NEW WOOLLEN MILLS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18813, 13 September 1924, Page 10

NEW WOOLLEN MILLS.

VENTURE AT WANGANUI. MODERN PLANT INSTALLED. GOVERNOR-GENERAL'S BLESSING. [BX TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.-;! WAXQANDI. Friday. The Wanganui woollen mills were opened to-day by the Governor-General. The president of the New Zealand Farmers' Union. Mr. W. .T. Poison, pointed out that the money required, £200,000, had been subscribed rapidly. They now had a mill paid for and only 10s per share had been called up. The company had had its troubles, but they were now surmounted, and to-day Wanganui had an up-to-date mill, one of the most up to date south of the line. They had Scottish operatives working Scottish maciiin- ! ery under a Scottish manager, and they I should be able to turn out Scottish tweeds ■of high quality. It cost the British manu- ! facturer nearly 4d per lb. to get his wool ■ | into the factory, and then he 'had to pay j another 4d or 5d to send the manufac- • tured goods to New Zealand again. There . should bo uo difficulty in competing with ' the British manufacturer; in fact, tho in- ' dustry could bo extended, for there were j millions of pounds worth of woollen goods I imported that could be manufactured in tfae Dominion. There was no reason why New Zealand i should not export manufactured goods, ! said Mr. W. A. Veitch, M.P. Between i 15 million and 20 million pounds, were to jbe spent on hydro-electric works, and ! theso could only be profitably operated | by utilisation in tho industrial world. The j customs and general taxation should be | so ordered as to encourage secondary industries. Another speaker was Mr. W. S. Glenn, j M.P. He said there were 12 woollen | mills in the Dominion, and two more I were in contemplation. ,It could be j claimed that the industry had got over i its infancy. Wanganui was a wool- { growing district, and was likely to dej volop into an important centre. Tho Governor-General, who was pre- | sented with a golden key, gave one of j his typical happy speeches. He said ho i felt that he was between two f j stools, as he toad an interest in Britain ias well as in New Zealand. An increase j in secondary industries here might have I an effect upon industry in Great Britain, but as it woedd be possible for displaced | workers there to find employment out j here, he felt that he could legitimately | bless the new venture very heartily. Even | if this were not so, he was so much of j a New Zealander now tzhat he felt he j could not help it. There was every i prospect of everyone in Wanganui being j clothed with locally-made suits. The mills, though not the largest of their kind, are very complete. The sum, of £105,226 has been spent ui the parchase of land and machinery and in tfce erection of the buildings. -