of recent Years—but it may be in much greater demand when mixed with some of the poorer of real wools. In this ease it will really compete, more with cotton. It is not. as though the new material had made its appearance at a time when the world was over-supplied with clothing fabrics. Since, the beginning of thisi century, the use of woollen goods has extended into almost every country, but neither the production of wool nor that of cotton has responded to the. need of increased quantities of those commodities. So far as that goes, science could not have, come to the aid of the world at a. more bpportune time. The world shortage has had th e effect of keeping wool prices at a high level, with occasional soaring to extreme figures. It is probable that the manufacture of substitutes will put a brake on prices; but the experience of the last few years suggests that there will still be' ample demand to absorb at reasonably payable rates all the wool the world can produce. If one effect of the new competition be to stabilise wool prices, it may prove a blessing in disguise to the whole industry, from the sheep’s back forward; for, as it was aptly put in Australia a week or two ago, ‘ ‘ artificial prices will do a deal more harm than artificial wool.”