MINOR WAR TRAGEDY

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21208, 3 September 1940, Page 3

MINOR WAR TRAGEDY

LOSS OF FRENCH LACES Women the world over will sigh with regret to know that one of the minor tragedies of the war in France is the wiping out, for a long time to come, of the famous lace industry of that country, states an exchange. All the beautiful Valenciennes, Malines, and French Alencon laces, soft and alluring, so much used today, and the filmy Chantilly lace so feminine and romantic when worn in the evening, will be produced no longer. The chief lace-making centres were Calais and Caudry. Both of these districts were subjected to terrific bombardments. Calais was reported to be in ruins. Introduced by Henry 111 of France in the sixteenth century and encouraged and developed by Louis XIV in the seventeenth century, French laces have long been famous for their quality and craftsmanship. In Lyons, situated in the south-east of France, hand-run Alencon lace and silk nets are manufactured. In Lyons, too, is produced the biggest percentage of the world’s requirements of velvet ribbons and veilings. This city, also, was visited by German bombers. The fate of these industries is not yet known. Certainly good stocks of French laces are still available, and it will be some time before these are exhausted. The sad fact must be laced, however, that they cannot be replenished. And the days will come sooner or later when “Dentelle de France” will be difficult, perhaps impossible, to procure.