FIFTY YEARS AGO

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21972, 1 December 1934, Page 8

FIFTY YEARS AGO

PRODUCTION OF SILK POSSIBILITIES IN NORTH The possibilities of producing silk a large scale in New Zealand were discussed in the" New Zealand HebaM> of December 2, 1884. An article was published commenting favourably on steps being taken by a company, headed by Mr. 1). G. Ferdeli, to cultivate sub-tropical produce on an area at Hokianga. « ' "At the present' moment the Mpsgiel Woollen Company have oifered to take all the silk that can be raised here, and which they intend to use in their manufactures," stated the article. "But the raising of silk is as yet only a toy industry among l J s —is attended to only as an amusement, not a business pursuit—and the consequence is that now, in response to the demand, there is no guarantee ot a supply. The regular production or silk can be best commenced in s nefl a settlement as the forthcoming on ® at Hokianga. A sense of the greß» value of the half-tropical climate "' rG are favoured with has spread among our husbandmen, and the desire to tut " to account its long-neglected opP ()r " tunities. , "So far, however, among such "°| industries, the cultivation of tobaa has alone reared its head, and m settlement like that at Hokianga v perience will be brought to bear stich branches of' cultivation. Ijj .« considered that the raising ofjsilk »j suit the Maoris well, and tJiey w thereby- obtain profitable and acquire industrious habifs.