Massey Agricultural College

Manawatu Times, Volume LV, Issue 7031, 15 December 1932, Page 4

Massey Agricultural College

(Univorsity of . New Zealand.) MONTHLY MEETING. THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE NEW ZEALAND HEMP INDUSTRY. (By J. S. Yeates; M.Sc.j Ph.D.) New Zealand hemp or "flax” .as it is commonly called \vas on© of the earliest exports from this country. In 1813 th© fibro was an established article of trad© between Maoris and European traders, and in 1831 more than ono thousand tons of fibre wero exported. Until about 1867 the fibre Kvhs nearly all prepared ’ laboriously by the jiatives.by til© simple but tedious lianddressing. method. The product was-of excellent quality. From. 1867 .onwards the introduction of machinery changed the whole outlook of the industry. The fibro produced by the now process was definitely inferior to that prepared by the Natives. The reasons, for .this inferiority wero first that' tho machr inery damaged tho fibro and did not clean it thoroughly; second, that tho fibre of tho whole leaf was used instead of only selected parts used by the Maoris; finally tho now industry used indiscriminately all th© varieties in natural flax areas, whereas the Maoris had used only tho best leaves of certain selected and named strains. Tho methods and machinery-used in the industry have not been radically altered since tho first introduction of machinery into tho industry. Nevertheless, a considerable export trade has been maintained, with some interruptions, up to the present tiirto. Tho greatest quantity exported in any one year was tho 28,000 tons shipped in 1913. ' In value of exports tho three war years, 1916, 1917 and 1918, were the most favourable, for the average value of fibre exported over this period was one and a quarter millions sterling per annum. At tho present time the hemp industry, in common with others, is suffering from a most acute depression. This slump is of course largely duo to general world conditions, lnit the industry lias certain other troubles which wero evident before tho general trad© depression. Tho root of all these troubles is the competition of other fibres” in the world markets. Tho problem in New Zealand is to reduce production costs or to improve quality to meet th© competition. New Zealand hemp is one of the fibres known commercially ns hard fibres. Each year about 300,000 tons of these fibres are used throughout th© world for ropes and twines, including the binder twine, usecl in wheat harvesting machines'. Tho bulk of the supply of hard fibre before the war cam© as "Manila” from the Philippine Islands and as "sisal” from Mexico. Sine© th© war there has been a very great development of sisal growing in Java and in British East Africa. Both sisal and Manila ar© produced by low-paid coloured labour. As a result these fibres, though involving more labour, can bo produced at rates offering tho keenest competition to the New Zealand industry, which is carried on by comparatively high-paid labour. Ono of the factors which is commonly supposed to threaten tho industry with extinction is the disease known as "yellow leaf.” This idea is quit© erroneous. Yellow leaf disease has certainly done great damage in two parts of th© Manawatu. In closely adjacent areas in the Manawatu and in all th© other flax-growing districts there is no sign that yellow leaf in any way threatens the industry.

vThe,manufacture of saoks-and -Wool packs is a proposed industry which would do much to place the New Zealand, hemp industry on a sound footing. Until the, wool-pack . industry ,is o'stablished, however, •it is ,difficulb 'to say' just, to what extent the- fibre industry will benefit. Tho lmproverficnt of quality and the lowering of costs in Now Zealand hemp can be approached from two different angles. One is from tho manufacturing side; the .other is from the flax-growing sido which provides ■ the. raw material. Each line of' attack is capable ofv.improving’ quality and reducing costs, but there is no doubt that lowered costs can bo best obtained on'tho manufacturing side, and that for the highest quality > the improvement of the raw material is necessary. As an illustration, about one-fifth of the cost of producing fibre is represented by the cost of grow'ing tho raw material. Cutting and cartage to the mill cost more than tho growing of the leaf. It is plain that even to halve the cost of growing tho r&w material would reduce costs of production by only about ten per cent. On tho other hand to cut tho leaf mechanically might save a great deal more than ten per cent, of th© total cost. The improvement of quality can bo attained to a certain extent on the manufacturing, side either by the use of more labour or by tho improvement of machinery. The improvement of raw material, however, definitely offers the greatest improvement of quality and also a certain reduction of manufacturing costs. '.The Phormium Research Committee of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research was set up in 1928 to take steps towards the improvement of tho hemp industry.;. The committee decided that tile'first line of work should bo; tho'improvement-of the raw material. , The carrying out of this work was "entrusted' "to the Massey Agricultural-College,'' together with certain funds obtained from the industry and tho Government. Tho work which ,has been carried oil sinco then by th© collego has been concerned chiefly with the selection and testing of superior strains of fibreproducing plants. The main qualities demanded of a satisfactory strain arc quality of fibre, resistance, to disease and cropping power. In order to test the last two qualities'it is necessary to grow as many as possible of the plants under observation - for some years. Up to tho present nearly three hundred strains of flax luivo been planted out on tho college property, and in somo cases other plants of the same strains have been planted in other districts. Certain ' strains have been found to bo definitely outstanding in yield and quality of fibro and in disease resistance. In tho latter respect, wo owe much to previous testing of strains by Mr Alfred Seifert. The variety (Seifert’s Superior) which has most certainly shown its powers of resistance to the disease is also a high quality fibre-plant and grows a fair crop. It is, however, being crossed with another strain of high quality which crops heavily. It is hoped to select from the hybrids somo plants which combine the best qualities of both parents. There are also a number of other varieties of outstanding quality, but it is yet too soon to speak definitely as regards their resistance to disease. One result of careful tests of flic seed from over one'hundred varieties is th© conclusion that non© of them breeds tr,uo from seed. Fibre should not only bo of good quality, but it must be uniform in quality. Such uniformity cannot bo obtained by growing tho seedlings of any variety, so far tested. Tho only certain method of securing uniformity is to plant whole areas with "fans” broken rip originally from one bush. Sisal, otir main competitor, has obtained uniformity in this way, and any one variety of apple, or potato has been increased iu this way from one original plant. Ono acre of New Zealand flax planted now as a result of breaking into fans every threo years should increase to at least 400 acres in six years. At the college th© best strains are being propagated in this way so that enough plants will_ be available i to start commercial areas each of one 1 strain.. It is hoped that ono acre of a single'strain will b© set out this winter to start a commercial plantation;' It is, to. b© expected that fibre from such a plantation will be greatly superior in quality to, any New Zealand hemp so'far'produced, and that the cost of production will b© lower than from an ordinary swamp. Th© improved quality is due simply to the plant grown. The main points in which fibre from a good plant excels aro tensile strength, colour and freedom from "fluffing” or breaking and consequent knotting caused in manufacture. Without any extra cost in handling, fibre from tho best plants should be worth £5 per ton more than fibre from an ordinary swamp. At present New Zealand hemp ropes do not satisfy the,tensile strength requirements of th© British Armiralty or of the New Zealand Marine Department. There is no doubt, however, that some strains produce fibre, quito strong enough' for' such purposes. Lowered costs of production on such a commercial plantation should be due to several factors. First of all, the selected strain should crop more heavily, than the mixturo of bad and

indifferent strains in a-natural swamp; th© plantation Avouid bo in rows, permitting of easy control of Avecds and lower costs of flax-cutting. At present cutting by band adds three to four pounds to tho cost of eaeli ton of fibre. In plantations cutting Avill almost certainly he done at a fraction of tho present cost, by machines travelling between the rows. An industry established along these lines should he able both in quality and in price to meet all competition and to add considerably to our export trade..