THE HEMP INDUSTRY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 406, 4 July 1908, Page 3

THE HEMP INDUSTRY.

Falling off at Auckland

Auckland, July 2

The output of hemp for the last six mouths, as indicated by the quantity passing through the local grading stores, shows a great falling off, particularly for the last quarter. The figures for the six months were 3036 tons, as against 6335 tons for the corresponding period of last year.

According toMr C. J. Fulton, chief hemp expert under the New Zealand Government, who returned from St. Helena, via Australia, by the Maheno on Wednesday, the introduction of the hemp industry in the islond, the prospects for which it was his mission to investigate, would be of some benefit to the people, although it would not solve the industrial problf m. The flaxmdl at Longwood, within a few hundred yards of the historic house wherein the great Napoleon lived and died, was managed by Mr Fulton for a month, and a few tons of fibre and tow, which realised excellent prices in London, were turned out. The fibre brought top prices, while the tow sold at an advance of £3 per ton on that obtained by the New Zealand product, and that without guarantee or certificate as to quality. There was, at the time he left, a regular exodus of the young men of the island, nearly one hundred having left for West Africa, under a four years’ engagement at the gold mines. Mr Fulton speaks very highly of the advantages of St. Helena as a health resort. He spent about four mouths on the island, and found the “Yamstalks,” as the inhabitants are locally termed, most hospitable.