ARTIFICIAL WOOL MIXTURE

Southland Times, Issue 23716, 14 January 1939, Page 12

ARTIFICIAL WOOL MIXTURE

GERMANY’S POPULATION CLAD IN ZELLWOOLE

The greatest criticism of “Zellwoole” (German artificial wool) as a competitor of wool is that while most of the civil population of Germany is dressed in Zellwoole. the army is dressed in materials ma’de from pure wool. This comment was made by Professor R. Marston, director of the nutrition laboratory conducted by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research at Adelaide University.

During his visit overseas he carried out research work in sheep nutrition at Cambridge University, and inquired into various aspects of the woollen industry in Europe. Professor Marston visited Germany, where he investigated the progress of the German artificial wool industry. ' < “It is making remarkable progress,” he said, “and practically the whole of the ciyjl population is dressed in an artificial wool mixture, very little pure wool being incorporated in the cloth. The army is dressed in materials made from pure wool. The finished Zellwoole cloth is in no way a serious competitor of wool, and the German people are very anxious to have woollen clothes again.

“The fact that in such a comparatively short period Germany has produced a fibre of such remarkable characteristics is a warning to the wool industry as a whole. Ido not think, however, that there is anything to fear as long as Australia and other producing countries produce wool at reasonable prices,” he added. Big quaitities of artifificial wool were being used in England, Professor Marston said. The fibre was imported from Germany, Italy, Holland and Denmark, the industry having been recently established in Holland and Denmark. Lanatil, the Italian artificial wool produced from casein (protein of milk), was not nearly so successful as the German product.