THE WOOLLEN INDUSTRY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2652, 11 January 1905, Page 17

THE WOOLLEN INDUSTRY.

IMPRESSIONS OF A TRAVELLER. (Fbom Ottb Own Cobresfondent.) WELLINGTON, January 5. Mr M. J. Heeles, manager of the Wellington Woollen Company, who has been on a trip to England and America, told a Post interviewer that the American woollen mills were up to date in their equipment, •but the machinery, strange to say, was of English manufacture. They were turning out good doth. All .were reported to be busy and the industry was thriving, as was ihe clothing trade generally. The 1 labour conditions in the clothing factories were Tery much freer than prevailed in New . Zealand, and the unions were not pro- ] nouncedly in evidence. Specialisation pre- ( vailed not only in factories — one making trousers only and another coats only — but the operatives also devoted themselves to specialties— making pockets only, bands only, etc., the whole garment being got out in sections. Such a system could not be adopted under the conditions prevailing in the New Zealand industry. American. ,

5 labour was paid about the same rates as New Zealand, but clothing, both tailormade and ready-made-, was very much dearer than in our colony. The impressions of England related by Mr Heeles were not "nearly co bright as those of America. "My impression," he said, "is. that unless England wakes' up -she will be a second-rate Power , within .the next decade I" He was shocked atr'the- apathy displayed in every direction regarding the ■ industrial life of the Old Country. A spirit of " don't care" or "it doesn't matter" was prevalent, and least of all did the working classes seem to care. The colonial and the American -worken 'are far superior beings — better read, more advanced, and taking a greater interest in passing events — than- the English working man. , The latter is apathetic. He is a sloach, and he has .no independence as compared with the virile, active New j Zealander. A "curious and by no means pleasant phase, of English- life was . the part played by politics. A man must be either^ a Tory or _a- Liberal, and %party strife per*meaied everything. It entered into municipal and parochial affafrs, and even the r bumble^ boarcL.elections. . , " '- *■ "