CROSSBRED WOOL

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVI, Issue 22998, 15 September 1944, Page 5

CROSSBRED WOOL

Release For Civilian T rade Cloth And Carpets By Telegraph—N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright LONDON, September 13. Good news for the wool industry of New Zealand lies in the announcement by the Bradford Wool Control that certain crossbred wool hitherto reserved for Government work will be available to the certified export trade in civilian cloth.

Wool producers in New Zealand will be aware that their crossbred wool for the last five years has been in extensive demand for war purposes as it possesses characteristics specially suitable for clothing and equipping the forces. For a considerable time crossbred wool has not been available for civilian trade, but it is in the ultimate best interests of producers that their wool be adequately represented in world goods, and the release of quantities of crossbred wool for export as cloth will be welcomed by New Zealand graziers. It means that crossbred wool will tend to return to normal channels of consumption which, taking a long view, seems very desirable from, the growers’ standpoint. Arrangements are also in train for the resumption of British carpet manufacture, which normally absorbs large quantities of coarse and heavy wools; Manufacture was suspended a considerable time ago as a war economy measure and the catpet machinery was transferred to war production or closed down. Resumption of carpet manufacture apparently anticipates a post-war demand for carpets for home-making.

Rations for Home Trade British wool and cloth manufacturers have received official advance estimates of the rations of wool for the Home trade for November and February, which are approximately the same size as current rations.

A recent United States analysis i’eyeals the textile consumption of fibre in that country to be 80 per cent, of cotton, 10 per cent, of wool, and 10 per cent, of rayon, with the last-mentioned showing an advancing tendency. These figures will help to correct the misconceptions in certain quarters that the United States is a potential outlet for vast quantities of the accumulation of wool. It is pointed out here that the United States had large wartime imports of wool, principally for war purposes or a strategic reserve, and that these are not necessarily a criterion for her peacetime needs as large areas of the United States are semi-tropical. The consumption of wool per head of population in the United States is much below that of Britain, where the climate favours the use of wool on a large scale. It is believed that synthetic fibre will progress less markedly in Britain than in America, because control of production here prevents one fibre, in wartime, making an advancement compared with others.