Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1906. OUR INDUSTRY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3618, 6 February 1906, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1906. OUR INDUSTRY.

We are pleased to record that 'ritest cables Rom the High ComnisUancr report good prices and a lemaud for hemp, and all concerned in the industry will note such facts with satisfaction. Speaking of hemp, we often hea r complaints of “tags” and “labels” be’ • lost during the progress of shipment from here to the Home markets, and we have been constantly in the dark as to vhen and where these labels and 'ags have become detached. Bn 1 Mr George Shirtdiffe, president of the Wellington Chamber o r Commerce, throws some light on the matter by an interview he had with a “New Zealand Times” representative. He said it was a mistake to suppose that these “ tags ” were always removed at the consignees’ end of the journey, and he produced a parcel of fifty labels, which had been found in the goods-sheds of the Wellington wharves before the hemp bales were loaded for their destination. Mr Shirtdiffe holds the view that the tags that are used are quite too flimsy in their nature to stand the rough handling which bales of hemp must of necessity be subjected to long before they get to the consignees, and he suggests "hat the department should be asked to provide metal or leathern “tags.” The fact that so many! of th ’se labels —or certificates of i quality, for that is what they are I —have been found in our own, goods-sheds showed that a grave injustice had been clone to London consignees in accusing them of deliberately detaching tags from bales. Mr Shirtcliffe’s remarks are worthy of consideration, and the department may take the matter no with success.