WOOL AND ITS USES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20537, 11 April 1930, Page 8

WOOL AND ITS USES.

PBOSPECTS OF INDUSTRY,

EXPERT'S HOPEFUL VIEW,

"COMING INTO ITS OWN AGAIN.'!

Mr. William Hunter, a former presi. dent of the British Wool Federation, gave an address on February 17 to the Brad, ford Textile Society on wool arid its uses, It, was disappointing to note, Mr. Hunter remarked, that the wool retained for consumption in Britain in 1923 was 1,338,000 bales—assuming the quantity of wool per bale as being 3301b.—compared with 1,497,000 bales in 1913. The reduction was more serious than appeared at a first glance, although it accounted for a certain amount of the unemployment and lack of machinery activity. But con. sidering it in conjunction with the great increase which had taken place in the exports of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, between 1913 and' 1928, amounting to 1,700,000 bales, one asked why the wool textile industry here had not absorbed its due proportion of the increase. That it had been'absorbed in the main by Europe and Japan suggested that no efforts should bo spared to eradicate the cause of the disparity and put the in-dusfj-y here in the pre-eminent position in which it was before the war. They could not afford to operate machinery only eight hours out of 24 when there was such a large consumption.

They had be,en told on many occasions that the wool trade was "down and out";

that in consequence of the fierce competition of rayon and other synthetic fibres there was no prospect of a revival in the ■wool industry, said Mr. Hunter., They, should not be disheartened. The total world production of wool, 3,300.000,0001b., changed hands once a year and was consumed in various forms by the white and yellow races, and the carry-over from last" 1 season in this country was not more than sufficient to run Bradford's machinery for a month. This showed fo what extent the wave of pessimism had swept over the whole of the wool textile industry of the world and made it feel that the future was without hope. 1

Wool in America. Accepting American figures as the yardstick for measuring the requirements of modern civilisation—-America being tha only country which issued reliable statistics—one found that, in spite of the prejudice against wool in America, resulting from her isriff on wool imports—other than those used for "carpet" purposes, which were duty-free—she consumed about s;|lb. of wool per head of population, of which ljlb. was represented by "carpet" wool. It would be justifiable to assunio that 531b. was the minimum quantity uifed per hea4 of population by the woolconsuming countries. The sheep population of the world was 689,000.000 snd 637,000,000 persons wore wool fabrics, so that within a small decimal point there was one sheep per head of the wool-con-suming population.

The breaking up of the stations in Victoria and South Australia was changing entirely the character of the wool grown in those States. A larger percentage of crossbred wool was being grown, as the farmers were now breeding both for the frozen mutton trade and for domestic consumption and the contents of the bale 3 from many stations varied more in quality than had ever previously been found in Australian wools. In New South Wales the change was not so marked; in Queensland, where it was impossible to cater for the frozen mutton trade, farmers had been obliged to concentrate 011 the production of \yool suitable for the industry's requirements, and J for that reason the character of the wool had not changed.

Use of Artificial Silk. Analysing the figures of production and consumption of artificial silk Mr. Hunter showed that, apart from America, where the consumption was about 1 l-61b. per head of population—the import duties of the United- States on artificial silk being only one-fifth of those on wool —the woolusing community consumed just a little more than a quarter of a pound per head in 1928, compared with about 61b. of wool. It must not be overlooked that the fibre did not entirely displace wool, but in an equally large measure displaced cotton. It was a truly wonderful fibre and the effects which had been obtained by blending it with wool were pleasing. Wool, however, was coming into its own again and those who had been able to survive the recent period would have reason to congratulate themselves as financial and economic conditions in the world improved. A rough calculation showed that of the 10,000,000 bales of wool produced in the world as ( much as 3,000,000 were used for floor coverings of various descriptions and about 2,000,000 bales for other incidental purposes. So long, therefore, as the Westernising of the East continued and so long as the extensive building operations undertaken by the civilised races went on the demand for floor coverings would continue. Wool, indeed, had more properties than other fibre, and this enabled it to be used for a multitude of purposes other than those of clothing, so that the industry was one which still held great possibilities.