Ambergris on Beach

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 5, Issue 34, 27 March 1942, Page 5

Ambergris on Beach

FIBRE FOR ROPE AND TWINE fcw. New Zealand wants to turn all lis screen native flax into rope and twine, because maniln hemp is in Japanese hands. So the Minister of Supply has sent out an appeal: ''Have you any ilax." Most landowners will shake. their heads and think of the days' a generation ago when most of the coastal) land of the Bay of Plenty grew llax. The Rangitaiki 'Plains, for instance, was one big flax plantation until the Lands Department began drainage operations. The Hey Day of Flax Gone are the days e.f 20 or 30 years ago when-every river flowing Into the liar of Plenty had a flaxmill on its banks. Vanished are the thousands of acres of tall ilax- Gone and probably forgo!ten are the hundreds of flaxmill hands who toiled mvay to turn green flax into dressed fibre. (lone with the wind too, alas, is much of the capital that tvas invested in flax milling machinery, for low prices in the overseas market for fibre killed the ilax industry. How much green ax is there left tn the Bay of Plenty? That is what the, Minister of Supply wants to know. Not much mi 11 able llax remains, for land that will grow flax will also grew grass, and there has been money in grass during the last few years. Fate of Flax Companies Some years ago several companies were promoted in New Zealand to grow flax and mill it. Alas! where nre they now? Apparently in liquidation. Whakatane people remember "The Flax Company" which owned hundreds of acres of swamp, some of which it planted with rows of flax bushes. It operated a fla%* mill in the building near the Paper Mills that is now used as a cheese factory. Then flax milling ceased to be profitable. The mill closed down, much of the growing llax was burned in a swamp fire in 1939. There are remnants of this company's flax plantations near Eastern Drain Road and near Matata, but cattle have mauled the plants about. When the world war was in progress there were flaxmills on the Whakatane River (near Poroporo) on the Rangitaiki River at Thornton, ami on the Tarawera River. Each mill used up a dozen tons of green flax daily, giving work to several dozen men. There were alscx mills at Otamarakau and in the Te Puke district. Industry Allowed to Die Old flax millers lament that Governments past and present, allowed the flax industry to die 1 during the last 20 years. They complain that the State gave protection by tariffs to secondary industries, but was not equally generous to flax milling, which is really a primary industry like butter making. A strong case was made out for a State bounty for flax fibre, chiefly because flaxmilling created so much employment and paid most of its expenses In the form of wages. Peace was fatal to> flax milling. With cheap coloured labour producing hemp in tropical lands the New Zealand flax industry with its high wages to pay could not compete.. It languished and died for want of financial "artificial respiration." Now, ■vlien it is too late, the State is trying to revive the long dead flax industry. It looks like a case for a miracle-worker to raise the dead to life. Penalty of Unpreparedness To-day New Zealand is paying a heavy penalty for unpreparedness tn times before 1939. We come to depend, e>n Manila hemp, and thought nothing of the likelihood of Japan grabbing the East Indies hemp supply. Now it is clear that it would have paid Ncav Zealand to have spent a million pounds in subsidies to have saved the flax industry. When the last flaxmill in the Thames Valley closed down about five years ago it was said that the only mill in New Zealand still operating was at Fox ton which provides flax for New Zealand-made woolpacks.

A searcher on the bench at Kawhia on Saturday afternoon collected a large c[iiantity of ambergris, -weighing approximately .10 pounds. On Sunday afternoon lie continued the quest and added about 25 pounds to the amount. Ambergris is a substance produced in the intestines of a certain variety of whale, and is generally found floating on the sea. It is a valuable perfumery material, but its commercial value fluctuates considerably.