SERIOUS EFFECT ON WOOL MANUFACTURING

Chronicle (Levin), 15 February 1947, Page 5

SERIOUS EFFECT ON WOOL MANUFACTURING

(Snecial Correspondent.)

Received Fridav, 8 p.m. LOXDON, Feb. 14. With less than live per cent. of it.-wool-combing jnachinery r nnmg on account of the coal famine, liriiain i. experiencing a wool and textile production hold-up worse than auy dur.ng tiowar. The Arctic weather and coal am, electricity cuts are together paralysim, Britain's wool consuinption and 15, ()u to 20,000 wool workers are idle in Bradford alone. Many big mills have been already closed more than a week an . see no prospect of opening next week Firms accustomed to process up to 5 tons of wool per week are not handlin.. an oum-e at present and productio losses are already immense whilst niun thousands of pounds per week are bein lost in workers' wages. One of th. most serious features is that many idk mills have not even been receivink, enough coal to maintain reasonabh heating of inactive plants. Some firin have had to allow boiler fires to' die although many wool-processing plant are extremely delicate and ca]>able o being seriouslv alfected by cold. Another serious fealure is that th coal famine chieflv affects the ear! wool manipulating processes which us, large quantities of fuel. By any e.x tent to which their output suffers it inust correspondinglv cripple all the later stages of production. The threat to production brought b\ the fuel erisis is already a disastrom reality and will afl'ect liome and export deliveries for months to come. It b stated that good's which would nortnalL be delivered this month will not now reach eustomers before May, and whils the present weather continues there i no guarantee that this -is the full ex tent of the delav. It is hiuted" tha1 British clothes may he in danger o reduction as the result of production losses, but Yorkshire manufacturers d not say more than that the hope o. early inoreases are nullitied by the pre sent situation.