IRISH LINEN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19197, 13 June 1924, Page 6

IRISH LINEN.

HISTORY OF THE TRADE. SET-BACK BY THE WAR. , 'Feom Ons Own CoitßusponDEjn.) WELLINGTON, June 12. In an address to To Aro business men to-day Mr J. Houlden, a Belfast merchant, sketched the history of the world-famous Irish linen trade during the world war. “In five years in Belfast," he said, “wo made 40,000,000 yards of aeroplane cloth —enough to furnish aeroplanes for a war of another 20 years’ duration. It wasn’t necessary, but nobody knew then but that it might be. Practically every loom previously used for the manufacture of linens was set upon this new .task by the Government officials, and how wo stood.afterwards you will realise by these figures. In 1914 flax in Belfast was £47 10s per ton; in 1918 it was £6OO per ton, and in 1920 it was £IOOO per ton. How could we make goods to sell at those prices? We simply could not do it. What we did was to turn to the manufacture of cotton, but as soon as the war was over and Manchester got going properly once again wo could not compete with her. Our looms were not fast enough, so then we made linen from flax which we bought at £6OO per ton and sent it to all parts of the world. It was turned down naturally because it was too dear.” The big mills at Belfast, said Mr Houlden, had been “right up against it. had been too dear, but it was not coming down in price. Further, the market had been spoiled by the Government. Millions of j'ards of aeroplane cloth had been left over, and the manufacturers had made an offer to take it over. It was a big thing—a £20,000,000 job, and they had thought themselves entitled to the material, as they had completely lost their own markt, but the Government had refused them and had disposed of the cloth on the open, market. ’* This had ruined the linen trade for the time being, though retailers had made much money out of it. That was the present position. The public was now paying for war good#, and they in England had to bear the brunt of this sort of thing still. He prophesied an increase of 20 per cent, in linen prices in the near future.