FLAX IS DULL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume LI, Issue 4504, 13 September 1930, Page 3

FLAX IS DULL.

CULTIVATION ERA. The native Itax industry languishes. Will cultivated flax pull it out of the mire? The industry is old according to New Zealand’s ideas of age, but its future is still before it. II attracted the notice of the first British Resident iri New Zealand, Mr. James Busby, of whom “Kotare” writes in the “New Zealand Herald.” “He was a man of ideas apparently, and his mind was always devising new- outlets for the young colony’s enterprise. He was familiar with the Sydney end of the flourishing New Zealand flax trade, and .he believed that with due encouragement from the Home authorities it would develop into an Imperial asset of very great '•able. In 1832 the London ‘Times’ piloted Mr. Bushy, ‘civil engineer and a. most competent judge,’ as its authority for asserting that in New Zealand was an unlimited supply of raw material that would be invaluable to British manufacturers.”

And this may yet be, particularly if cultivation specialises tlie leaf, and if a textile use can lie made of the fibre.

Afeamvhile, figures for the flaxmilling' industry continue to show a. substantial decline when compared with those of 1928. The industry has drifted to a very unsatisfactory position, owing to a fall in prices ruling- on the London market. The export figures for fibre and tow also show a succession of decreases, as shown by the undermentioned figures:— Year Tons. £ 192(i 20,789 55'«),603 1927 19,00(1 535,520 1928 15,083 394,450 1929 14,720 379,942 The report of the Departmenf of Industries and 'Commerce, from which tire above figures are taken, also gives data for the last three years: 1927 1928 1929 Establishment’s 73 70 00 Employees 1193 1020 879 £ £ £

Wages paid 233,897 181,304 145,348 Value of . output 495,784 402,421 329,340 Added value 309,4105 310,110 259,8150