NEW ZEALAND HEMP.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2000, 6 March 1914, Page 6

NEW ZEALAND HEMP.

PjjOemiuji. TEXAS has ' figured in the esiiovte froru jjvaetiqaily evei- since vessels iracie:£l to 'this piift mi tbs world. In tite old U'halwg days in Couk Siraii .maily : cargoes of ifjax were obtained from : the Maoris. _l ? hi.s.fibre was, of , Smiths, ' haiitJ4'ress.ed 'hy ,tke Natives, gad '-grUi, textile sirciigMi. was quite a trade-' done ■ vith Australia h tfto fe'§t Ji.tif oi the last eetttm-y; and tlto British ■ Admiralty of thcise days roatlc ' cjeiianstive tests of New &aiand Jiottip in eoiftparison with Mmih fibre for I'lllißing gear; repps 1 , hawsei's, etc,;, : NavA 5 , and iij t'htfae triu'ls fto 'New Eoaiand-product held its own, ,0-iu' fibre; has had a . {?h<sqii<?red ca-fCor; the tearket ha* ihtcfuatctj violently,' and to-day the price 'is fira-otically at a non-j«o:fltaula point. G«d fair Hew Zealand 'feiip is in London at £25 ss, per toil, while a jeer ago the pfe was £S,'J---tie difference of £7 las. is the difference between profit ji'iid- Jobs. Hemp has- sold as h%-h as 'km, and .during that boom period ' vigorous eff&pta were rnsde to esteid the cultivation lif sisa.l a.p-c.l a. nliiftbcr ef other fiba-c plants. Sisat has been ex* fensively cultivated!, asd is 'Fro-iv a Strang Qomptftitor 'witli bptli few Zealftfld hemp . and Hanilft, On? flbfe is neiy mostly used fot bin.fe , t«'i«c. wiiile tbjj tow fci-.pflt to various uses, in-dadiiig/thc iiiantifaettu'e of paper. Jfi, Oaniida a process hashicii aiscoyercd. of ittiliaiig Ac &bm of fta'x, and this is bMiif;"~eonv'Brtc-4 into tivine. ■ . :

1 When the. seM-Icvs took tip the preof Mew Zealand h<mm, i-t-WAS inevitable that they should use ma«hi-nfiu\y, and a •writer hi a Wa,nganui paper states that by fie present proK'-ss -all the fibre is- more of less da-ifiitged) .as the stfip.pe.r-, if it does aot aetualJy out pfii-fions of the fibre, bntises and thereby weatens it. It is almost i-ncredib'ie'tfat. littie or ikv iinpravenient has taken glacis iiv the mode &t dressing ph&nninm 7(!»«.t.. Tho principle is- prtet'ifial'iy the same as obtained forty years ago, with a few iiiinor improvements. The ptsvcrn.inenfc offci*c-d a substantial fflonfitary .reward fai- im. proved and quite a number of eoiijpetitcii-s ha-vc ■ciitei'ed, eo that tJje-i'e is a possibility of. the machinery question being satisfactorily ■sottled. But this, is not all the iiaptpVftiiiont that can be efjeo-tcd ia this. JMipartant product, which is ttSoiul in absorbing unskijled laboin 1 . It is stated that tlis New 7/eaJand fla-\ ? i.s_ not & fibre at al3. The Mftiiila ■iibrc is eoiitinijoUs tln'ougiwut tta leaf, bill in New Zealftijd -flax "the fljire, 'su-caUetl, cbinposcel of small bundles of fibres capable »f being, reduced to ittn'.ftitesima.l sq.c-iia-ns," 3-iid for thfe .r : ea.BWT there imperative necd.:ft>r improvement in the and we iniis+; got as 1 near, as ]s.ossiW-.e. to the hand-wor-k of t;iie Maoris .<s.f old,- to obtain the'best results. -Trhere are. many tarietics' 1 or "spirts" of Nfrw Zealand flax,, whieh is allied to the lily and the \ slm. The fibres of these vatietiee differ Wry greatly—they differ in coi-ofir, stiengfcil. o;f fibre; in the- leaf* 'And the yidd. of leaf', jjer acre. The .henvp Mi.i-.j.fe? deals! with the _fia,x as- he finds it, wha.tcver I ■may be its quality, and' the writer in the Wanganui pi,im suggests that while improvements in the mode* of dressing a*o sD-nght, im- : ' ■proyement and g'ekofcion Of 1-lie -best varieties 'ate. also important, an.d ; qkiftis that hybridigattan or cross-' fertilisation of the- best vavieiJies- : should result in the production of a piaijt .giving nuieh more fibre aihl of ■it, better quality than anything (Jffittniecf. of to-day. Hsbiditeitfen' has helped *woijd ; firfitll.v the hortkulturist and the ovcb-itaist, and there : is app:ai*atly no reasoti why stieo.ess j should not ifisnlt from satiun of phortfiiuM tenets. There b nnother poiet that k -capable of vast impTOverneiJt., find that is in the liiarketing i>l tl.i-8 jar-odiict. Mfii , -; fihaftls wha itaMdie . K>?.w hemp maintain that ih'.yp. an) a groat, many pecH'lijiT feiilnres «iss«fiialed -with it-ie t-'-ade '.-bafc w-oviij no t be, tolerated in any otlifii , industry. What' is wanted a-iipteave to bn the inst'ituiio-n. (if r«-gTiJay ?alcs, citljer tic'i'c or in tontbu;. in New Zealand for prcfCTwee, in the s-nrao way as wool is sold, While top f-rtncljtiisn-s prevail, hemn will 'csj-i----tilitlfe A hieMv s-B-ectila-i-ive crrnim-6-cl-aad liahle td oitrcmo ftuctuaticzi6.