YORKSBHIRE LETTER

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 84, 3 January 1919, Page 8

YORKSBHIRE LETTER

PLANS FOR RECONSTRUCTION; (From Our Special Correspondent J Bradford, October 24. The Director of Wool Textile Prochicaon (Sir Charles Sykes) haß issued this reek-: to manufacturers throughout the vh°lo country w|hat wo call an urgont 'whip, intimating that "largely owing 0 the diffipulty in obtaining supplies of jaw-materials of suitable grades, tho Iran;, upon the man-power or the indua?r, and other, industrial factors, do. iyeries of cloth have fallen most feriiusly ' into arrears." These facts having lecoma apparent, Sir Charles, acting on pie of -a'-representative commit,ee of has come to the jonclusion that, in order to relieve tho atuation, "it will not bo possible to issue icenses to run machinery for civilian imposes to firmj.-whose deliveries against Soyernment_ contracts are in arrear." 018'' above is a rather significant statepent. Coming on tho top of that is a lablegrnm from Melbourne, statin? that he OFederal Government has prohibited .ustriJian mills from accepting civilian rders for some months to come, because f. thd heavy demands on mll.itary acipuntr. f If is apparent that tho' authorijifoi in Australia aTe faced with arrears, (lid 'that 1 the wjiolo production is inefficient to meet the equipment of new h6n. Ona has only to remember that tho Ipiiuiors and manufacturers of' Groat Britain are 'iiaving to meet the needs of |n Army.-end Navy comprising soveral piffion men '(including Americans) td fed that the task 'is colossal, and wo are lot surprised at the Director of Wool Textile Production , issuing to ths trade t circular such as we have referred to. Phers aTe those who blame, woollen maiutlicturers especially for runninir scribbling bacnines, and smnping rtrulea on civil 'ac-piint,-ljiMause they -have'been- able to pake bigger profits than if working on bilitary account. From practical exerience' and most intimate knowledge jf inill life the writer, is not disposal p-nooopt any suoh verdict. We could iame > mills where) out of twolve sets of pacfynes, no fewer than ten have been rorking on military account'for the nast fivo years; in fact, manufacturers at that pmmission will have kept up, to tlieir teliveries—even exceeded them—it beta;? ply about last April when orders were liven to delay deliveries? and now to be (halted with profiteering i* beside the bark._ A mistako was; mado early this iear in. tisking manufaoturem to' delay elivery till July of khaki which should ave been sent in during April end May. nd . we know of no more loyal set of than wcollen spinners and manuacturers. .who, as Sir Albert Stanley rebarked in Bradford last Monday, hod [lways been ready to. make every sacrilce demandod, no matter how great it jras. • >' :*•■ • rv j ; Real Cause of Arrears. / [ We are quite prepared to accept what Sir Charles Sykes states in 'regard to flothinjf supplies being in arrears, .but t is veil worth asking what is the real -.Is it duo tt> there 'beinu a defiieney of cloth itself, or too small a turntit if garments at the hands f: wholesale clothiers ? Porliaps both are ,t fault.' One has 'only to point to tho iroduction or standard clothing to draw iho: conclusion that, wholesalo clothiers Ire'bo-busy on military garments that ihey have no time to produce standard 'abrics .for the million. Everybody knows pey- cannot do both, and military reuirements must come first. The writer ponglytmaintained that if tho supply of thaki is deficient' the' Department -is iiare to ljlame than manufacturers.. Even jfficials of the Government have a - limitd vision, and the President of the Board f Trade admitted to a Bradford auditnce of epinnei's and manufacturers last (londay that mistakes .had. Ijeen made.' ft ; was an error of judgment ' to stop iiajiufacturers from, delivering: khaki jloth ■ in the middle of this year, but, |f course, the officials could not see that jhe American Army was going to-be two pillion strong-' at tho end of this year' tnd that all renewals would havo to be net in this country. - It is no easy thing or woollen firms to take out from a fcribbling machine a lchaki job and put pat machino on to civilian work. Poslibly ihanufacturers have sold a certain lumber , of pieces all of which must be (elivered :as soon as they can. In the irsti' instance, firms should not have Seen asked to delay delivery of cloth last ITay, June, and July, and the officials, if; the : Department should havo foreseen' he increasing demands which .were certain to.'.be made upon the Cloth - Departnent long before, the middle of October, is a : matter of fact, they commandeered ill woollen from September 1, and if;they have.issued licenses to allow woolen manufacturers' to .run part' of. their" slant on civil account, tli i.s should not tavo been .done. -To-day ' tho majority ire running 100 per cent. • of .their mahinery, and. will loyally continue to do 0 in order to meot 'the ever-increasing .emands on military account. ' - Distribution of Raw Material. ■ very important meeting of the Board f. Control-has been held since we last' rrote,' thevoiiiowl statement being more licid than ever before. .It is very plain, hat- control T/ih 'continue:for 60jne time .fter the .cessation of hostilities," and a onference is sitting at the end of the vcek with a view.to tukineVpreliminaiy tteps for forming a AA'ool Council to reulate and distribute supnlies„till things become more, normal. ■ The reader can fasily see that with the majority of ?oth, worsted, and woollen mills running jay an average, of S5 'per cent, of their plant on military fabrics, the end of the jrar will find them faced with a very' jiiffionlt problem, and Sir Charles Syk«s jvas able to announce last week that the jfficials of the War Office have ''practio--illy, agreed to a schemo; whereby it may be made more easy to divert . production [pto civil channels. It it proposed that (very soldier demobilised wifl return home in lis khaki suit, and facilities fill bo granted to him to purchase, either by ; coupon: or some other method that pay be decided upon, a standard suit, overcoat, etc., which w;ill be of excellent iuality antj value." The above anhouncemont is important, and has proved -most acceptable to the trade as n jvhole. • Very poor suits were given to discharged men during tho first three reara of-the war. The present Khaki fabrics .which, are being made can be dyed plue,_ when a most respectable and 6aund (rearing suit can bo made, which cannot but provo very, acceptable to evprj-: disstarged man. Otlier saaues can be dy C( r !ust as well. If the materials oil hand nd in process of manufacture are dealt fith 'as Sir Charles Sykes outlined, it eed cause little disturbance besides enabling. tho tradA to gradually get back to' normal conditions by manufacturing iivil fabrics. \\ A Wool Council. Perhaps the most important-event of ill is the steps being taken to form a Wool Council, this being a wiso move, ft is intended to bo fully representative )f all. branches of tho industry, and the luties of the council will be us follows:— 1 (a) To advise as to the needs of 'the industry in regard to raw materials during the transition period. (b) To preparo plans which will'faci|itate the turnover from war. to peace conditions. • ~ (c) To speaS on behalf of tho .woollen industry on the matters on which tho Standing Council on, Post-war Priority might wish to consult with I ' them. , 111 wili agree. that tho above -is a post sensible programme, and as big diffifulties will confront the officials they lave acted .wisely in asking for the leaders of tho trado to meet in council together. There seems to-day a coniensus of opinion that control must go frith all reasonable speed when the war Snidhes. It cannot bo dono in live minutes, but some of tho present restrictions can easily be. withdrawn and tho Establishment of a series of London sales, granting all firms aliko a permit to buy, Will be a move in the right direction, bne foresees a difficulty for some considerable time in getting homo big cargoes of wool, but it will be attempted, pd. eveniif-prices are. fixed and profit* restricted it. will be infinitely better (than the trade to-day being denied tho privilege of buying anything unless it is wanted for military purposes. We- aro

living in evolutionary times; no man can clenrl» defino the futur* but it is plain to be seen that an effort is to be made to extricate the trade from its present thraldom as soon us possible. , SOLDIER FARMERS THE N.Z.E.F. ON THE LAND. "Tho C'odford Command depot has had remarkable success tliis year in its agricultural activities," says "The Chronicles of the N.Z.E.I''." "Thirty-five acres of land iri tho vicinity of tho camp wcro put under cultivation in connection with the depot's scheme for re-education and the lieiilthy employment of men who aro being mndo tit (ig'ain for active service. A total sum of .£373 was expended in machinery, plants, seeds, manure, etc., and the receipts so far have proved to be iE1730. Twonty-five tons of potatoes were put in, costing XI9B, and the crop returned was ICO tons, valued at JIIUO. This was nn average of fivs tons to tho aore. .From 16s. Gd. worth of cabbages 20i tons were returned, valued at .€205, and from !>s. 6d. worth of assorted vegetables the return'whs £72. For the next geason a large experimental plot is being added, and some good results are expected. "EveU' more remarkable returns- are to band from tlio Artillery Camp at Ewsliot. Hero 12, acres wero put down in potatoes. The digging is not yet complete, tut upto tho present 42 tons have been lifted, and, averaging the remainder, tho returns should bo 90 tons for the 12 acres. As the average price for the season is ,£8 155., the value of the crop should be about -6T82. Tho mixed vegetables crop has returned a value of i£2oi). Tho total expenditure for seeds, implements, and tools . amounted to £170." ' •' DEMODECIC MANGE IN. PIGS Mr. H. W. Carbury, M.R.C.V.S., Acting OJHcor in Charge Wftlloceville Laboratory, writes as follows in tho "Journal of Agriculture":— - - "During the last year two . 'specimens have been received ' at the- f Wallaceville Laboratory of follicular '. or < demo<lecic mange: affecting pigs/ As these.are the first : specimens of this condition which have,-been-recognised in this country, they aro considered worthy ■ of a short notice.. The causal agent is a very small paraisite, l-75in. to l-100in. /long elliptical • or laurel-leaf in shape, .with- four pairs of stumpy legs on each side of the body. This parasite lays eggs which on hatching give rise to on immature form of the parasite, subsequent changes resulting m the perfect demodex. "The parasite was first found in man in ISI2 in the comedones oi< blackheads of the face, in which'it appears to cause no injury. In the sheep, horse, and cat it also appears to be inoffensive. Ini the dog it gives rise to a! very intractable form of mange, and in the ox, goat, (ind pig it produces a pustular eruption of the skin. The parasite is found in the hair-follicles and sebaceous glands of the skin, especially in the vicinity of the snout, neclc, under-part of breast, fl,ank, groin, belly, and the inner sides or tho thighs. Although there is only one genue there are several varieties, distinguished only by their size and shape. . . • "The contagious nature of this condition has not been definitely shown. Csokor" observed a herd of twenty-two pigs in which all were affected, while Lindqvist, of Stockholm, has only .seen eno animal affected in a herd of two hundred. "From a practical standpoint domodecic mange in.the pig is of some importance, and! this note'may-be useful in drawing attention to tho fact that such a condition exists. I trust it may also result in more specimens of the disease, ;with full particulars regarding tho casts, being forwarded to the Laboratory] with the end in view of adding to the small amount of information recorded in connection' with this particular form of scabies."