WOOL V SILK

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 72, Issue 235, 3 October 1929, Page 6

WOOL V SILK

A FARMERS VIEWPOINT REDUCTION IN PRODUCTION PREDICTED. “There is a lot to be said about silk,’’ said Mr Donald Ross, president of the Wanganui Agricultural Association, at yesterday’s meeting of that body. “ [ have been reading about it since I last brought the matter up.” (Laughter). He said that jute refuse from India, refuse from ropes and twines, in fact a good deal of poor material on the Continent ‘ was being made into artificial silk. There was no danger of real silk going far as a competitor with wool, because it could not be produced at the price. This country got more from the wool, for, in addition to that, there was the carcase of the animal. This was a producing country and people should support the produce grown in it. It was possible to make wool possess a sheen like silk, -but it did not sell like the other. “I might not stand on my feet so far as figures arc concerned,” Mr Ross proceeded, “but I prophesy a reduction in production in this country of £2,000,000 this year. Wool has dropped, so has meat and dairy produce. I have no disrespect for silk, but we don’t produce it and unless we get the money for our produce we can’t afford to spend money on silk. Why don’t the Government tax it? There is one class of silk that goes into a jelly so to speak and the other, well, a pair of real silk stockings would cost fifteen shillings S” Air R. Farley: How do you know? Mr R. Williams: I think Mr Ross should address the ladies on this. Mr Ross: The ladies are not all to blame. The men must find tlfe money. If wo don’t get the money for our produce we can’t buy silk. They tax land of course. You get a type of Government in office that will expect a lot from you. I have to get rid of a man or two and this taxation comes back on the working man in the end. There are enough ways of getting taxation in this country without taxing the “goose that lays the golden egg.” I don’t believe in being hard on anybody. Mr N. Hughes: “Sweet sixteen” didn’t think that. Mr Rpss: “Sweet sixteen,” or “sweet seventeen,” or whatever you call her, is quite all right. There is a lot in what she says. Mr Hughes: I’d like to know what her reply is going to bo.