THE HEMP INDUSTRY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 1253, 2 June 1914, Page 4

THE HEMP INDUSTRY.

Many mills throughout the Dominion have closed down for the winter mouths, principally with the object o. giving tbs pK mi urn plants a rest, and to ob.: ts the damage to the plant.*: ' ir’ too often follov. i the cu. o; u" these at periods when heavy frosts ate experienced. This policy ouservation is to be heartfi> „om mended. Much of the leal now being cut is from scattered plants, the permanency of which is not considered of any importance. Practically all mills, with the exception ot a few in the Auckland district, will be closed down by the end of the present month. With the splendid condition of the leaf in the great majority of flax growing areas and the better care being now taken ot the swamps a fine crop of leaf should be available for next season, assuring a quality of raw material which should easily bt converted into high grade fibre. The quality of the fibre received at the grading stores last month was of a very satisfactory standard, the best average fibre received Ibis season. This was largely due, no doubt, to the working of a better leaf, but there were vindications in many instances that improved work had been done in several stages of the milling process. There is still a dominant weakness —poorly stripped tails, these being towy and knotty, a condition which no scutching will improve. The cause, of course, Is in the actual stripping, the stripper either not being kept tuned up to the best pitch or the desire to put more leaf through the stripper than this will take. lu several lines improvement has been noticeable, clean tails having taken the place of the formerly matted ends. On a visit to the Te Puke (Bay of Plenty) district I was mote than surprised to find that the mills in that part of the Dominion—six in all—are quite up to date not only in the buildings and the machinery, but iu the arrangement ot the former and the setting up of the latter. All the plants are driven on the suction-gas principle. During the strike period, when it was found impossible to secure sufficient coal, two millers made an interesting discovery. They secured some manuka scrub and cut this into about ain. lengths. This was found a satisfactory substitute for the coal, the gas produced being of a fairly good quality. Even when the coa! became available the use of the manuka was continued. One ad vantage in using the manuka was that the tar trouble was eliminated. The scrub is cut up with a circular saw. The majority of the millers are turning out a good, bright, dean fibre, this being uirly well stripped and of excellent colour, the weakness being the common one of the South—knotty tails. The millers have good leaf bearing swamps —no trace of blight being observable —which, however, require better atteulion iu the direction o! draining and cleaning up. The largest swamp in the district is .-vpable, under proper mar>agc,tv.cat, of producing as m-.ch leaf w the while of t/ e Manawati runs, /i is yet in its natural su ie, but proper drainage ot it is now being undertaken. The possibilities of the district from a phorniiun: fid'"2 viewpoint are very great. The Te Puke mills are sun-.ted the banks of tne Kaitmra Pdver, and the fibre is loaded' direct into scows which take it to th> Auckland port. The raw leaf .s also conveyed to the mills down the river In barges towed by oil launches. At present only the fiinge of the swamps on tne banks of the river are being cut, I have to thank Messrs McEwen and Tait for their kindness in piloting me through the district. Messrs Suitie and Wyuyard’s automatic scutcher promises to prove a success. Experimental work is still in progress, but even

in its present form the method is an improvement on the present system. The tow.of last mont'* •’-is still of a poor quality, altogether too much dust and rubbish being baled. Verv few lines were of fir?*- grade, e majority bring but third grade. Very few parcels of stnrper f'lps came to hand, but thew 'b.' . did were of a very iufi rior ooscriplion, a quality which will certainly not improve the demand for this by-product. The Agricultural Department of the Philippine Islands contemplates establishing a compulsory official system of grading Manila hemp on the lines of the New Zealand system.—W. H. Ferris in the journal of the Department of Agriculture.