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minds, and our reputation for up-to-date manufacture, must be a matter for serious consideration. A close investigation by manu- facturers of the possibilities of co-operation with Japanese industry, on the lines indicated above, is strongly recommended.
THE WOOL TEXTILE INDUSTRY.
42. Consideration of the wool textile trade in relation to Japan falls into two sections:-
-
Section 1.--The present position of Great Britain with regard to imports into Japan and the influence thereon of
(a) Japan's own wool textile industry,
(b) Our European Continental competitors. Section 2.-The growth of Japan's wool textile industry and its probable or possible competitive power in external markets in the future.
Section 1.--The present position of Great Britain with regard to imports into Japan.
RAW WOOL IMPORTS.
43. As there is no domestic production of wool in Japan, the raw material for the Japanese wool textile industry must be imported. The chief sources of supply are Australia and New Zealand, com- paratively small quantities being obtained from other countries.
The importation of wool is in the hands of some half-dozen large financial firms, who supply practically the whole of the wool for the mills. There are no wool merchants in the ordinary English sense and no top makers or commission combers in Japan, all sorting and combing being done by the spinners themselves.
MILLS.
44. There are some fifteen large mills with combing and spinning plants. Most of these have looms as well, and the combined equip- ment of the fifteen mills is said to be approximately-
104 Noble Combs.
500 Continental Combs. 371,500 Worsted Mule Spindles.
60,000 Woollen Mule Spindles, 61,200 Ring Spindles.
22,800 Cap Spindles.
9,900 Looms.
There is a small number of flyer spindles in addition to above, and in addition to the larger firms, there is a large number of small weaving plants, chiefly in the Nagoya district. Some of these buy their yarn, and others weave on commission. They are said to
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number about 400. The smaller firms are said to have an equip- ment of approximately 3,000 broad looms and 3,000 narrow looms the latter being partially engaged in cotton or silk weaving.*
The growth of the Japanese wool textile industry in recent years is shown by the changes in the import statistics of wool, tops, yarn and piece-goods, details of which will be found in the Wool Appendix (Appendix B).
WOOL AND TOPS.
45. The rapid development of the Japanese wool combing industry is seen from the following :-
1913
1925
1926
1927
1928
1929
1930
Wool Imports.
Tops Imports.
(in thousand lb.)
11,517
9,374
69,586
11,366
72,472
8,480
98,448
5,920
114,774
1,702
107,088
702
114,444 (Wool and tops.)
(NOTE. A new tariff law came into effect in 1926, under which tops are subject to a duty of 14.5 yen per 100 kin, or about 2ąd. a lb. Before 1926 there was no import duty on tops.)
In 1913, Japan imported 11,517,000 lb. of wool and 9,374,000 lb. of tops. In 1929 the wool imports totalled 107,088,000 lb., and in 1930 114,444,000 lb., whereas, the imports of tops, which had reached a maximum of 11,366,000 lb. in 1925, declined to 702,000 lb. in 1929, and to 21,000 for the first six months of 1930. Table II in Appendix B shows that the tops came almost entirely from Great Britain and Australia, and that Great Britain was the first to lose the trade.
* The total number of looms employed by woollen and worsted manu- facturers in Japan has been stated to be as high as 29,425 but it is probable that these will include hand looms. Accurate information is impossible to obtain. Even the number of firms is not known and the figure of 400 stated above, is conservative being much less than the largest estimate given to us. Industrial Japan "- -a publication got out specially for the World Engineering Congress in Tokyo, 1929, states as follows:-
Factories with less than 10 looms
++
"2
10/50 looms over 50 looms
Total
Year 1927.
62
23
525 totalling 2,272 looms. 291
5,762 21,391
,
"J
878
29,425
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