WOOLLEN MANUFACTURE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21101, 8 February 1932, Page 13

WOOLLEN MANUFACTURE.

] Sir, —So we are to employ the whole el j tie 50.000 unemployed making superfine rugs and blankets. I wander bo ease thought of this solution before. It makes no difference whether previously they were mechanics, paperhangers, painters, joiners, etc., or whether they ar-a 20 or 60 years old, they are all to be turned into textiles workers. It is realiy wonderful, ] scißods almost like a Russian five-year i plan. At present, according to the Official : Handbook, in 1329-1830, 12 woollen miTis ! employed 2473 persons, and produced j 114.b00 pairs of bia.akels, aßd 60,512 rags I and shawls, but, of course, tihey also j made many, other kinds of woiallea goods. It would not be unreasonable to expect j each person to make five blankets or rugs I per week. Jit this rate liiey would proj dote 13 millions in a year. New Zealand j rugs and blankets may be goad* but they ] are very dear, so where are yon going to i **ll. this quantity ? Australia, Canada, | both have wo&iien mills of their swb, and j produce just as good as article. They | also have protective tariffs. India can I manufacture similar g&ods at half the i price. Where are the markets'for thesa j wonderful goods to be found ? Xe, the I solution of unemployment is to be found ! in getting preference from Great Britain j for your primary products, but you can- | not expect something for nothing, and | must gi*e up fostering uneconomic indus- ] tries, which is making Xew Zealand an | expensive country to live in, and cannot j possibly absorb toot surplus towis-bced ; population. H. B. McKebscw. : Tauranga.