WOOLLEN INDUSTRY IN NEW ZEALAND

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18536, 5 April 1930, Page 13 (Supplement)

WOOLLEN INDUSTRY IN NEW ZEALAND

SOME INTERESTING STATISTICS CONCERNING DEVELOPMENT. Last year some 21,000 cars were sold in New Zealand. At a very conservative estimate, 17,000 of these cars were closed models requiring upholstery. To upholster an average sized car requires approximately 11 yards of “trim” per car. Had all these cars that were cold in 1929 been upholstered In New Zealand "trim” ’ (upholstery fabric) 187,000 yards of material, representing a total value of £165,000, would have been required from New Zealand factories. Thus £165,000 was lost to the woollen mills of which there are twelve in New Zealand, employing a total of 2,500 persons. To produce a yard of trim requires three pounds of raw wool. This extra quantity of fabric then would use 561,000 pounds of wool, representing a 11 per cent, increase on the total amount of wool absorbed by the woollen mills of New Zealand, amounting to 4,064.8001b5. Thus New Zealand lost the opportunity to:— 1 — provide a steady market both for wool growers and New Zealand woollen mills. 2 Provide employment for an increased number of workers in woollen mills. 3 Increase the woollen mills’ business by £165,000. 4 Increase the consumption of wool by woollen mills at least 11 per cent. 5 Provide New Zealanders with cars upholstered in materials which test and experience have proved to be definitely superior to those materials generally used on imported cars and in fact equal to the best that the world can produce.