Manawatu Herald. FRIDAY, MAY 17, 1889. FLAX.

Manawatu Herald, Volume VII, Issue 267, 17 May 1889, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. FRIDAY, MAY 17, 1889. FLAX.

I The prosperity of this town having been revived by the flax industry, it is only natural that anything relating to the likelihood of the trade remaining brisk, deserves attention. Our contemporary the New Zea'and Times has been making a laudable attempt to worry out the facts, and we here reproduce the chief reasons mentioned. "Now as regards Manilla, there is no evidence to show, as some authorities assert, that there has been a failure in the crop ; but there is evidence to show thut the Phillipine Islanders are slow to develop the trade; and, moreover, tha manila cannot be produced in enormous quantities to meet a su Iden demaud. It is not like wheat or potatoes, which can be sown find cropped in a few months where none grew before. The Manila takes a long time to grow, and though short leaves might be cut and thereby the. crop somewhat increased, there cannot in the next two years be any large increased output of Manila. From this rival we probably need not for two or three years fear any c tra severe competition. Turning next to New Zealand flax's other groat rival, hennequen, or sisal, or Mexican hemp, we find that it is chiefly produced in that quaint land of ancient deserted cities ai.d magnificent ruins, Yucatan. The agave, from which this fibre is extracted, grows wild, like flax,^ and grows best near the sea, but is alto found on hill sides, as is the phormium tenax. Yucatan suffeis terribly from insect pests, and locusts especially commit great ravages on all green crops excepting this particular plant. As the Yucatanese therefore cannot grow gra n crops they cultivate flax, and with its proceeds buy themselves food. The plant grows on the poorest soi s and takes about eight years to come to full maturity ; but if the plant is judiciously pruned the new leaves will be ready in about three years. As the sisal trade has been steady for years, and there are no large stores upon which to draw, the an- j nual output cannot be greatly increased. Thus it is dear that New Zealand flax nend not fear any heavy nsw output of either of its rivals for at least three years. Further, in October last a devastating tornado blew powerfully against the sisal plant and crushed the cells near the root of each leaf, the consequence being that the leaves were very largely destroyed, and the American Consul reported that one quarter of the whole number of sisil hemp plants were useless. We have learnt from other sources that the sisal crop had failed toward the end of last year — this is the explanation. A rumour is current in Wellington, that the sisal crop is again short this year. . . . But the most important use of all is that as binder twine. Sisal and Manila hemp are not satisfactory, and are too costly to drive out the use of wire. Sisal also does not stand the machine's hoist and strain, but New Zeeland flax sots perfectly. It is used now largely in this country, and experts predict its almost universal employment presently in tho United States, which at present require 32,000 tons a year for this purpose. To this will presenUybaiidadadssjMkadior it

on behalf of Canada's vast wheat I areas, the largest in all the world. Apparently confirming this statement is the fact that much of the flax recently shipped away from New Zealand is to fill American orders. English papers inform us that the r pc factories have no rppe on hand that stocks are almost bare, and hence, though reluctant to pay .nigh price*, the manufacturers have be ! compeled to buy large'y, aud as orders are steadily coming in they | must go out to buy tho raw material. . . . To sum up, an impartial, i careful study of the reasons which ! have led. to a rise in pi-ice must lead strongly to the conclusion that flax will keep a high price f or.another twelve months at least. Of course we do not mean to say that it will keep at £36 ; most certainly it will rise and fall. The manufacturers J wanting flax will try to * bear " prices. Shrewd Yankees, knowing there is a shortage in sisal have formed a come:*, and are "bulling" it. We know sisal is, and must be short, and the Manila output no larger than usual. Flax is in demand for many new purposes, and is employed in many new ways. Its rivals, sisal and Manila, are high in price, and must keep up. Manufacturers' made-up goods are large y sold out, and new orders are large and frequent 'J hough flax prices nay be the sport of bulls and bears ; though prices may go still higher, and may be depressed much below their present level, it seems likely that a high average will be main tamed, and that for the next twelve nonths shippers of New Zealand flax will receive most remunerative returns.