TOW BALES LOADED WITH REFUSE.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLII, Issue 5, 7 January 1908, Page 6

TOW BALES LOADED WITH REFUSE.

ACTION IMPERATIVE

In November; last attention was .directed in these columns to the fact that the trade in tow —a source or profit to the flaxmiller—was being imperilled by false packing, it being declare dthat half the tow being exported contained a large proportion of mill dust. It was pointed out that of these short-sighted tactics were to continue the trade must be killed. Judging by some of the tow bales coming forward for shipment (says ' the New Zealand Times), the evil ■.. is showing no signs of abatement. In fact some bales examined ■by the writer disclosed a bad condition ot affairs. Several of the bales were merely masses of mill dust enclosed in a covering of tow, and were not worth as many pence as the pounds quoted for them. The agents refused to ship them, and they are now in the wharf sheds, whence they will probably find their way to the destructor. The worst feature of this is that tow is not graded, and therefore the bales are never opened for inspection, except, as in the present case, where an accident happens and the bale comes apart. Many hundreds of bales of an equally faulty nature have been shipped, it is declared, from the Dominion. . Such a practice has a bad enough 'effect on a good market, but it must proVe disastrous in the present *cm ~ per^of the hemp demand. In the interests of those who are conducting the hemp business on a sound basis the Flaxmillers' Association should take this mattes up, and if grading of tow is found to be impracticable summary justice should be meted out to those who by their unprincipled tactics are injuring the reputation of the New Zealand fhemp industry.