GRADING OF FLAX.

Otago Witness, Issue 2664, 5 April 1905, Page 21

GRADING OF FLAX.

4f ntn t WELL *^TON. April 1. • a tho conference ot persons interested in naxmillingr. held here yesterday, delegates attended from vanous parts of the colony. l

Mr D. (Vai-dupr (Manawatu) moved that the standard for graders, millers, arc* merchants bo two bales of homo; that lowest points , n each grade, chosen by a committop appointed by this conference and paid tor by the Goiernmont. showing the points av\ aided, bo deposited at each of the. port= of export; in the colony; and. that two sxmilju bales be forwarded to London,

- An amendment was moved by Mr Tooinath (Shannon) that an alteration be made _jn the present, system of grading hemp. The Minister of Agriculture, addressing the conference, said that if the millers looked to the manufacturers more than they had been doing there would be fewer disputes in future. The chief cause of disputes was the bad stripping. Samples had been returned from America which showed that leaves had been put in with undressed ends. The fault, he thought, principally lay in the machinery not being kept in proper order, and perhaps in soms cases through incompetent men being in charge of the machinery. Millers, in their own interests, should prevent inferior material being sent out of the colony. The. motion was carried. The Chairman moved that an arbitrator be appointed by the Chamber of Commerce, Grading Department, and Flaxmillers' Association, arid any miller feeling aggrieved, and upon deposit of £5. shall have the right of appeal to «uch arbitration. The mover considered there should be some board to which they could appeal if they had a grievance. He did not blame graders, bufc they a uniform system of grading, that they might know what they turned out. If he came to Wellington and found his shipment unjustly condemned he wanted some remedy, and that remedy, he thought; lay iv the appointment of a' "board o.f' appeal against the decision of the grader.- - - " " The motion was carried.