The Flax Deputation.

Manawatu Herald, 25 August 1900, Page 3

The Flax Deputation.

A deputation comprising Messrs J 1 R. Stansell, W. Toogood, Oswald Gardner, C. Austin, J. Syraons and John Holmes waited upon the Minister of Agriculture (Hon. T. Duncan), on Wednesday in regard to matters affecting the New Zealand hemp industry. Mf John Stevens, member for Manawatu, in introducing the deputation, said it was representative of the associated flax-millers of, the colony. It desired in the first place to repeat a request that the Government should grant a sum of £50 towards the expenßes of Mr H. Austin, who had just completed a mission of inquiry to the Philippines, undertaken on behalf of the flax-millers of this colony. A promise was made by the Hon. W. C. Walker, when he was in charge of the Department of Agriculture, that the request would be considered, but the decision of the Cabinet in regard to it had never been announced, so far as he (Mr Stevens) was aware. In the second plaee'j the associated flax-mil-lers were anxious that the Government should appoiut a grader for the purpose of grading flax fibre at one 01 more of the ports of the colony, in the same way that butter graders, for example, had been appointed. The position which the pr~d:.<^r or miller was in at the present timo w^s net just to him. He was ab?olu*elv in the hands of the purchaser of fibre. When flax was very high in price, any quality would be taken by the merchant, but when it was low in price the merchant made complaints that the fibre offered was not up to the proper standard. If a disinterested man was appointed as grader by the Government, general satisfaction would be given. The appointment would be fully justified. Mr W. H. Field, member for Otaki, also spoke in support of the requests made by the deputation. Mr Stansell read a petition in favour of the appointment of a Government flax grader. The petition was signed by over sixty millers and merchants. He said the flax industry employed one hand for every £50 worth of fibre produced. For flax cut on the Moutoa estate, near Foxton, the royalty paid at the present time was 24s per ton of fibre. There were forty strippers at work on the West Coast alone, between Turakina and Otaki. Each stripper employed about twenty-five hands, making a total of 1000 hands, most of whom were unskilled labourers. The wages paid in connection with each stripper totalled from £250 to £300 per. month, or a total of between £10,000 and £12., 000. About iscwt. of coal per day was used by each stripper. Much traffic was provided for railways and shipping. The value of the plant of a stripper was, roughly speaking, about £500. The system now in operation was that the merchant employed his own grader. It was a system open to abuse. A Government grader would be subject only to the Government. Mr Duncan : I am of your way of thinking after hearing your explanation. Would one grader be enough ? Mr Stansell : Wellington is the principal port of shipment. Mr Duncan : Would one man be able to do the grading at Wellington ? Mr Stansell : Yes. Mr Duncan : I think we ought to be able to see our way to try one grader tor Wellington. I think you have made out a very good case. If I urge it properly, I think the Government will see that a grader is necessary. I cannot promise you straight away, but I think you will get a grader. Mr Gardner said he thought it was generally recognised that New Zealand fibre was the best suited to take the place of Manila hemp when there was a shortage of the latter. But it was also a fact that New Zealand fibre war; most suitable for binder twine and many other purposes, and that the New Zealand fibre trade did not altogether depend on short supply of Manila hemp. For the L-t *wenty years the New Zealand fibrr- nuie : -d hpen an established thing. *he n ~ ■' . o' l had to be faced that New Zeala.J! •'.'.■ vs >vas turned out at least 30 per cent, worse in quality than it could be turned out. As things were at present, there was absolutely no standard for fibre. Millers and merchants alike felt that the permanence of the industry was being endangered. Letters were continually coming to hand from Great Britain and North America and other countries saying, "If you cannot give us an even quality of fibre, we will give up buying New Zealand fibre altogether." No reliance could now be placed even on brands. Mr Duncan : It will encourage millers to turn out a better article when they know that the fibre will be graded by a Government.grader. Mr Holmes said that as a result of the investigations which he made during his tour in various countries in the interests of the New Zealand hemp industry, he found that the grading of the fibre was absolutely necessary. Manufacturers in Great Britain and

North America told him thai: they were prepared to buy large quantities of New Zealand hemp regularly if they could depend on its quality being maintained at a given standard. Mr Stance" '.hen read another petition, signed L»y millers only, asking that the Government should obtain and publish weekly quotations of the price of New Zealand hemp in the London market. He alleged that through some influence hemp quotations were withheld from or suppressed by the newspapers of the colony when the market had an upward tendency. Mr Stevens said that the reason given by Mr McKensie for declining to accede to a similar request was that the Government would incur very serious responsibilities if the quotations which it obtained should on any occasion turn out to be not authentic. Mr Duncan said he thought there ought to be a way of getting past that corner. Quotations for flax ought to be as easy to get as quotations for other lines of produce. There might, however, be some special reasons why that was not the case.— N.Z. Times.