THE HEMP INDUSTRY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 449, 21 January 1909, Page 3

THE HEMP INDUSTRY.

Mr A. Seifert, of Seifert Bros., the well-known flaxmill owners, in conversation with a - Manawatu Times representative, threw some light on the present position and the conditions under which the hemp industry labours. Mr Seifert said that the output from the Dominion was now some 50 per cent, less than it was two years ago and a number of millers were making very little profit on the present working with the present conditions. But, of course, they were keeping; on in the hope of a rise in values.

A large number of millers, said Mr Seifert, blame the awards for a lot ot their difficulties, but he thought they were wrong iu this, because there was no award in Auckland, Otago or Southland. And the award would make very little difference here, as the men bad to pay highly for house rent and other necessaries, and must therefore command a wage cotnmeusurafo with their expenses, and could not be expected to work for less. But it was the half-and-half unionism to which he objected. If the tailors got an award, up went the price of clothes aud so on. But in other branches there was no award and the men working under those conditions had to pay extra cost of production in theaudustries under awards. He thought that every class of labour should be. placed under the operations of the Arbitration Court and thus , level matters up all round. “ Yes, ”he said, “ including farm labour.” *’ The cost of production in the flax industry now,” said Mr Seifert, “far from being less than when flax had reached its high water mark is more, much more, and with the land tax, which is as; on farm lands, we have to pay income tax on the profits, less 5 per cent, on the unimproved value of the laud. The flax crop, for some unknown reason, is singled out iu this respect. People consider that other farmers have done quite suf- - ficient by paying the various land taxes and local rates, aud if they have a good year they think they are justified. But profits in a flax crop are immediately looked into, and in the case of a company, the tax amounts to 5 per cent, on the profits less the exemption I mentioned. The tax is not so severe on a private individual but the income is seldom steady. The , Income Tax Department, however, does not take the previous years into account, but as long as the; balance sheet for any one year shows a profit, the Department takes its share as provided by the Act.”

I believe, Mr Seifert, that you are now trying a new invention in the mills that will considerably reduce the cost of output ? queried the representative. “ Yes, that is so. My brother has patented a machine that will do away with the shaker.aud A’asher two men —that under the present award receive 8s a day. This invention will therefore result in- a saving of i6s a day —not to be despised at the present state of the market.” Mr Seifert then described the machine, which is the invention of Mr W. Seifert. It consists of an endless chain that passes between two revolving drums on which water is playing. When the catcher receives the stripped leaf, he just hangs it on the moving chain which passes the fibre on the revolving drums, which, by an ingenious yet simple method oD grooving, scrape and clean off the gum and pulp, while holding the hank tightly. And all the tim« water is performing its share of the cleansing process. Passed through these drums the hanks lodge themselves on a rail whence they are made up into a regulation-sized hank by another man, who passes them on to the paddock waggon. The whole affair is very simple, as most useful inventions are, but on the other hand it is effective.

As Mr Seifert says, there is room for considerable improvements, and modifications and additions will be forthcoming, as soon as the machine gets installed in a few more mills, and the inventive geniuses whose particular forte is “ improvement ” of patents have an opportunity of observing the new idea at work. In fact already Mr Seifert is constructing a machine to carry the process further—to do the “catching.”