The Taranaki Herald.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 8800, 9 June 1890, Page 2

The Taranaki Herald.

PUBLISHED DAILY.

MONDAY, JUNE 9, 1890.

The unsteadiness in price in the Home markets of New Zealand flax or rather hemp, aa phormium tenax ia called in England, has been the means of causing the flaxmillere in the Waikato district to bestir themselves, and accordingly meetings have been held at Raglan, Hamilton, and Te Aroha, where the matter has been discussed, and action has been now taken to start an Association for the purpose of classifying the fibre, wtih the object of putting the hemp into the market in the most favorable condition. The idea of forming this Association was initiated by Mr A. E. Langley, at Raglan, where at a meeting of flaxmill owners he pointed out that the unsteadiness of the hemp market, with its' harassing} fluctuations in prices, would be the means of closing all the mills if some scheme was not devised for having the fibre classified before being sent away from JSTew Zealand. Mr Langley proposed that an association of flaxmill owners should be formed, with good capable men at its head to manage and conduct its business, and also that experts be engaged to classify the fibre, who should be thoroughly up to thjeir work. A board of directors, composed of flaxmillers, should be appointed to work and advise with the manager. The business of the association would be to act as agents or brokers ; to receive all flax, classify it, and either sell it locally or abroad, or export for sale on account of the millers, to introduce the association's flax to all markets, and try to find fresh ones, and generally advertise themselves and push the trade. If ona miller sent five tons, and another, five tons, and so on, it would be classified, and the consignee would bo credited with five tons of a certain grade ; the private brands would be taken away,- and it would be branded with the Association brand, and the grade and particulars of quality clearly . shown upon it. Mr Langley also referred to the way other staple products were being put on the market. In America he said wheat was graded, so that a miller was able to buy just what he wanted to suit his trade, and could therefore give the best price for it. Wool they knew was carefully classified or low prices would result. He showed how the kauri gum trade had been benefited in consequence of classification of the gum. Flax, he thought, was harder to classify strictly than either wheat, or wool, or gum ; it should not be left to individual millers to do, they could not do it except in a loose way. He then,^at great length, showed the great necessity for strict classification. The suggestion of Mr Langley has been warmly taken up, and at the meeting at Hamilton the following resolution was passed, " That -it is desirable that an association of flax-millera bo formed for the purpose of classification of flax, with the object of putting it into the market in the most favourable manner." Another resolution was also agreed to as follows, "That a committee be formed, consisting of two member* from each of the district

and Te Aroha, to draw up a programme and to submit the same to a future meeting, and that the following be elected a committee ; — Messrs Coates and Brookes for Upper Waikato, Adams and Gibbons for Te Aroha, Langley and Wallis for Raglan, and that the Lower Waikato be asked to nominate two members." We have no doubt if this association becomes an established institution that New Zealand fibre will take its place in the London market at a price- that will pay the miller to produce. What is being done in Auckland could be verj well carried out in Taranaki, and by a unity amongst the flaxmill owners their fibre could be classified, as wool is now done. There are many other thing 3 that an Association of the kind could accomplish; and as one of the members at the meeting said, " an agent could visit the various mills, and report on any improvement for the benefit of the members; that particulars of other fibre plants, suitable to the colony, should be obtained; that we should keep in touch with kindred associations, and that such matters as the profitable use and disposal of the tow by hackled fibre, and the insurance of the mills under certain regulations, should receive every attention." There would, therefore, be no end to the benefits which would accrue from such an Association if properly managed, with competent men at its head; and although there would be some outlay at the starting, the result would prove so beneficial to all concerned that what at present is a very precarious undertaking [ would then become a permanent and very profitable industry.

Mr Fookes will move at the Boroagh Council meeting this evening a resolution to the effect that " so soon as the necessary arrangements can be made for effecting the change, the present system of employing horses and carts be discontinued, and thereafter all carting work be done by contract." We have always advocated that the contract system for doing the work required for repairing the streets of the town should be tried. Without any loss to the Borough, the horses might be leased out to responsible persons for twelve months and the carts put into the Council's sheds, and tenders might be called for the work that will require to be done for twelve months. If at the end of that period it was found that contract work was not so beneficial to the Borough as the present system, then the horses, carts, and day labour could be resumed, but if on the other hand it was more economical to do the work by contract, then the horses and carts could be sold. We should like to see the contract system tried, because we believe that it would be beneficial to everyone who has an interest in the Borough.

The p.s. Terranora arrived at Waitara at 1.30 p.m. to-day. Mr Harris Ford, hon. secretary of the Recreation Ground Board, begs to acknowledge 9s through the donation box in the ground. The adjourned meeting of the Education Reserves Board will be held on Friday next. The s.B. Gairloch will not leave the breakwater to-morrow, as advertised, she being detained at Onehunga for slight repairs to her machinery. She will resume her running on Thursday next, from Waitara. The sjj. Glenelg leaves Onehunga tomorrow, for the breakwater, and sails from there for Onehunga on Wednesday afternoon, at 3 o'clock. Several owners of jumpers in town have decided to go in for "a paper hunt," which will come off at Westown on Friday. There will be a large attendance, and as some of the horses are fair jumpers and the obstacles are not too big, the " sports" should enjoy themselves. A Wellington journal some time ago told its readers that a very estimable citizen was down with " information of the bowels," and upon another occasion credited a local election candidate, of strictly orthodox j beliefs, with saying that " if he was beaten it would be by beer and the Almighty God." "Almighty dollar" is what the gentleman did say. A peculiar case, in which a stove in which charcoal was burned affected the health of a person, is reported in town. It seems that Mrs Appleyard, who resides in Brougham street, had in her kitchen a stove in which charcoal was used. In the course of the day she was continually near the stove. For some months prior to a couple of weeks ago she had been subject to a chest complaint, unattended with pain, which gradually weakened her day by day. No cause could be assigned for her illness, until after the lapse of months the Btove was picked out as the evil. Mrs Appleyard then went to live in a cottage away from the influence of the stove, and Bir.ce then has quite recovered her health. The poisonous properties from the stove had been inhaled by Mrs Appleyard for months to the detriment of her lungs, which were giadually being made useless by the process. It appears that it was Pipe-major M'Kellar, late of the 78th Highlanders, who knocked over that historical ninepin, " Jessie Brown, Lucknow," which during the last five and thirty years our poets and novelists and journalists have been most assiduous in setting up. The story of ' Jessie Brown, of Lucknow,' who was the first in the besieged Residency to hear the ' skirl ' of the bagpipes of the advancing Ross-shire Buffs, has long ago been known and believed throughout the English-speak-ing world, but, unfortunately for its continued credence, according to Pipe-major McKellar not one of the six pipers who accompanied the 78th Regiment on the day they entered Lucknow played a note on his instrument on that memorable 25th of September, 1857. Now, as a rule, we can Bpare any quantity of bagpipe " music " without a pasßsing twinge of sorrow, but general regret we are sure will be felt that the " slogan " which " Jessie Brown " has been so long supposed to have heard was never played at all." A New York paper regrets that in the j i States peaches are likely to become " a delicious memory only." " The velvety, luscious, Bun-kissed peach, which is a delight to the eye and nectar on the tongue — is it to fade slowly but surely into a reminiscence ?" " Sir Julius Yogel intends to stand New Plymouth," at least the Wellington Post says bo, on what it calls " good authority." The Poefa " authorities " are as a rule not very reliable, for we have never known any of them to turn out facts They originate, we should imagine, on a Btatement of somebody that "he thought so and so," and in it goes into our contemporary's columns as a fact on "good authority." We have no doubt the statement about Sir Julius standing for the New Plymouth seat has originated in the same way, for nothing is known about th« matter ja tfiw Ply*