The Chronicle LEVIN. THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 1916. LOCAL INDUSTRIES.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 18 January 1917, Page 2

The Chronicle LEVIN. THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 1916. LOCAL INDUSTRIES.

There is a prcspcct- of remunerative reward fffr the first competent person who <=ets up woo'lwashing and woolseo wring work-s in Levin. Tile margins fail* profitable returns to woolowne.r and factory-owner are large, as conditions are to-day. Three or four years ago the margins were very much less than at present; the mar conditions liave effected the change. To send greasy wool to England entailed a cost of from 1-Jd to 2d per lb in prewar (lays; to-day the cost amounts to 4d per lb. Prudent -farmers regard such an expense as a serious drain on their earning capacities, and to-day there is manifest a general inclination to have, wool scoured before exporting it. So far as the Chronicle can gather information on the matter it seems clear 'that the whole of the Horowhenua County is minus a woolscouring establishment. Apart from the individual losses tliat such a lack of facilities occasions to farmers there is a further enn<se for regret that potential carning-power for the chief town and district remains undeveloped. Three-fourths of the 4d per pound that sheep farmers arc paying now for conveyance of dirt to England would bo willingly paid by them to any woolscourer whose work enabled them to save one penny per pound in freight, plus the enhanced net price that the scoured wool would bring at auction in London. This, surely, is an obvious statement of fact. There is enough wool grown between Tokomai'u and Otalci to keep busy 'any woolseouriiig establishment that might he set up in a suitable locality. Some investigations were made by a Levin resident (some six years ago) with a view to starting a woo!s;oouring business near this t-own. but the difficulty of finding a suitable crook and lands added to the lesser margin of profit | then available, deterred him from [ making the venture. But we doubt j iP ho investigated the matter as thoroughly as he might have done.

It seems to us that the question of a suitable creek might well be dropped, ami an arrangement come to with the ( Horowlienua county council for convcr- ( giug the outflow of the water-races (at 'j a point where contamination of them \ would afreet no .grazing lands) 50 as \ to give a sufficient volume of water | for woohvashing and (scouring. Op- ] tionally the Levin Borough Council < might- be approached for the supply of < water from its mains; there are millions after millions of gallons of water running to waste every month under 1 present conditions. Plainly there are 110 insuperable obtacles in the way for any competent man. "We commend this business proposition to whomsoever it may concern.