The Flax Trade.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, 25 February 1890, Page 2

The Flax Trade.

The N. Z. Times, says— "..Ac Wear-., ing upon our remarks of .yesterday concerni tg tin bad condition in which .flax is sent to this port, we may mention that a bale of flax from the Manawatu district was opened yesterday in the railway goods shed .and was examined by seve: al experts in the presence of a representative of this journal. The outside of the bale was of fair quality, but the interior was a mass of damp hanks. Although it had not been baled long theinterior was already beginning to get heated. If that bale had escaped detection and had- been shipped to London it would, in the "opinion of experts, have arrived at its destination in a rotten state, and perfectly worthless. If the -shipper ha'J advanced, as is usually : the cas«, some £9 or £10 per ton on such' rubbish, and its.va-luein London been nil, it is needless to point out how that shipped would, suffer, and. yet millers are told by upcountry journals that the Wellington, merchantr are fleecing them. Thft wet bale exhibited yesterday tells a different tale, and"sh,owj3 how. impertant it is for all concorned that, a rigid Government inspection Bhould be made." Would it not have been better to have stated the brand and owner o£ the fibre than infer a charge of dishonesty against the whole of the Maua-ratu. millers