NEW ZEALAND HEMP

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 21, 25 July 1933, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND HEMP

USES OF SISAL

INFORMATIVE REPORT

The imports of Xew Zealand hemp into the United Kingdom showed a considerable increase in 1932 over those for the previous year. In fact, the growing importance o£ sisal and hemp to the Empire has led Dr. S. Q. Barker, director of the Wool Industries Research Association, to codify the present knowledge of the character and properties of the fibre in a report, -which has just been published. He points out that since 1927, although there has been a decrease in world production and export, especially in Jlexico and the Philippines, there has beeii a noticeable increase in the amount produced within the British Empire and in the other im- j portant producing area, the Dutch East Indies. British East Africa alone is re- j sponsible for nearly one-third of the world supply, producing and exporting over 72,000 tons in 1931,-against a world total of 230,000 tons. Of. the sisal imported into the United Kingdom by far the largest proportion is produced in East Africa. It is interesting to note that the imports in 1932 -were more than double those of 1931, whilst the quantity of manila coming from the Philippines fell to just, over half. This fall in manila was due, however, more to a lessening of the requirements of the shipping industry than to a partial replacement of manila in certain cords, etc., by sisal. After examining the varying species of sisal, their method of reproduction, and the harvesting (which begins in the fourth or fifth year of growth), the report analyses the fibre content of the leaf before proceeding to examine its form and enumerate its most desirable qualities. These appear best in the sisal grown in Java and East Africa, which generally gives a fibre whiter, longer, and thicker than that growji elsewhere. Apart from local uses for sneh purposes as hammocks, liats, braid, sacking, the uniformity of length, quality, and appearance with which the fibre can be marketed make it eminently suitable for the production of binder twine, cords, and fine yarns-. But the rapid replacement of the binding machine by the combine "harvester-thrasher" foreshadows a narrowing market for the twine, emphasising the necessity of extending its uses for commercial purposes. Tests and trials have been carried out at the Imperial Institute and by the Admiralty to prove the suitability of sisal for marine cordage. The results have been generally favourable and have warranted the partial adoption of sisal by the Royal Navy. The defects which have been noted are considered remediable by scientific investigation and research. There is also need of inquiry into the utilisation of wastage, which is considerable, only 3 per cent, of the leaf being used m fibre production. The remainder can be used as pulp for paper, or the juice—fermented —for the production of alcohol, but the economic advantage of these uses has yet to be proved. The major problem that presents itself for solution is, as in "other spheres, the discrepancy between production and consumption. The thought and research that have l>een applied to the cultivation of this plant must now be devoted to utilisation. Dr. Barker has endeavoured to show the paucity of real scientific knowlcdee of the attributes and characteristics "of the sisal fibre. He believes that research which will reveal further details will be of benefit not only in the development of a sisil industry, hut also in that of other fibres with which the tropical Empire is rich.