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New Zealand Mail, Issue 1847, 31 July 1907, Page 64

Messrs L. Seifert and W. Smith, two well-known flaxmillers of the Manawatu district, have returned to Palmerston after a trip to Australia, during which they made exhaustive inquiries into the growth and production of sisal fibre in Queensland. They state that in their opinion the New Zealand hemp-grower has nothing to fear from competition by the sisal fibre industry, owing to the greater cost of .production in the latter case. This was due to the fact that the sisal plant did not come to maturity for four years, and during that time had to be continually weeded and the suckers cut away. To get one ton of fibre millers had to treat twenty-five tons of green sisal, whereas in New Zealand it was only necessary to treat nine tons of green flax. The cost of the sisalstripping machine is about =£4so, as against <£3o for a machine in New Zealand. , , ~ The death occurred last week at Moroa, Grey town, of Mrs Erasmus Hawkins, aged fifty-four years. She leaves a widower, five sons, and one daughte" 1