FLAX INDUSTRY

Evening Star, Issue 21006, 21 January 1932, Page 14

FLAX INDUSTRY

♦- PRODUCTION OF HEMP EXPORT VALUES SERIOUS DECLINE SHOWN. In view of tlvo need for tlio development of primary industries other than those from which the dominion at present receives the bulk of its national income, many people are once more turning attention to New Zealand flax, or phormium tenax ' (says the ‘ Dominion ’). Sisal has practically ousted New Zealand flax as a leading producer of hemp, and this, as well as the prevailing hard times, has caused the export of New Zealand hemp to fall off in an alarming manner. How serious is the position of the flax industry is illustrated by the following figures. For the year ended March 31, 1930, the f.o.h. value of hemp, tow, stripper tow, and stripper slips exported from New Zealand totalled £382,394, whereas the export value ot these articles for the following year—that ended March 31, 1931 —totalled £91,658. This meant a loss to New Zealand of £290,736 in export values when the figures for the two years are compared. Further, the loss in wages to employees in the industry cqn be put down in round figures at about £120,000. THIS YEAR’S PRODUCTION. This year the position will be even worse and doubt bps been expressed whether New Zealand’s hemp production* for the year ending March next will amount to 3,000 tons. _ In view of the fact that in tlvo vicinity of 2,500 tons is used annually by rope manufacturers and others in the dominion, the export trade for the year is likely to be almost negligible. In 1 an effort to rehabilitate the industry the Unemployment Board has offered a subsidy of £3 per ton, while there is also an offer by the Government of £IO,OOO for a machine that will produce 500 tons of high-class fibre at a more economical figure than that at present obtaining. This offer holds good until May 31 next. Mr C. M. Plane, technical engineer for Richard Garrett and Sons Ltd., Leistou, England, is experimenting in the Manawatu with a machine he recently brought out from the Old Country. This flax stripper is a modification of the type used in Kenya Colony and the West Indies for sisal. Three other promising machines'’ are at present being tried out in different parts of New Zealand, while another in Great Britain has yet to he tested in this country. It is estimated the world uses 450,000 ton%of hard fibre per year and a share of this is tho potential market at which New Zealand has to aim. Sufficient raw material is estimated to he at present growing in New Zealand to return 16,0Q0 tons of fibre, while several flax plantations that are coming on should be able to add to this quantity. USE BY THE MAORIS. When the Maoris came to New Zealand from their island homes in the South Seas they dressed themselves in garments of _ tapa cloth. This they found too thin for the colder climate here, and they turned theiy attention to the long, green, fleshy leaves of the flax plant. It was not long before they learned bow to strip the fibres and prepare them for plaiting and crude weaving into cloth. They soon discovered, however, that of thio many varieties only a few kinds were suited to their purpose. By observation and a process of trial and error they selected the best and planted and ■■cultivated them near their pas. So valuable were these plots of flax to the Maoris that/ when they moved to new places they dug up the roots and took themwith them. / 7 It is said there are over 200 kinds of flax, but only a very few, three or flour kinds, have so far proved to be of real commercial value. The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research has done much by tests and experiments to reduce the number to the minimum, while Dr J. S. Yeates, of Massey Agricultural College, has proved that one of these strains, the fibre of which is the strongest known, is almost immune from disease and so should be capable of wide use in producing a hemp which may rival the best from other lands.