ARTIFICIAL COTTON.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 14 January 1929, Page 8

ARTIFICIAL COTTON.

NEW ROMANCE IN INDUSTRY. : GOOD NEWS FOR LANCASHIRE. LONDON, Nov. 25. Lancashire and Yorkshire cotton mills, which hav e lost in recent years so much of their export trade, will, it is hoped, be placed in a position next summer which will enable them to meet all foreign competition and recapture th© Far Eastern markets. . . Between three and four million pounds of artificial cotton is now being grown in Essex and ISussex which is expected to be available in July to every cotton spinner in the country at a fixed price of Gd a pound, an ernmediate saving of at least 4d a pound on what they are now paying. This artificial cotton is being grown in this country to produce the annual crop Sufficient in quantity and quality to meet the demand of the “ coarse count’ ’required for tlic entire cotton industry, it can be treated, it is stated, by the existing cotton machinery ivith-. out a penny being expended on newj plant, and the yarn can be blended, as ectton is, with artificial _ silk, and i wool, taking the most delicate dyes, and —another important economy—absorbing less than a third of the amount of dyes employed in the present process. Already weaving houses in the North and Midlands have tested the new product in all its spheres, and are satisfied that it has not only a soft and lasting sheen, but lustre which artificial silk producers for many years have been endeavouring to obtain. [ ROMANTIC 'ORIGIN. This means of salvation for the cotton trade has an .origin probably mere romantic than any in industry. A.t Winsdor House, in Victoria Street, where the English Artificial Cotton Production and Marketing Corporation have their offices, I was shown yesterday (writes a representative of the “Observer”), a bird’s nest which gave the clue to the discovery. ( “Eight years ago,” Mr D. A. Walters, one of the directors of the company, said, “we discovered in British Guiana a bird busily engaged in building this nest. 'So much did the nest resemble cotton that we kept a close watch, and found that the bird, was pickin.oi a certain plant, stripping it and treating it. We brought the seed and roots of the plant to this country, 1 and have grown it on soil that is of little use for anything else, to .a height of from five to- seven feet. It has been brought, indeed, to such a high state of perfection here, that not only is the yield greater, but the plant itself is in striking contrast with the original weed. . . 1 “Our next course was to submit it to the mills. IV© went to all the best in 1 Lancashire and Yorkshire, and they have undertaken to accept the whole output. The supply by next July will be sufficient to keep several mills going ■ for 12 months, and every year the supply will increase. Tt will enable Lancashire to proceed at once to recapture the markets the loss of which has caused so much depression.” BY-PRODUCTS. It has been possible, it was explained, to fix a price as low as Gd a pound for the cotton, because there aTe many by-products, such as parchment, light building material, and even a drug, that can be obtained from the stems, leaves, and roots of the plant. Between eight hundred and nine hundred , pounds of cotton an acre are produced, and for seven years no further cultivation is necessary. . “It is essential,” Mr Walters added, i “that the financial position of the’new project should be understood. The English Artificial Cotton Production ■ and Marketing Corporation, Ltd., is a private company with a nominal capital of £IOO. the .chairman being Mr C. J. Hedley-Thornton, a private analytical and research chemist, who was responsible for the discovery of the plant and the subsequent perfection of the process and treatment. The Corpor- . ation enjoys the support of several financial houses in this country and is therefore in no need of capital of , any description. ’ ’