THE NORTHERN ADVOCATE Registered for Transmission through the Post as a Newspaper WEDNESDAY AUGUST 17, 1949. Modern Employment Of Wool

Northern Advocate, 17 August 1949, Page 4

THE NORTHERN ADVOCATE Registered for Transmission through the Post as a Newspaper WEDNESDAY AUGUST 17, 1949. Modern Employment Of Wool

New Zealand has good reason to be keenly interested in what is being done to demonstrate the purposes to which wool can be put. From time to time reports of synthetic substances which it was predicted might take the place of wool to a large extent have been liberated, but the fleece of the sheep has continued to maintain its superiority. Indefinite continuance of this preeminence is absolutely dependent upon the vigilance and enterprise of sheep breeders to ensure that their flocks are brought to, and kept at, the highest pitch of perfection. So far the New Zealand product has held a gratifying place in the wool world, and it has been a very large contributor to the wealth of the Dominion. This may be gathered from the fact that although seventh in order in actual size of flocks, in point of production of wool New Zealand is the fourth largest in the world, and ranks third in the case of principal exporting countries.

In the year 1947-48 the total value of New Zealand wool v/as £37,500,000,

the number of bales being 1,023,389 and the average price received 26.08 d per pound. The United Kingdom was the biggest buyer of the wool, France being second, the United States third and Germany fourth. , The figures quoted are impressive, but when it is remembered that the Dominion's flocks will increase greatly as land now idle but adapted to the great pastoral industry is brought into productivity, the importance of wool to the people of this country becomes even more evident. As a consequence of the present and prospective value of wool to

New Zealand, it is good to hear of the steps the New Zealand Wool Board is taking *o make the general public aware of the results of research and experiment aimed at extending the uses to which wool may be put. This extension is imperative if wool is to fortify itself against the competition of artificially, produced fabrics, and also to provide further fields for increased production. That surprising progress has been made in this direction will be realised by visitors to the Whangarei Town Hall this afternoon and evening, when the ways in which wool may be employed in the manufacture of delicate dress and other materials will be demonstrated by mannequins. This exhibition of wool fashions, which is one of the most comprehensive of its kind seen outside the four chief centres of the Dominion, is being sponsored by the New Zealand Wool Board, and is one of the methods by which it is emphasising

the importance of the sheep-growing industry.

The superiority of New Zealand’s coarser wools has been proved long ago, as has that of the finer wools, the warmth and durability of which are unexcelled. The demonstration at the Town Hall indicates that wool, when treated in accordance with the revelations of research and invention, can be brought to an astonishing state of delicacy and beauty. Clearly, wool retains its traditional values but, at the same time, it has entered successfully new fields which promise unlimited possibilities for the development of New Zealand’s great staple industry.