The Waikato Times, THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE, AND KAWHIA ADVOCATE. Established Thirty-Three Years. THE OLDEST DAILY NEWSPAPER IN THE WAIKATO. THE LARGEST CIRCULATION OF ANY DAILY PAPER SOUTH OF AUCKLAND. FRIDAY, MAY 11, 1906. THE HEMP INDUSTRY.

Waikato Times, Volume LVII, Issue 7007, 11 May 1906, Page 2

The Waikato Times, THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE, AND KAWHIA ADVOCATE. Established Thirty-Three Years. THE OLDEST DAILY NEWSPAPER IN THE WAIKATO. THE LARGEST CIRCULATION OF ANY DAILY PAPER SOUTH OF AUCKLAND. FRIDAY, MAY 11, 1906. THE HEMP INDUSTRY.

! We of the Waikato perhaps hardly realise the full extent to which the Governmout is ddlng and encouraging our leading industries. Our battermaking owes much to its well directed efforts, and aur tlaxmilliag has already benefitted by the grading system. A further departure for the benefit uf the latter industry, and therefore iu•iirnctly for all the legitimate interests of the district, is the appoiutment of an instructor. Mr James Stewart, who gives much valuable information through the medium uf an interview which we publish in another column litis been visiting the milis iu the Auckland province and giving instrue- ' tiun ever since the beginning of the | year, and we have nu doubt that the good results will be manifest later on. ithout casting any reduction un the captains of the hemp industry in Wiiiit must be admitted that, taking the colony generally ioiue instruction j was needed. The writer oi a series of I very informing articles in the Wellington Times says: "There is not auother iudustry of any importance, that has bben, and still ia, after

hundred years, conducted in such a fitful and haphazard fashion. Even the millers of to-day are not generally an expert body of men, a fact easily comprehensible when it is borne in mind that ten years ago the output was only one-fifteenth of that of last year. It is inevitable that in an industry which expands and contracts so frequently there must be many masters who are not masters. And the result of placing such men in charge of machinery that only imperfectly fulfils its purpose at the best is often disastrous. It is 01. record that in Southland last year, although it was a boom year, and seventy mills were working, there was a loss on the whole of £20,000 —that not more than 1") percent, of the mills paid. This was chiefly due to incompetent management and unskilful stripping." We are pleased to know also that the Government is now taking steps to carry out the inteution which Parliament had in view last session, when it sanctioned a bonus of £2OO for an improved method of flax - dressing. Quite independently of the State, Dr. Chappie, who is a director of a large flax concern in the Manawatu, made an offer last year to assist in establishing a science scholarship in connection with Victoria College, Wellington, for research in respect to the treatment of flax. It may be that such efforts as this will lead to the development of processes for putting our phormium tenax to finer uses than making binder twine. From material that is now wasted at the mills it has been proved possible to make paper, and it has been from time to time reported that some experimenter had produced silk from our native fibre. These considerations add weight to what Mr Stewart says in regard to the desirability of cultivating flax. This is a matter of some urgency. " If the practices now followed are allowed to continue"—we quote again from the Wellington Times —" phormium tenax will in a few years be a thing of the past. There are thousands of acres of land all over New Zealand which will grow flax to perfection, although they are not suited for any other crop. Existing fields are being ruined by too frequent cutting, and the time is opportune for planting new areas. The experiments that have been made in planting in different parts of the colony have removed all doubt as to the possibility of cultivating flax successfully, and it only remains for the Government and private individuals to develop along the lines indicated. If this important matter is attended to, the hemp industry is capable of indefinite expansion. If not, it may be killed by its own prosperity. "