THE HEMP INDUSTRY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 3728, 6 December 1906, Page 2

THE HEMP INDUSTRY.

Mr John Holmes, of Wellington, in the course of an interview with a representative of the Sydney “ Daily Telegraph,” stated that New Zealand could profitably export 100,000 tons of dressed fibre annually, and thus the trade should be made worth over per annum. He understood that efforts are being made by enterprising people in New South Wales to cultivate New Zealand phormium tenax, or flax; but regretted that the facilities which have been granted to people in New South Wales and Victoria Jn this matter have not been extapled to New Zealanders themselves' by the New Zealand Government. For many years he has advocated the cultivation of all the waste lands of New Zealand with phormium tenax, so that a better opportunity should be given ot supplying the increased demand for this fibre from all parts of the world; and he now declares that it is by no means certain that this large and increasing demand will be retained if immediate action is not taken to supply the requirements of oversea buyers. Recently, among other things, he advocated the employment of prison labour to plant the waste lands of the country.