ARTIFICIAL WOOL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19303, 16 April 1926, Page 9

ARTIFICIAL WOOL.

"NO NEW THING AT ALL." [FROiI OUII OWN' CCmnESrONDENT.] LONDON, March 10. Speaking at tlie annual meeting of Messrs. Courtaulds, Ltd., silk and artificial silk manufacturers, tho chairman, Mr. Samuel Courtauld, made reference to the new article known as artificial wool. It is no new thing at all," ho said, "and 'artificial wool' is a complete misnomer, for it lias not got the characteristics of wool. It is simply a very common quality of non-continuous artificial silk fibre, which is delivered without receiving the final finishing processes which give it lustro, and in some cases it is given a temporary extra 'dulling' as well. For vears wo have sold a fibre of this variety, upon which we are now paying an excise duty of Gd per lb. as 'artificial silk waste.' In our case we deliver it with its full lustre, and in strength and regularity it equals our standard artificial silk fibre. , t , "To my mind, practically the only value of such a material lies in its silky appearance, which makes it suitable for blending into fancy yarns. In other reflects wo consider it inferior to raw cotton, which is also cheaper. We doubt whether this is ever likely to develop into an important business; should it do so, we should find no difficulty in largely expanding production at short notice.