Price of Flax.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, 21 February 1890, Page 2

Price of Flax.

The offioial quotation which we pub' lished as an' extra on Wednesday received by the Premier from the Agent General, which was forwarded to us immediately through the courtesy of Mr J. G. Wilson, should knock the stuffing out of the attempted scare. That our hemp is selling slowly is nothing surprising, as the press cablegrams of January 1889 asserted that then ''no business was doing, spectators were frightened. Market expected to drop." So rather than be depressed we ought to rejoice that W9 pas3ed through the last month so well as we did. Towards the end of last February the. hemp market ro3e very rapidly, it being then quoted at £41 10s. By a reference to that very useful compilation of Dr Hector's "Phormium Tenax " a table of the rises and falls of the three fibres of Sisal, Manilla and Phornium for the years 1886, 1887, and 1888, are given, and from it a lesson may be learnt by the millers not to be either too much]elated or depressed. The year 1888 opened with Sisal at £18 a ton, Phormium at £27, and Manilla at £80, in the middle of the year Sisal had reached to £24, Phormium to £26, and Manilla had dropped to £27, yet at the end of the yearJPhormium was only £27, Sisal £28 and Manilla £30. Thus thear remained with slight alterations till about October 1887, when Phormium jumped up to £88, Manilla £1 lower, and Sisal £2 higher. Manilla remained high for the greater part of ! of 1888, falling slightly in sympathy with Phormium, but never so low. The lowest quotations in that year for Phofmium was £26, but at the end it reached £38, whilst the lowest for- Sisal, was £33 and Manilla £85. However, at thefendjof the year these two fibres were only £2 to £b higher than Phormium. We have no opportunity of oomparing the value of Manilla and Sisal for 1889, and can therefore only give the monthly quotations for Phormium. In Junuarv we were told that the demand had fallen off, and the market was expected to. drop, yet in February the price rose to £41 10s. In March it dropped to £36 and £37 in, April to £SS, in the middle of May it was quoted at £27 and at the, olose at £81 10s. In June it rose £2 a ton, but at the end of the month it fell to £29 to £81. In July another drop of £1 took place, and kept steady at £28 to, September when it was quoted At £27. The commencement Jof October witnessed an advance of £2 to £8, which became a fall of the same amount in the middle of the month, [and reached £28 15s. At this rate the quotations were, by press cablegrams at the end of the year. The A gent General's cablegram mentioning the prices for irregu for, fair, and middling £22 to £24 ; good £27 to £28 ; prime £82 to £88 we take as being very satisfactory, as showing the market to be still very steady. If Manilla is £89 to £40 and dropping in value, the lesson of the last three years teaches us that it can do so till it drops within £3 of Phormium before our fibre will have to come down. That Sisal has fallen L 5 is, we think, not of much consequence, as Phormium has been before now quoted at higher rates. The hemp market appears to be subject to violent changes each year, and the lowest periods are, however, generally about June in London, which "means February and March in this colony, aa June would be near the date that these two months, purchases would reach the market. We should expect to see rates ruling in London at the figures mentioned i» our cablegranvtill June, when a rise might be again anticipated. Operators for the market would pro.bably commence buying here at the end of March or some time in A pril

II The finut bit of pavement yet laid j Foxton ii that which Has been put down in front of Messrs MoMillan Rhodes & Co'i. store. It has beea well formed, smoothly faced, and appears as hard aa stone. We understand that Mr McMillan obtained the services of an experienced man to carry out ihe work. Mr Spelman had an unpleasant experience on Wednesday afternoon. It seems that some sparks from the engine set one of the sheds on fire on the shingle roof, and in ap&isting to put it out Mr Spelman Imrt hid left knee, causing it to be y,erj stiff. He paid* but little attention" to ibis fact, and as he was going on board the s.s Kennedy, then lying at the wharf, hia knee failed to respond as readily to his wishes as he expected, and thus eaatirt him to fall into the river between the jrh%f and steamer. Very fortunatelyne ittd riot strike either the boat oi 1 wharf, and therefore oaly obtained a ducking. When reaching water he soon had hold o" one of the piles, and by the rope threwn to him by . one ,ox the bands on the ate* aer rewshtd her deck. Af iertbe swimming match last n-ghtvHfc one legged ma:< Jssired no emulate the performance of the athletes, and preoipatad himse^ into the river, put his abition over riadhed himself, and i^stiad of reaohing the shore he went floating down the river. Mr Hillary kindly went to his assistant* ia a boat, and brought him safe to land. A buyer wanis a flax mill. Immediate application musi be made. The Supreme Court cat* oj Donald t Da ok has been of rather an exciaug natu.e, thai it as far as olio health o2 tiie Jury are concerned. One feU down in a fit and hadjio oe taken home, leaving the oase to be decided by eleven, and two oiaer jui'eymei were attacked with diatrhoa-. - We suppose that more Ua jier head of population is consumed ia th» colonies than elsewhere. It becomes then idieresiing to know where goed tea is to be had, and what brand it is. Tire oihe? day Messrs McMillan Rhodes & Go. handed us a parcle oi Ceylon tsa to sample, and we have much pleasure in vopoivanj ve;?y stroajly on its flavour. We abound reeon-* 1 mend those who fiUe pure teas tofcire tais •a a trial. Our only " bobby" in, at usual, employea ii other than police duties, beoausa there is nothing in his ordinary line ol business to attend to — or at least the atu'ioiiiiea t'-iink so— and he is taking the agiiou'tural census. The Jubilee Plunger is at last Id safe keeping, the cablegram! affirming that he was found guilty of forgery, a jd sentenced to three months' imprisonment, Mr Gerbes give* notice in another oolumn that he has commenced business &"\ a cabinet maker. We have seen some of his work and can speak very well oi it. Mr Snelson's salo on Thursday passed off very satisfactorily as he not only quitted all the tanks and portable boilers, but booked orders for many more. Mr W. Howe of Australia has purchased 2200 acres of the Kopani blook on the Oroua Downs Estate. The chartered! sailing vessel Main Bhan, homeward bound, is in a predicament says theN. Z. Times. She was loaded wi«!» a cargo of poduce at the Wellington Railway Whavf, and an effort was made on Saturday to get her off, but from some eause — probably an error in naTigalion— she fell U leeward and all attempts to move her away since have been futile. She now lies out in the harbor helpless, and must there wait, presumably, until a favorable southerly occurs. The report of the P&rnell Commission also finds "that the defendants were parties to the Norent manifesto, and that Le Caron's statement as to a conspiracy to expel the English garrison from Ireland was partially confirmed. There is some excitement in fie lobbies over the report. Mr Gladstone will confer with his colleagues as to the action to be taken. The New Levin school bulldinj— the farthest yet ereoted on the Manawatu line — ha 3 now been completed. Mv Pope is the mas lei. Tue Honoravy ueoretavy 01 the Foxton Raoing Club convenes a meeting of the Stewards for tomorrow night at 6.30 p.m. Business is of much importance and therefore a full attendance is desired. '■: The latest house that has been. " increased" is Mr Thomas Nye's in Purcell street. Mr J. McKinsiry and the pariy who last week purchased the yadhc Florence the late Mr Thomas Kebbells property at auction, having changed the name of the boat to that of the Mima. She hai been rigged, and trill be launched as soon as the northerly sea now running moderates sufficiently. The Oroua Rive: 1 has not been so low for years as it is at present says the Advocate. At the bridge at Awahuri it may. be seen to have shrunk to the. dimensions of a mere oreek. Mr Hanking received a telegram on i Monday stating that his son Herbert fell while jumping in the College playgrounds on Saturday evening, and broke his right arm six inches above the wrist .The limb was set shortly afterwards, and the patient j is now doing well. . In a gravel pit, on Mr C. Bull's property, at Aorangi, says the /Star, about eight or nine feet below the surface, there has been discovered bnried in the shingle, aratalogina most perfect state of preservation, even the bark not being in the slightest degree decayed. Mr Eelfit has handed u '. a chip from the log, which looks as fresh as if the tree had been felled a week ago. News received at Brisbane states that James Fay, of Normanton.'a few days since went out about half-mile from the shore to fish in one of the boats of. the steamer Dugong. The weather was fine until evening, when the wind arose. Fay attempted to pull ashore, but the breeze increased to a gale. After desperate efforts, Fay was almost in touoh with the land when a fiercer squall caught the boat, and despite his greatest exertions carried him out again. Nething daunted, Fay continued rowing and once more was in dose proximity to the shore, when he was swept away. Thoroughly exhausted, the unfortunate fellow in despair gave up, hia efforts. ' The wind and sea were tremea.-, dons, but the boat rode the billows bravely and this Fay baled out. For two dayß the boat was the sport of the wave^; and then it struck on •an island, capsizing. Fay managed to reach the shore, though in an exhausted condition. He found |that the island was overrun with wild goats, one of whioh he caught, and with a rusty nail he bled his neck, drinking the blood that flowed from the wound. Sleeping liter his draught, he awoke refreshed. Undanted,, he proceeded to explore the island, which, though a fairly larae one, is not named A few days after a fisherman's boat passed by, and seoing signals of diatrws| on the island, put in and took Fay onjboard. By ibi'. time he was reduced to a very low stale, but proper nourishment ftul attention revived him. He had beta six night* aad ' nv»d"y»*ritontfooi or water.

A short time ago Mr Oeo. flutobteien, M.H.B-, communioated with the Minister of Lancia on the advisability of taking stepa to Btop the drift aand on the Waitotara beaoh aaye the Herald The following correspondencohaa siace been rioeived, together with aan-ples of the graaa, which looki uncommonly like that grown by Mr Handly. If so, it is not neceaaary to lend to California for what exicta in abundance here:— Crown Landa Department, Wellington, Bth Feb. 1890-— To Q: Hutohinson, Esq., M.H.R., Wangamii.— Arundo Areaaria. I have the honour to forward by separate parcel a supply of the Californian aand binding grass, and to enclose herewith a circular showing the beat way to plant the same, which the Honourable the Minister of Lands has tireoted me to tend; I ahall be much obliged U you will repipfrt from time to time on the succeaa or otherwiae, of the result of the experiment. — J. W. A. Marohant, Commiasioner of frown Landa. It haa been aug eated to me that roots planted in drifting Band would have a better proapect »f growing ii planted.in L«almajMUid .damper w«aUx«x than exist! at .plelifc— Anrado Areajii. The beat waj to pent it u to: plottgb the r. )ts in, «ay, in every third furrow. Drop in the loots about 2f ijapart, covering! them with the plough; thea plough another three furrows; drop in another row of roota, aad ao on. Where the Band-drifts are too ateep lor the plough, or where there are other plants growing in patchea, the best way to do is to dig pita, aay, about twelve inchea deep, and the width of a apade in the bottom of th» pits ; drop a few olth* root»; re-fill tha holey^and preaa the sand down firmly with tae foot ; dig the pita about Sit apart. After .the grass.ia planted, sow the ground thickly with Lupin seeda: The following year plaut the whele about Hi apart with aoma hard variety of P1 Mias Cobden haa taken London County Council, 1 * aiou of the Court* diaqnri?f|iiif. '-gWP '"m. county Couneillora, °*{&tiF*!f£W ""•. time has eipir#d,in wMoh Bef ptfti -to 1 *' seat could be challenged. Traders for ihe laaans of Clifton T*rrw« houßo muat. be poated not to^r than Monday next, to box 83 Palmetsfon N. Kebert Atkinson, a settler in Mang&hoe, near Woodville, having been reported miaaing, a aearch waß madei'and hia body found under a tree, which had evidently fallen on him and killed him instantaneously. The body had been dead a fortnight. Deceased .was formerly employed at the Petone woollen mills.