SERVICES’ CLOTHING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27391, 17 May 1950, Page 7

SERVICES’ CLOTHING

New Zealand Undertakes Research WOOLLEN MATERIALS NZPA—Copyright LONDON, May 15. New Zealand’s chief contribution to the work of the Commonwealth Committee on the development, design, and inspection of services’ clothing and general stores, which has just concluded its third annual conference in London will be a further study of improvements in the production .of uniform materials for both cold climate and tropic wear. The committee works with the assistance of a number of technical subcommittees in each of the associated countries whose duty it is to deal with various problems of research, organisation, and production allocated to them by the central, conference. In New Zealand this work is done by the Joint Services’ Technical Committee, which works in association with the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research and such bodies as the Woollen Research Association. Wool Cloth

New Zealand, as a large wool-pro-ducing country, is concerned to a considerable extent with the problems of wool cloth production for services’ purpose. These not only involve imDrovement of the various types of cloth likely to be required for uniforms, blankets, underclothing, and so on, but considerations of fittings and uniform designs. One of the tasks New Zealand will undertake will be research into the development of light-weight woollen materials suitable for tropic wear. As part of the general plans which are being put into effect to standardise arms and equipment efforts are also being made to evolve a minimum number of fittings and sizes of uniform to equip the various national types—the average physique of New Zealanders, for instance, is considerably different from that of Australians and South Africans, and therefore requires a different scale of uniform fittings. Hide Testing,

Another problem considered by the conference was that of services’ footwear. Efforts had been made for some time to find satisfactory mechanical means of testing hides intended for footwear manufacture, but so far no method has been found which is as efficient as inspection and classification by individual experts. Another problem—with which the Australians are much concerned —is the impregnation of clothing to prevent insect bites in the tropics. Yet another was the possibility—in which New Zealand is likely to have a direct interest —of the increased use of cellulose and other wood by-pro-ducts in the packing of stores. One of the chief purposes of this is to save tin and tinfoil, which are in short supply.

The London conference was not concerned with questions of food and service rations. This is the responsibility of the Commonwealth Defence Science Committee, which will itself hold important meetings in Britain later this year.