CLOTHES RATION

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 30 August 1945, Page 5

CLOTHES RATION

CUT IN BRITAIN DUE TO COTTON SHORTAGE London, Aug. 29. The New Zealand wool industry will share the regret of the British people that the cut of 25 pqr cent, in the British clothes ration has been found necessary after the close of the war, but they will be interested to learn, first, that the cut was chiefly occasioned by shortage of cotton rather than wool cloth though supplies of the latter are by no means over plentiful, and secondly, that traders are conthat the tendency in wool textile civilian production will henceforth be steadily upward. Britain is now paying the ►inevitable price of withdrawing many thousands of workers from civilian industries in order to increase her war effort to the highest possible peak. Certain sections of the press here allege that the present clothing shortage could have been avoided by foresight and planning, but this is officially denied. The country had the choice of an all-out war effort, with its possible accompaniment of temporary shortages in some civilian spheres, or of a less complete war effort, and the wisdom of the former choice is beyond question. Some time is required for the withdrawal of labour from manufacture to be felt at the public counter, and only now is the state of public supply of civilian clothing reflecting the largescale withdrawals of labour from textiles and clothing for the war effort. There is consolation in the reflection that the peak point of civilian privation has now been reached and there is official assurance that further changes will be in the direction of improvement. THE LABOUR FACTOR Commercial advices from the United States of America indicate that American wool textile production, which lately has been 80 per cent, for war purposes, hopes shortly to be on an 80 per cent, civilian output, but it is doubtful if any such rapid change-over will be seen in Britain. It is believed that the aim here will be not so much to suspend Government production—as this will still be needed —but to expand the proportion of civilian output as more labour becomes available. In proportion as the aggregate output can be expanded in wool goods, the increase will come in civilian home and export trade and there is confidence in commercial circles that the rate of that ex. pansion is likely to be much faster than at one time seemed possible. New Zealand woolgrowers will welcome the news that British mills are geared for much increased consumption of wool and are capable of absorbing literally thousands of workers as fast as they may return from the forces or from munition factories. The only shortage in British woollen mills to-day is not wool, but labour, though there is a promise that this will b rapidly relieved. It is hoped in the next few months to see Britain well on the way toward recovering her former position as the leading wool consumption nation. Her wool processing plants, though in need of repairs and replacements after six years in which these have been reduced to a minimum because of the vvar, nevertheless are believed to be fully as efficient as those of any other country. Her potential capacity for the large-scale output of wool goods to meet world shortages is probably larger than that of any other country. The contribution of British mills toward the final liquidation of Dominion wool surpluses will be immense.—p.A.