UTILISING WASTE PRODUCTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 3541, 1 July 1905, Page 2

UTILISING WASTE PRODUCTS.

It is an essential p >int in the practical application of comrner cial economics to any particular branch of trade that ail expenditure should be as far :.s possible reproductive, and that waste of material in tiic production of anv eommodi'y must be reduced to a minimum. Unfortunately the importance of this is too often lost s'glit of a id a great deal of loss occurs that might with a little fores bought or cnmbm-itiun he avoided. In convection w,..i the staple industry of this district, the preparation of phormium tcnax fibre for the market. ■ there is a considerable prop u'tipn of material lost m I lie shape of tow. A certain proportion is sent away to the larger centres, it is true, where it is utilised for various purposes, and amongsl these, for rope making, after the fibre has been s parated from the dust and refuse. Now. the question that imi:t occur to any sensible ob server is: Why should nit rope be manufactured here, where the raw material is at hand ? Apparently there is no reason whatever. If suitable works were established—and this, we are assured, would not be an expensive matter—rope, (wine, and, indeed, ■cordage of all kinds, could be manufactured and shipped to all parts of the colony at a .minimum of cost. Tims an important industry would spring up, employment would be found for more men, and millers would reduce the amount of loss how entailed by the non-use of much of the waste from the scutcher, quantities of it being burned or thrown Into the river. K-en business men would not allow such waste to continue long.