FRANCE AND WOOL

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 100, 22 January 1919, Page 10

FRANCE AND WOOL

RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF INDUS-

'> ,".: TRIES.-/ :!"; M. Louis F. Lecle'rcq-Motte, one of ithe.members of-the French Mission,, is. ;a woollen manufacturer of Boubaix, and holds the French CroixjflG Guerre, and also the British D.C.M., for gallant /services in the war. His object (says Jan exchange) in the mission is reported . ito be to establish trade .relations with ;the Dominion ,in wool VaM ; woollen ■goods, and he is very-liean to.got:into j touch with business;'inen'.jh' ; the woollen ; ■trade generally/'vFrancb's"woollen, trade, I 'had been badly'hit'by/'tbe. war,/as \tho.l 'big woollen' centres of Boubaix and .- Oambrai had been, almost in the centre ' of some of 4lie; x 'fiereesbj At-Cambrai,-wnere-.-tWre.:'wero. about .pnqmiluon;:of;the\:poo;oop:'.spindles:- len : . gaged:. in.'. the;;; worsted'.-• trade,'.-a■'■■ very, . : great, v p v ropor,tionif ;th ; o;plant<had-been . le 4iad {no, 'Rati , the.^machineiyi ; : : liad dver'.t £20,;' : OOO.OOOjpf: woollen' goods/l'rom'-France',- . and. it was' 6fevibus,vtherefore> that' she .n^« L ielp. : 'frpm'!:-th'^ ; 'AlHes: to enable 'nerY'to''r^estab^ • on'. ; a*lpr^ . .the. ; Frerich'"'spihiife ers'; wanted 'preferential'/treatment,'in .'Borne:.way/.,and .they ; iilso .wantejl .the, .Dominion Franco's customer.: for'sbme portion of;.her woollen manii:-' factmes;: : iPrb^ably.by;-.the''end l of. twelve, months' time'thSFrenchAWbollenindus-.try.-would?be/setting bn l "to its ffiet : agaih'iVand .years,.it ;Accordirig;,.toj itwould •be that;-,'the' ' French^would' : .tra;de 'witK; Germany : -,to; anytffing:'likeftha-.pre-war. standard,particularly m in ■;'. 'partly-manufactured' goods', :which' the: Germans' finished' off, and'resold to their own benefit, and therefore it became... imperative for . FTance. l te;;findzflthcr,, ; l mark'etß. /Ton: makers' and-;sprtiriar's' felt've'ry 'strongly oh the question of future trade with Germany, and even if they did not, the Government bound to exercise « control over suoli trade. % IS IT 4? Nbxious'jyEED? OR TREE t:Mr.-D.'Hebenfori,': secretary of the :Wairarapa 'Farmers' Union/writes:— $1 no'tice'that>a'noxious plant known as lani'aua"6r..tree,yer,bena .is'being infrbducedVintbr.thiß "Pomiuion as a, flow-er-ing'shrub.,. 'This plant,is growing in some-'gardens, in Maste'rtbri, .in'; the Botanical Gardens in' Wellington, and* also at, Napier. I have drawn'the attention of the Director, of Agriculture to: the menace to this'country if this plant got established here. It is far gorse, and it has taken possession/of: hundreds of thousands .of acres in Geylon. Lantana was introduced; into a few years ago aij(dhas : already become a serious'curse. Small \patches have .already become established- ih-'the nbrthv.qf Auckland, and I am-writing":t<>'warn the farmers of'this district: against the introduction, o'f-'a new pest ..camouflaged as a pretty 1 flowering shrub:". ,/...' - ; ;.' £A Dominion -representative yesterday i referred the above matter to Mr. F. ■' Pope, Secretary for Agriculture. •" Mr. ■■'; Pope said that our correspondent seem,ed to be rather "making a bogey" ofthe potentialities for evil of tho_ plant discussed above. Ho said that'it was v a;Vtropical'or sub-tropical plant; and could not stand the slightest frost. It 'was therefore by no means likely. to spread to any dangerous extent in Now Zealand.-' An article abo.it the plant (which, by the way, is, of ten known as viburnum) appeared in the Journal of Agriculture for August last.