PAPERMILLS.

North Otago Times, 22 May 1909, Page 2 (Supplement)

PAPERMILLS.

Scotland lias a thriving industry in lb manufacture of paper, but it is ut had second to England, From nn article in a very recent "(.'handler's Journal," wo. learn that in England there are 217. paper-mills, in Scotland 50, and in Wales seven. The , Sister Isle has only six. Jn Scotland the county of Midlothian heads the list with 15 mills; hut Lnnca- - shire far exceeds that total with 43 mills, followed hy Kent with HO, and Yorkshire with 28, In looking at the Scotch counties, it is interesting to observe how the Highlands hjvA| escaped. There is no mill in of the big counties, Perthshire or Inverness, not anywhere north of Aberdeenshire ; and, with the exception of Herwickshire, where there are two linns, none of the florder burghs has a factory.

THE QUESTION OF RAW MATERIALS.

What troubles the Scots papermakers most is the question of raw materials. They have to search nround considerably for stuff at'a reasonable price. Unfortunately the cost in always tending upwards. Wood-pulp is the back-bone of the mill to-day ; but. how long will Ill's continue ? Just consider the vast volume of wood devoured 'by tho pulp-grinders in l!>or>. Tn the United Stitles the estimated total was 8,000,000 tons, in Oermanv 2.000,000 tons, in Canada 1,000,000 tons, in Russia 2.">0,000 tons. Hritnin's bill for pulp-the mon->y paid by the mill-owners to the lumber-owners—-was £3,000,000 sterling, So great is the demand for wood-pulp in the United States that the forests am disappearing wholesale.

POSSIBLE SUBSTITUTES FOR WOOD PULP.

Hut great clTorts arc being mailc in different purls of Ihc world to unoarth's substitute for wood-pulp, In Jamaica a company lias been formed to make paper out of banana-skins. One of the latest achievements is converting waste cotton-stalks into a suitable pulp. Bamboo is said to bo capable of profit-yielding treatment under scientific methods. A syndicate is being, or has been, formed to convert the dried stick of the sugarcane into paper. v On the banks of the Nile attention is devoted to the cultivation of the pnpyrus plant, and a consulting chemist reports that its adoption is only a question of quantity obtainable and cost. An expert is touring through Tndin testing His innumerable fibres of the country as to their suitability for paper-making. At Oopac, Michigan, .machinery is now in operation transforming pent into paper,