ARTIFICIAL WOOL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 October 1938, Page 9

ARTIFICIAL WOOL

MENACE TO NEW ZEALAND GROWER. GERMAN & ITALIAN ARTICLE. The amazing advances that have been made of late years by German and Italian firms in the manufacture of artificial wool are to be seen by samples exhibited today by Mr J. E. Duncan, wool instructor, Department of Agriculture. It is extremely difficult to distinguish between wool in its raw state and samples of the artificial product, while little or no difference can be seen between a piece of suiting material made from pure wool and another manufactured from 70 per cent wool and 30 per cent artificial. The German article is known as Zellewolle, ,and is made from wood pulp, while the Italian is manufactured from casein and is known as Lanital. Even the crimp and staple of real wool is reproduced in the artificial article, which can be manufactured for less than half of the cost of pure wool. Mr Duncan pointed to the menace artificial wool is becoming to the New Zealand wool grower and he stressed the need for breeders to improve the quality of their product and also to class it better for marketing. One of the main dangers was contained in the fact that there is no variation in the quality of artificial wool, while the true article varies considerably in quality. The German and Italian firms, he said, were constantly improving their manufactured article.