FLAX ROYALTIES.

Mataura Ensign, 16 March 1909, Page 4

FLAX ROYALTIES.

AN IMPORTANT POINT. A eorrespondi'iit oi' the 'Dominion,' w riling on the subject oi ilax royalties, point i wish to bring out clearly is tilt; dill'erent posi 1 ion of tin.- green ilax and royal lies now as compared to tin- oli) days when ilax was about £ll per lon. Several veals ago green flax was a waste product growing upon waste : lands. .Millers were practically given the lla\ if liny would clear the land. With ill- advance of the Dominion and the increased value of land generally, these Iniids have come into cultivation and Ilax js n:> longer growing on them in any quantities, and so nearly all the original Ilax lands have disappeared as such. Union tlie other hand new lands have, been brought into u-e for Ilax at very great expense for draining, anl speaking generally mills n>»w draw their supplies from such areas. These lands, or land;;, are some of the richest in the Dominion, and on Iheni ilax has become practically a cultivated crop, requiring" cleaning from other growths, draining, protection from lire, and all (he time paying heavy rates —local and general the luxes alone amounting to j more lhan was rarned for royalties when i Ilax was 111 pri ion. If.such lands are to earn nothing by way of royalties in future they certainly will not be kept for llax-growing, but will be used for cattle and .'beep where jm.s.si l>h\ and where- impossible the land will revert back to its old useless condition. The royalties are now getting so low that- it is becoming unprofitable for landholders to keep for Ihix lands useful for other purposes, and I know from personal knowledge thai several holders are putting in rattle. II this is so it is an end to the ilax. No royalties, or very low royalties, must mean in a short time no ilax lands, ami no Ilax lands means extinction of the industry.