ARTIFICIAL SILK TRADE.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 5 February 1927, Page 7

ARTIFICIAL SILK TRADE.

. THE INDUSTRY DEPRESSED. NEW WEAVING PROCESS. The market, in the issues of the- leading a.ruiicial -silk maiiuiuctmers nas roccnuy sliaivn pronounced vveaKncs--, CdurLauis, quoted early in the year iw JTos, luffing -sharply to Uie present low price ot yijj dd, says- the Statist o! December .11. The industry has been depressed for some time past, and prices have vainly been ieduced in ihc nope of stimulating demand. However, an important development is pending, which may bring about a big change in the position of the industry of Nottingham. This has■re Icfence to iu. new weaving invention. At the present t ime tlie lace industry of Nottingham is practically at a standstill, many factories' being closed, and -some thousands of knitting machines lying idle. A new French invention by a comparatively simple device, is .said to make possible the weaving of >a. fabric by knitting machines, with the advantage that speed of production :is increased, it is claimed. by two or three times. From France, it will be remembered, theie came u .short time ago the non-lad-dering machine, and it- may be the present invention may be found equally satisfactory. At any -rate, the largest people in the artificial -silk industry are .said to- have examined the machine and its output and have joined an important London finance house to develop its possibilities. In addition to artificial -silk, any combination of wool, cotton, silk or metal can be used. Another advantage claimed is that the machine will use- artificial silk which lias now to be rejected and which forms an appreciable proportion oi the outputs under all processes. If the claims put forward are 'su lint initiated—-and the groups interesting themselves* iu the business, are said_ till ave only done -so- after examination by their experts—it may lead to considerable changes in the ma.nufaetuie of fabrics of a certain class. ia,nd, by reducing -the cost of lnamifactui e. broaden demand. A. good deal of machinery may have- to be scrapped. The primary need is that prices should be largely reduced, and this is .perhaps made the more neoe-ssiury by the fall in cotton and wool values. Competition- in the industry is increasing. but most of the new undertaking* which have been established are finding It difficult to expand their ouiput rapidlv because of the highly complex process of manufacture.