FIRE AT MOUTOA

Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue 279, 16 July 1889, Page 2

FIRE AT MOUTOA

Messrs Jack Bros. hemp mill was burned down last night at 7 o'clock, but we are glad to learn with not such a disastrous result as might have been expected. The fire started in the skutching-room, which adjoin the engine-room, where a quantity of tow was lying about. The en-gine-driver, going into the room with a lighted candle, and some tow acci dently falling on ii, the whole was soon ablaze The engine was started to procure water, but it was of no avail, the fire getting such a hold on the building that all the water procurable seemed use ess the engine was kept going all through the fire, and it is thought by some that it helped a great deal to save it. The strippers and boiler have also fared well, but the press and skutcher were destroyed. All the belting was cut down, and that also has been saved. „The The mill is the best-fitted in the district (being a three-str pper), having a sixteen-horse power stationary engine. The ook house and men's boarding house, which was some distance away, have not been been reached by the fire. Mr Stewart. directly he heard of the mishap, went straight to the scene of the fi e. He expects the mill to be in working order again in about a fortnight, and informs us that £100 will more than cover the damage done. THE FLAX INDUSTRY. The Otago Witness reports the some what glowing account of the flax industry in this district :— The flax industry in the North Island, which a short time since was at low ebb, is now in full tide of prosperity, and is attracting as much interest there as the [illegible] tinfields are in this island. The Hon. Robert Campbell, M.L.C., who has just returned from a trip in the North Island, has kindly [illegible] information which he has obtained

at our disposal, and has, in an exceedingly frank manner expressed h opinions of the subject of the fla industry to a representative of th journal. In the first place, he said, o of the most [illegible] things in connectio with this industry is the increase demand for the material. this has bee brought about partly by the failure o the manila and sisal crops, and part because of the operations of an America cordage ring having driven outside afield to see raw material. Though these [illegible] may seem to b of a temporary character, the Hon. M Campbell is of opinion that the New Zealand flax, having found its way to s many markets, will In future be a mor merchantable commodity that it ha been in the past, and that it will in fac for various reasons, retain its hold upo the markets fairly well. It in somewha difficult to give an estimate of the exten to which the flax industry has recently developed but its growth has heen some thing startling; indeed, in Mr Campbell' words, " wool and frozen meat nowhere everybody is talking flax, and the interest aroused by the sight of a few bales of the fibre is most remarkable There is apparently very solid ground for this enthusiasm. On the Oroua estate there are in operation at the present time 11 flax mills, employing 300 hands paying their proprietors handsomely, and yielding to the Hon. R. Campbell, by way of royalty on the flax used at the rate of £3000 per annum. When it is remembered that if it were not for this industry the flax would have to be destroyed before the land it covers would be available for agricultural purposes, the value of he flaxdressing operations can be more , readily estimated. It is also, we understand, a fact that one of the flax-mill owners, who, before entering into the business, was a station hand at £60 per annum, has saved £1000, and that within a few months; and that others are also doing remarkably well. Whether the phormium tenax can be successfully cultivated is not decided; but as without cultivation it will grow again in two years, and as the flax fields are very extensive, the supply is practically inexhaustible. So long therefore, as the price lasts the work will go on. The process of dressing the flax seems to be now well understood, and the industry it growing in such a wonderful manner that Foxton looks almost like a digging township. I would be premature to venture an opinion as to the proportious this industry will ultimately assume; but the Hon. Mr Campbell is satisfied that it Will prove of great importance and largely aid our progress as a colony.