THE HEMP INDUSTRY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 462, 17 June 1909, Page 3

THE HEMP INDUSTRY.

MR SEIFERT TO INVESTIGATE.

The A. and E. Seifert Flaxmilling Company has for some time past been considering the present state of the hemp market and also its possibilities as regards the future. After very full discussion of the position it has been decided to send Mr A. Seifert, the managing director, to the Philippine Islands to investigate the conditions of the Manila hemp industry, and also to Mexico and Yucatan to go fully into the sisal industry, which during the last few years has assumed big proportions. This course has been adopted mainly owing to the present unsatisfactory state of the New Zealand hemp market and of the flaxmilling industry altogether. Mr Seifert’s investigations will decide the future action of the Company as to whether they will persevere with the industry here. The whole question will, of course, be governed by the cost of production. At present prices for hemp are low, but the production of Manila and sisal is ou the increase, last week’s shipment of Manila, 39,000 bales, being a record.

Mr Seifert left for the North today en route to Sydney. Mr Seifert’s enquiries will be awaited with interest. The present state of the hemp market after allowing for cost of production, only allows millers the barest margin interest op capital iuvested ahd- Is

hope, long deferred, of an upward tendency that has induced many of the millers to keep running. If the prospects are not brighter in the near future, a large number of employees will have to seek work in other channels. A well-known district flaxmiller assured a Standard representative yesterday that the industry was on a very much lower ebb than was generally thought. He considered, indeed, that unless the silver lining appeared very shortly the end of the industry was easily in sight. His own experience during the past year proved this to be almost conclusive, and yet he is one of the fortunate few who do not pay royalty, etc. Had he been subjected to the same charges as the majority of millers he would have had to face a serious deficit. He is certain that there is not a mill in the district paying at the present time, and unless circumstances alter greatly for the better they are not likely to.