WOOLLEN MILLS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 140, 31 October 1912, Page 4

WOOLLEN MILLS.

The Mayor of Petoiie (Mr. J. IV. MeEwan). at the request of the Masterton Chamber of Commerce, recently visited Masterton ami gave a public meeting the benefit of his experience and advice on the subject of starting a woollen mill in the Wairarapa. He showed that a practical start could be made with a capital of £12,000, and that the industry could be initiated with every prospect of success, given, of course, proper management. Oil his return to Petone, Mr. MeEwan was assailed in the local paper for acting against the interests of his own town by advising the starting of another mill in opposition. This silly idea he had no difficulty in refuting, but in doing so he published some facts and figures that should interest the people of these parts, which, ae everyone admits, are in need of industrial stimulus 1 . Mr. McEwen, we might say, possesses an intimate knowledge of the woollen industry, and his opinions carry weight and confidence among the people of the Hutt Valley. In the course of a letter to the local paper, he says:—. "In view of tlie fact disclosed by the returns of our imports of woollen goods there is ample room for another halfdozen factories in the Dominion. Last year £837,881 worth of apparel and slops were imported; apparel to order of residents £1285, woollen piece goods £215.00(5, woollen blankets (6064 pairs) £2385, yarns £10,430, hosiery £104,200, making a total value 0f£1,229,908. Now, I am aware that a fairly large proportion of the items, apparel and slops, yarns and hosiery, consists of goods made of cotton, silk, and substitutes for silk, but even if we cut down the woollen goods under these heads to half there still remains the large amount of £723,050 of imported goods which might be manufactured in the Dominion. I find in the Year Book that there are ten woollen mills and hosiery factories working throughout New Zealand, the total value of goods manufactured being£4G4,930. The question right before us might therefore be stated as follows: That as ten factories produce £464,930 worth of woollen goods, six additional factories of the same producing capacity would be required to produce the amount imported —723,050. There is much more to be said upon this question of woollen industries. For instance, it is well known that cotton enters largely into the manufacture of verv many of the cheaper classes of clothing imported. Now the late Government in its paternal ignorance put a very heavy prohibitive duty upon raw cotton, 4d per lb, thus preventing any New Zealand manufacturers using a mixture of cotton and wool. It was quite the proper thing to allow the importation of apparel, piece goods and hosiery made of a mixture of cotton and wool, or even cotton and shoddy at a dnty of 25 per cent., but as for the raw material—oh. dear no! I think enough has been said at present to convince any reasonable person that there is room for more woollen factories in New Zealand, and that in speaking at Masterton upon the subject I was certainly not guilty of disloyalty to Petone. The mills are doing well, and there is no reason to fear j a little healthy competition." I