HEMP INDUSTRY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 829, 21 April 1910, Page 4

HEMP INDUSTRY.

A return published by the Agricultural Department, shows that the total number of bales of hemp graded for export during the month of March was 14,540, as against 9269 for the corresponding month of last year. For the six months ended 3lsi March, the number of bales graded was 75,043, an increase of 26,262 bales over the corresponding period of last year. Worked out on a percentage basis the quantity of hemp of each grade dealt with was as follows-.—Fine 1.18, good fair 41.18, fair 50.86, common 6.14, rejected 6.1. Prices are reported still unsatisfactory, good fair being quoted (6th April) at £2l per ton, fair £2O, and common £l9, f.o.b. Wellington. During the month 4833 bales were dealt with, as against 4921 for the previous month. The latest improvement reported in flaxmilling machinery is a new stripping machine, which Mr H. Greig has invented, and which is being worked successfully at the mill at Foxton. It is stated that by quite a simple alteration in the stripper now being used a saving of something like 20s per ton of flax is expected to be made. The spindle of the stripper is arranged on a different principle, and by this means the strain on the flax is made continuous right from the tail to the butts. Mr Greig’s advice is stated to strip the tail of the flax as clean as it does the butts, and to give a better thread right through. —Press Hank.