THE FLAX INDUSTRY.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4746, 3 September 1924, Page 2

THE FLAX INDUSTRY.

ITS FUTURE WEIGHED. BRIGHT PROSPECTS AHEAD. Interest in the flax possibilities of the Hauraki Plains is etill increasing. and those in a position to speak authoritatively on the subject are being besieged with inquiries both personal and by letter. The topic is a popular one, and while a great many are sceptical and some express utter disbelief in the matter, other instances of bigger returns than those already quoted in this paper can be mentioned. It ig said that flax is the latest fad, that it is only a temporary boom which will burst when the market falls ; and also that the "Gazette” is boosting flax at .the instigation of operators.

While we acknowledge with gratitude the valuable information find advice given us by Mr G. Pateman, o£ Torehape, and Mr G. Smerle, of Ngarua, we emphatically deny that publicity is being given at the instigation of these or other operators. Their gain will only be through a wider development of the industry, but, like a great many of the men connected with it, have noted the enormous strides made during the past few years and realise the great future it has when fully developed. Flax is not the latest fad. Over 120 years ago phormium tenax was recognised as a source of wealth, and fi considerable export trade arose. Of latter years, however, the volume of expom has declined, but the adoption of intelligent and scientific methods has now changed phormium' tenax from a wasting asset to one. with a very promising future. By the adoption of side-leaf cutting alone disease in the plant has been practically eradicated, fire risk reduced, the industry changed from a seasonable to a continuous one, the quality of the produce improved, and the return multiplied. The universal adoption of plant selection, cultivation, and side-leaf cutting assures the future of the industry. The market for phormium fibre is bound to fluctuate, just as all markets fluctuate ; but it is significant that where economical methods have bene practised the return has never been so low that the operator has had to give up. Instances where mills have closed down when the market slumped can be quoted, but if an investigation could have been made it would probably have been found that the stoppage was caused more by uneconomical methods of working. The industry should not be condemned because of a few failures. A possible over-production is another cry of the ignorant, but operators know of the insistent demands for increasing qualities of; fibre. Mr Seifert, a well-known Manawatu miller, upon his return from America some time ago reported that, he could have sold millions of tons of fibre if it had been available. While in Minneapolis he had been conducted through the International Harvester Company’s works and was shown a corner occupying one-eighth of an acre which was devoted to the manufacture of cordage from New Zealand’s phormium tenax alone. He was then informed that this machinery was all that could be kept going on the small amount of New Zealand flax that it was possible to securebut that the company would gladly supplant the rest of its 19 acres of floorspaca with cordage-making machinery if adequate supplies of New Zealand fibre could be obtained. Overproduction is a bogey, for it has been proved that the greater the output the greater the demand, and that the dribblets ,of supply tend to encourage the exploitation of admittedly inferior fibrous plants. When New Zealand Increases its output of phormium tenax it will dominate the fibre market. THE BY-PRODUCTS. Not only does the fibre meet a ready market, but there is a keen demand for the tow. Its chief uses are for cordage, fibrous plaster, and padding. There is an enormous field for the development of the other by-products of the plant, particularly the green vegetable matter removed at the mill. Good paper has already been made from this, and experiments are now being conducted in commercial alcohol manufacture. On the Hauraki Plains, which are so suitable for intensive flax cultivation, the time may come when these valuable secondary industries are established. Cows can be and are kept in the heart of cities, but for phormium tenax growing broad acres are essential and only certain areas are suitable. The United States Department of Agriculture Fibre Investigation Bureau realises thevalue of this New Zealand plant, and is making big efforts to establish it, but so far without success owing to the unsuitability of the climate. It is established that the Hauraki Plains is one of the favoured areas naturally adapted foi phormium tenax, and present indications tend to show that in a few years it will be one of the closest settled and -greatest wealth-producing rural districts in the Dominion.