THE HEMP INDUSTRY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume LVI, Issue 8626, 7 December 1906, Page 5

THE HEMP INDUSTRY.

♦ Mr M. Cohen's Impressions

A Few Timely Hints

Mr Maurice Cohen, Mayor of Palmerston North, made some investigations concerning the hemp industry during his recent Eastern visit, and communicated some of his impressions to a Post reporter, on Wednesday. He found the Phillipines well adapted for the growth of fibre, the Bureau of Agriculture's investigations showing that three to four hundred varieties exist, the principal being the abaca plant, which resembles a banana tree. In 1904, a million bales of fibre were produced , but in subsequent years, through adverse conditions, the product has diminished to three-quarters of a million bales. Probably, this, combined with the failure of the jute crop, Mr Cohen thinks, has contributed to the high prices ruling for the New Zealand output. He warns New Zealanders to guard their interests, as American engineers— who have noted the primitive methods of production in the Phillipines—are turning their attention to the perfection of machinery which will greatly increase the output, and lower prices. With the advent of a satisfactory dressing machine, and the abolition of existing labour difficulties, the Phillipines will prove a serious rival to this colony. Mr Cohen regards the best way to strengthen our position is to consider quality before everything, and to attain this by more rigid grading. "As regards the quality of the two fibres," Mr Cohen went on to say, " there is no comparison. The beautiful silky texture of the good quality Manila hemp is far and away beyond anything that this colony can produce, and to see it woven into most exquisitely fine fabrics in use by the Filipinos is sufficient to convince anyone of the inherent superiority of the foreign product."