THE HEMP INDUSTRY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 3778, 21 December 1907, Page 3

THE HEMP INDUSTRY.

Messrs Bell aftd Tennant’s Investigations.

At the instigation of the N.Z, Flaxmillers’ Association, Messrs R. T. Beil, an ex-grader and mill owner, and Mr Jas. Tennant, flaxmiii owner of Oroua Bridge, visited the Wellington , grading stores with the object of inspecting all the hemp in store.

Asked by a Times representative for his opinion of the hemp he had inspected, Mr Bell said that during the past two days he had gone through the product of 25 different mills, and 75 per emt of the fibre was “good fair,’’ and a lot of it see red high in this grade. If millers were working with the leaf they were apparently milling there was no reason —given proper milling conditions and ordinary care —why they should not produce “good fair,’’ judging by the standard set in the stores at the present time. He caiue across two small lots of “ common.”. , r , There were a few instances where the fibre could have been improved in the paddocking; the defects apparently being due to careless work on the part of the men. _ There were weaknesses, too, in the scutching but these were largely due to millers only wanting “fair” and therefore not requiring the scutching to he so thorough. In one case bad scutching had reduced a line to “fair.” The stripping in the Manawatu, declared Mr Bell, is wonderfully even. Mr Tennant expressed surprise at seeing this feature of the milling operations so good. The fibre he had inspected was all stripped by men who understood the business. In only one case was there an indication of a good leaf being spoiled, and this was from the West Coast of the South Island. Mr Bell concluded his remarks on the fibre by declaring that any amount of stuff in the shed was just verging_ on “ fine,” and only required a little better’ colour to get it into the higher grade. ' Messrs Bell and Tennant where then asked if they were satisfied 1 with the way in which the hemp they milled was being graded. 1 The former replied that he was quite satisfied, and the latter agreed in this opinion so far as Wellington was concerned; he was not so pleased with the grading at Foxton. Mr Bell was asked how his pointing of the hemp compared with that of the grader on duty, Mr Ferriss. He replied that he had gone through a number of the lines with Mr Ferriss, and their judgment had been very much alike, exactly the same conclusion having been arrived at in many cases. Mr Bell was then asked if he had ascertained the points awarded the previous consigmeut of the brands he had inspected on the occasion when the writer saw them, on the 9th inst., and on the quality of which the criticism complained of was based. Mr Bell said be had not, but be readily agreed to do so. and forthwith obtained them from the grader. A comprasion between the points awarded on the two / occasions at once disclosed a vast improvement In quality, in a good number of the lines, and proved there_ were good grounds for the criticism. Here are the points awarded several of the brands a fortnight ago and yesterday ; Previous Score Score Yesterday 68 ... ••• 7 6 50 ••• 64 56 ... ••• 68 75 68 70 ••• ... 74 58 66 72 ••• ... 7 8 70 ••• 77 52 . ••• 63 The scoring of the the two last shipments of a number of the brands was not compared, but many of them showed no difference ;in fact, in one or two cases yesterday’s score was a point or two below that of the previous grading. The above figures, however, speak for themselves. As to the cause of this remarkable improvement iu so many outputs a definite reason cannot be assigned. There are several probable causes. It happens in wet and unfavourable paddocking weather that the hemp must be allowed to remain too long on the ground, with the result that its quality is more or less affected. Tben with the return of suitable bleaching conditions the hemp I accuru'.d ites and has to be stacked. Where the miller has a contract for, say, “good fair,” he has to proceed with the scutching of the fresher and properly-bleached hemp, the badly-bleached stuff being stacked till a return of bad paddocking weather, when time is available for treating it. It may be that some of this badly-bleached hemp was forwarded to the stores a fortnight ago, but that the .present shipment is of hemp which has received no check in the milling process. Another probable reason of the better quality now being forwarded is that some | millers were shipping badly-pad- ' docked hemp, and on reading the criticism in these columns at or.ee , turned on to scutching their good material. And another reason—- • and there are grounds for this — . is that merchants have been cotn- • plaining of the quality of some of the lines “ brought forward,’’.and ; have been demanding better ■ quality if the contract is to be maintained. It having been declared that the , milling of flax is being conducted ! to-day better than it has ever been • before, in fact, Mr Tennant de- . clared that there is-a great- im- ’ provemeut/in the fibre on what is

was some years ago. The delegates of the Association were asked if it was true that mill hands were giving trouble by careless work? Both Mr Bell and Mr Tennant agreed that much of the paddocking is being done very roughly, and the scutching is being carelessly carried out. In man} cases no judgment is used. Where a hank in scutching is bad or indifferent, it gets just the same amount of work on it. as vvuere the condition is all right. Since the Arbitration Ccurt Award the nv-n have displayed an independent attitude, and do not take the same care in their work as formerly. They evidently consider they are protected by the awaid, atid do as they like. At the present day flaxraill bands are the highest paid unskilled labourers in Australasia, and notwithstanding the good wages paid, the_ miller does not get the service he is entitled to. The men cannot be made to realise that it is to their best interests to do the best they can and turn out the best article. In fact, Mr Bell remarked, high wages have been one of the causes which have led millers to turn out only a “ fair ” article instead of “good fair.’ Millers complain, he said, that there is more trouble over contract paddocking than over the work in any other department, and this notwithstanding that the contract paddockers are receiving, in the majority of cases, 2s a ton over the Arbitration Court award. In concluding the expression of these remarks, Messrs Bell and Tennant made a request that their thanks should be expressed through the Times to the Secretary for Agriculture, Mr Jno. D. Ritchie. and the Wellington graders, for their courtesy in affording them facilities for inspecting the fibre in the grading stores.