NEED FOR SUBSTITUTES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21876, 11 August 1934, Page 7 (Supplement)

NEED FOR SUBSTITUTES

A congress of German scientists met recently in Berlin to discuss the provision of substitutes for raw materials. The discussions show that German industry is planning many great changes, especially so far as minerals,' oil, textile fibres, and edible fats are concerned. Petrol, or its equivalent, is to be produced on a far greater scale from coal, and the existing oil wells in Germany are to be intensively exploited. Substitutes for cotton and wool are to be made chiefly from wood, and a special kind of soya bean is to be grown to provide raw material for margarine. Ivory, rubber, and copper are, as far as possible,- to be replaced by various compositions. While it is believed that the substitutes will in some cases prove as good as the original articles, the nation will be called upon to put up with inconvenience if certain substitutes are 'not- entirely satisfactory, because Germany is approaching a period that in many respects will recall wartime conditions.: Some of. the artificial articles—as, for instance, synthetic petrol—will be far dearer than the natural product, but.where this is so a tariff will shut out the imported article. The soya bean is an example. In 1932, 1,200,000 tons of soya beans were imported from the Far East, and formed Germany's chief source of raw material, for margarine. Two and ahalf million acres, sown with the right variety of beans, would yield 400,000 tons of edible oil and . save about half the amount imported!, On the other hand, the chemical industry will do its utmost to produce new articles from raw materials found in Germany • and to develop an export trade, thus bringing in foreign currency.