WELLINGTON NEWS

Hokitika Guardian, 18 May 1926, Page 4

WELLINGTON NEWS

THE MOTOR REGULATIONS

(Special to “ Guardian.”)

WELLINGTON, May 14

The motor regulations have failed to give satisfaction, and the papers are flooded with letters and opinion mostly against the regulations, although there are some who justify them. There is hound to be. the usual noise and deputations to Ministers, and the usual routine when a section of the community is agitated and is labouring under an injustice, real or imaginary, but presently the matter will simmer down and be accepted by all. The regulations strike Wellington more severely than any other city and the additional 2d fare would drive practically every bus off tlie road. This will be particularly hard on the residents of some of the more distant suburbs. However, it is believed that the regulations, with perhaps some slight alterations, will he accepted. It is pointed out by a correspondent that no importance should be attached to the noise and agitation displayed when something distasteful to a section of the community is promulgated, for as soon as the noise subsides, the thing is forgotten. and those alleged to he aggrieved carry on. A case in point is the refusal of the transfer of the slaughtering license from the Wellington .Meat Export Co. to Messrs Borthwick and Sons. At the time of the refusal there was great agitation, and Ministers were pestered by deputations but now the whole tiling appears to he forgotten and from what can be gathered the Company proposes to carry on as best it can. This makes a good many people think the compulsory control of the dairy industry will become effective on August Ist. This does not necessarily follow, ff the matter rested with the business people concerned then it is a moral certainty that Messrs Grounds and Goodfcllow will get their way, but the opposition to compulsory control includes quite a number of farmers and men from the country who will dsiplay more backbone than the business section. All these matters are likely to come up for discussion in Parliament, and while the bus - regulations mav lie endorsed, there is good reason for believing that compulsory control will be much whittled down if its abandonment is not forced on the Hoard. Parliament will meet either on June 17th or 24tli. WOOL AND SILK. Those wool growers who fancy that they should get considerably more than a shilling a pound for greasy crossbred wool and believe that they are being exploited by overseas buyers must take two or three extraneous matters into consideration. Fashion is ii. very important factor in respect to the consumption of wool. Just now the trend of fashion is for fine wool fabrics, consequently there is an active demand for the fine merino wools produced in Australia and South Africa. Crossbred wool is in restricted demand, at present. but this demand should expand steadily because the cheapness of crossbred wool will prove an attraction to tlie people of Continental Europe, who want warm clothing at a low price. Another important factor is the use ol artlicial silk, which is a different tiling from sninfinl or artificial wool. There was a very big production of artificial silk last year, and the displacement of natural wool by the consumption of artificial silk is. variously estimated. The matter was referred to at a meeting held in Bradford a few months ago. One authority placed the amount at 700.000. bales of sheep’s staple, another estimated it at between COO.OOO and 800. OHO bales and still another at 1.27)0,000 bales. But cm the statistics of artificial silk these were nil exaggerated and a more reasonable estimate amide by a textile journal which estimates that about 2-10,000 bales of wool had been displaced by artificial silk last e-ear. A liberal estimate of the production of artificial silk in 1.927 is 177.000,0001b5. It is considered that for purposes of calculation a pound of artificial silk'enn be taken as displacing a pound of clean wool. It is believed that only about 00 per cent of the world’s output of artificial silk can he regarded as a competition with the sheep’s staple. The balance competes with cotton and pure silk. In other words about 78,000.0001bs of clean wool or roughly about twice that total of greasy wool is displaced. Tlie consumption of.artificial silk may increase, but it must not be overlooked that the .supplies of wood pulp are not inexhaustible.