CLOTHES A CLOTHING.

Otago Witness, Issue 3869, 8 May 1928, Page 61

CLOTHES A CLOTHING.

TO THt -uITOB. Sir, —I have read with much interest “Plain Jane’s" splendid article “Are Women Cruel? ” in your issue of the 26th ult. I think fur clothing is necessary in our cold and bleak winters. It does not seem feasible to be always shivering with the cold, and requiring extra work on the part of our internal organs to keep up some heat. I believe I am right in saying that a Canadian trapper does not have a row of traps 30, 50, or 100 miles apart, as stated by “ Plain Jane.” He would have the traps set a few miles apart, and when this area is trapped out would shift on farther, till eventually he was the distance named from the starting point. We always read that the trappers require to keep a watchful eye on their traps, because carnivorous animals are always watching for trapped defenceless animals. The wolverine displays the cunning of Satan in keeping out of the traps himself, and often watches a trap from a distance, waiting for an animal to get caught so that he can procure a good meal. If the paws of an animal are found in a trap it does not signify that, in its agony, it has eaten off its foot, but it signifies that a big carnivorous animal, possibly the wolverine, has been round and killed and eaten the trapped animal. The trapper would never get any furs if he visited his traps, say, only once a week. The rabbit trappers in this country require to visit their traps at very short intervals, as hawks, wild -cats, and stray dogs will spoil the skins of the trapped rabbits. In Canada foxes have been bred in captivity for 20 generations, and make a very important industry. Breeding Angora rabbits to shear the fur off is a very valuable industry, and it is to be regretted that it is not established in this country. By a lucky coincidence, in the same issue as contained “Plain Jane’s” contribution there is the article “ Our Yorkshire Letter,” and the writer refers to the fact that tweed cloth for clothing is made considerably lighter than in former years. I believe I am right in saying that the public never asked for suits of clothes made out of tweeds which were sundry ounces per yard less in weight than in paet years. I have heard no end of complaints on this score. The woollen manufacturers do not hear what the rank and file have to say. Wool has fluctuated so very much in past years that in order to make themselves financially secure the woollen manufacturers have put much less wool in a yard of cloth and foisted it on to an unsuspecting public. This cloth is so thin that with the least bit of wear it bursts through, there being nothing to come and go upon. By and by, bv feeling their way along, the woollen mills will doubtless be making tweeds of the thinness of calico. They are not so far off that now. It is not correct to say that underclothing is now extra warm. The underflannels are the same as in former years. Thick, heavy cotton drawers are now very hard to get, and woollen ones, being very porous, let too much wind through. For these reasons perhaps heavy topcoats are so universal, especially in Auckland. In the early days these were seldom seen, while mackintoshes were used on wet days. These, however, are never seen now. A big company has leased from the Canadian Government 3,000.000 acres (half the size of Otago, I think) in the vicinity of Vancouver for the purpose of a reindeer farm. They will slaughter the animals themselves, and save everything. What they are building extra hopes upon is the skin, which when denuded of the hair and then tanned will be made fit for clothing, as it is very light, and possesses to a marvellous degree the property of keeping the cold out and the heat in.— I am, etc., Richard Norman. Lawrence. Anril 26.