Rainproof Mantles Made from Oiled Paper.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXI, Issue 12583, 21 January 1905, Page 2 (Supplement)

Rainproof Mantles Made from Oiled Paper.

Frcm the bark of trees and shrul>3 the 'Japanese make scores of - papers which ire far ahead of ours. The walls of the Japanese houses are wooden frames covered -with thin paper, which keeps out the wind, but lets in the light. Their oiled papers are astonishingly cheap and durable. As a protection for bis load of tea when a rain storm ortr«

takes him,; the Japanese farmer spreads over it. a .tough pliable •" cover of oiled paper, which is almost as impervious as tarpaulin and as light as gossamer. He has doubtless carried this cover lor years, neatly packed away somewhere about his cart. "The "ricksha" coolies in the large cities wear rain mantles of this oiled paper, which cost less than-18 cents, and last for: a year or more with constantess. An oiled tissue paper, which is as tough aa writing paper, can be had at the stationer's for wrapping up delicate articles.

In the tea factories are piles of tannel paper ■ sacks filled with tea. It is said that Ifiese tanned sacks keep the tea in better condition than any other sort, and that they last with careful use for manv years. Grain and meal sacks aie almost always made of this same paper in Japan, for it is not easily penetrated by weevils and other insects. But perhaps the most remarkable of all the papers which find a common use in the Japanese household are the leather papers of whioh the tobacco pouches and pipe cases are made. They are almost as tough as French kid, so translucent that one can nearly see through them, and ns pliable and soft -as calfskin. These tobacco pouches quite change one's notion of the characteristics of paper, fer the material of which they-.are made is as ; thick as cardboard, bat as flexible as kid. *

Tee cse of paper napkins* and handkerchiefs, umbrellas, and lanterns, is as much a part of hime life in Japan as-the use of cheap tin articles is in this country. But the reason for" this remarkable .use of paper articles, does not lis .wholly, in the absence of cheap skin's, though it is true that few domesticated leather-producing leather-producing animals exist, in Japan. The quality of the papers therifflllves makes titdn suited/ as ours are not, to these various purposes. ■ '. These Japanese best papers are made from the. inner bark of shrubs or " small frees, while to this fact they own their pieculiar character. They are. as a rule, softer, silkier, tougher and lighter than tfhr paper?:' If wet, they lose their strength, like tissue paper, bat on drying regain it. ..They are tfsually absorbent, - and for this reason were considered in the olden days as very valuable in surgery. .