THE HEMP INDUSTRY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1710, 10 May 1917, Page 3

THE HEMP INDUSTRY.

It is understood that limits Imve been plneed upon tin.' quanlitie.- ol hemp tlml enn lie shipped to London, nnd shipments to America nre. to be eiirlniled. No tow is being despntehed to London. Buyers nre n wail in*;' tonnage developments, nnd operating with extreme caution. Brices, which nre to lie regarded ns purely nominnl nre ns follow; (lood Inir £SO per ton, high inir Cl!), low fair £47. —Wellington Post. The Lyttelton Time.', lints refers to hemp growing in S(. Helena : —“A most interesting I'enlure of the boom in hemp is the erention ol' n paying industry for (he people ol St. llelenn. nn industry due in the lirsl plnee to the service of the New ZeaInnd (lovernment. Some years ago, ns the result of n eomplninl from (Inti lonelv island it bout the hardshi, is of the iidmbitnnts’ life since ships hnd ecitsed to mill ;ind buy Vegetables nnd fruit nnd other products of (he plnee, it wns decided on n New Zen binder’s suggestion to ascertain the suilnbility of the soil nnd elimnte for the eullivntion of phormimn (eimx, which it wns thought mil’ll I open it)i n new source of livelihood to the distressed islanders. An expert in (Inx cull lire w;is despatched (o instruct the people in the industry, mid the* quick success of the enterprise' is shown in (he fact Unit til last' returns (1015) three Jinx mills were in operation, turnin'* out 385 tons of libre and tow. The output must have considerably increased since those returns were sent in. Now St. Helena hemp actually fetches mure in the London market than the Xew Zealand shipments quoted by the High Commissioner, for it is stated that £77 15s per ton has been obtained at, auction for the island’s produce, and £4O 5s per ton for tow. In comparing prices allowance must be made for fhe fact that Xew Zealand hemp is all graded and sold on grader’s certificates, whereas it is scarcely likely that the same system has yet been applied to St. Helena.'’