Page 6 Advertisements Column 2

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 255, 27 October 1937, Page 6

Rowing Season Opening A feature of the opening of the Wanganui Rowing Association’s 193738 season at the‘Wanganui Rowing Club’s shed next Saturday afternoon will be sprint fours racing between crews representative of the Union. Aramoho and Wanganui Rowing Clubs. Last year Mr J. B. Cotterill, M.P. for Wanganui and a former Union rower, competed in the sprint fours until his crew was eliminated in a semi-final. It is understood that Mr Cotterill will take a seat in a boat again this season. Substitute for Flax.

A competitor with New Zealand’s flax industry was referred to by Mr. A. McKay in a travel lecture, “A Tour to China in Japan,” given to members of the Wadestown and Highland Park Men’s Society at Wellington. He said the Japanese had invented a system of making flax from banana palms. The palms usually grew to a height of 20ft. and the leaves, which were 6ft. long, were stripped and converted to flax. Although the fibre was not of a very high grade, it could be produced cheaply enough to form a dangerous competitor for New Zealand.