FACTS ABOUT FLAX.

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1400, 6 September 1923, Page 5

FACTS ABOUT FLAX.

NEW ZEALAND ARTICLE BEST. In an address delivered at the invitation of the Shannon Chamber of Commerce Mr A. Seifert pointed out that, Avhile one ton of fibre was obtained from eight and a half tons of New Zealand leaf, it took 60 to 70 tons of Manila leaf to produce the same quantity of fibre. In the case of sisal it required 30 tons of raw material to make one ton of the finished product. If the toAV and stripper slips Avere added to the baled fibre produced in NeAv Zealand the production was one ton of fibre from six and a half tons of leaf. This shoAved that NeAv Zealand producers Avere extremely fortunate in this respect. Touching on the quantities of sisal and Manila and NeAv Zealand fibre produced, the speaker said that the export of the first-named from the Yukatan, Mexico, only recently had been as high as 700.000 bales, or 140.000 tons, per year. The production of Manila fibre was also very high. NeAv Zealand shipped last year about 12.000 tons, and had never exceeded 29,000. The speaker maintained that there was plenty of room for the Dominion’s produce on the world’s market. He also pointed out that the production of fibre per acre from New Zealand flax Avas the highest in the Avorld.