PERILS FOR WOOL

Hokitika Guardian, 10 November 1932, Page 8

PERILS FOR WOOL

(RESEARCH MUST BE CONTINUED

AND LOST GROUND REGAINED

CHRISTCHURCH, November 8.

Two London mesnge s deserve the attention, of wool-growers and of all (Others whose fortunes are in any way dependent on .wool—a classification which can exclude .very few New Zealanders making their- living in New Zealand (say a Christchurch'exchange), jfn one of these messages Bradford millers are .reported to save said yvhile they have spent a year in’ trying to influence Dominion growers to ,c upply _t‘raw material in good condition,” their Ibffofts i ihsive been defeated by the low *price level. 'ljhi? has discouraged the grower, he has failed to (exercise “additional cafe,” ’and 'the wool now being received is “deteriorating tremendously. ” ,It is possible that summarising has produced som e over statement ‘here • nut it must be .remembered ’hat, fin. a recoil'.- interview. Mr Rohm .'•'(■eight delivered the same warning, more fu'ly and with just emphasis upon •the consequence® of allowing standards to- .slip when there is the greatest need to maintain them at least and to raise them if possible.- Failure there moans nothing more nor less than (weakening t,he industry in the face- oi a very ■ powerful enemy. The second of the two messages referred to reports ft protest -by the Wool Textile Delegation against “the abuse of the’ word .‘wool’” by appropriating it to artificia. ijfibjres, which “do not possess oil 0,1 (wool’s unique and valuable properties.” But although it is not at all difficult .to i j/mpathi&e with t)-e Delegation’s(complaint that“artificial “wool” i-s Jor•this reason a misnomer, the fact remains unaltered that, the public. has been taught to -use artificial wool.' A ihugo industry Jias been founded and [developed, to the immense - disadvantage of sheep-farmers and the wool textile- industry, - and it : would be extreme folly to suppose that this dan[gerous- isucce's Tests upon ijothing more substantial than the clever comimercial use of: a misnomer. It rests, (iu fact, upon the : skilful, imaginative uoe of science. The preserves of the wool industry --have not been invaded ,by lucky poachers but by industrialists i who"e title appear® in their methods, (and who will be dispossessed or held )n : their- place only if their methods are borrowed-—and bettered, ■ It js true that the danger has he® ll lessened, temporarily, by the very price i fall which distresses the wool industry ; i it has robbed the substitute indu-try of i its great initial advantage by cheapening wool and wool product®, while the ■ effect of the slump n s -a whole has been to find out the weaknesses in its ambitious structure. It is true also, as the wool -delegation claims, that the natural product possess** unequalled intrinsic virtues, though, • 'if the recent Gouttauld report of new improvements is confirmed- this disparity nay be reduced <r. may even disappear. But the most iuvourable estimate of the advantages that lie with the vv”oli/rowers and the manufacturer® and the distributors of wool products. does not diminish the importance -of the los'on to be learned from what has happened and from what -is still happening. The industry cannot afford nnv neglect that will tend to lower prices against itself, and can least of a-H afford* it in bad times, when neglect pretend* to b e economy. The industry cannot afford to let research wait or languish in any branch. It cannot afford to be satisfied with anything short ' of complete organisation, from pasture to oounte It cannot afford t 0 leave undisputed its rivals’ mastery of persuasive publicity. In a word, it cannot afford anything less than the exertion of every scientific effort to regain lost ground and conquer new.