WOOLLEN INDUSTRY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 54, 1 September 1944, Page 6

WOOLLEN INDUSTRY

MANUFACTURING IN N.Z.

'The published reports of the annual meeting of the Electoral College of the New Zealand Wool Council held in Wellington on Wednesday, necessarily condensed in parts, contaip a comment made by me in reply to a statement and question asked by a delegate regarding New Zealand wool manufacturing," said Mr. H. M. Christie, chairman of the New Zealand Wool Council, last night. "This referred to manufacturing methods and to certain machinery in general use by British manufacturers, including those in New Zealand, which is nearly 50 years old' in type. As the reports published may create an impression detrimental to New Zealand woollen manufacturers I make the following comments':— "The manufacturing of wool is the oldest of all textile processing and probably for this reason the design of some of the machinery has not been kept abreast with modern requirements and does not compare favourably with that used in the very modern synthetic textile manufacturing industry. In justice to New Zealand woollen manufacturers it is correct to say that many classes of the goods they manufacture are equal if not superior to those produced in any other part of the world. The fact that some years ago they established the New Zealand Wool Manufacturers' Research Association is evidence that its members fully realise that the wool industry can only maintain its supremacy in the textile manufacturing world by vigorous research m order to bring up to date and continually improve the methods of treating wool, manufacturing it, and marketing the finished products. The Research Association is doing very good work, which will undoubtedly prove beneficial to all branches of the wool industry in New Zealand."