Flax Industry.

Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 27, 31 October 1905, Page 2

Flax Industry.

o The New Zealand Trade Review of 25th inst, contains a vast amount of information on the banking and commercial business of the country. Amongst others, an interesting item on hemp, which shows that m 19021 and 1908 118,424 bales were exported, of which 1049 were graded "superior,'* [ 5169 graded " fine-;" 78,819 as " good--1 fair," 81,857 as " fair,", and 1868 aa | " common." 1908 and 1904 witnessed 185,621 bales shipped from the* colony, of which 1098 were "superior." 1 4182 " fine/ 82,698 " good-fahy I 42,288 " fair," 5427 " common,'* 190405 shipped 156,120 bales, of which only 854 were " superior," 2199 " fine," 70,181 "good-fair," while " fair" leaped up to 74,689, ana "common" to 8207. The most noticeable feature is the depreciatipn m quality, the finer grades having shrunk to almost vanishing point, while the average standard grade, "good fair," went back 12,512 bales as compared with the previous year, " Fair," on the other hund, the second lowest grade produced, exceeded m quantity the totals of the two previous years combined, the same remarks applying to the lowest grade of all. One result of this is the great disparity that has arisen between the prices | of manilla and New Zealand hemp, | which, before this inferiority orept m, showed a difference m the value of the two staple grades, namely " fair current manilla " and "good fair New Zealand," was only from two to three pounds per ton, and this, during 1904 and 1905, has grown to 412 per ton, It is to be hoped that New Zealand manufacturers are not going to imperil this industry, which, as a labour employer, ranks as one of *the most important m the colony, by turning ouJi an inferior quality.