Rangitikei Advocate. SATURDAY, MAY 4, 1907. SECOND EDITION. EDITORIAL NOTES

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXII, Issue 8804, 4 May 1907, Page 2

Rangitikei Advocate. SATURDAY, MAY 4, 1907. SECOND EDITION. EDITORIAL NOTES

WE received a visit yesterday from Mr W. Fuller, of Keri Keri, Bay of Islands, who is an expert in flaxgrowing. Ho showed us some remarkably fine specimens of dressed flax which had been on exhibition at Christchurch, and gave us a good deal of information relative methods of planting anil cutting flax and the profit to be realised from the industry. There can be no doubt that farmers could add very materially to their incomes by the cultivation of flax, provided tlioy plant the very best qualities of flax and use care in cutting it for market. From what wo have seen of the Bay of Islands - flax it seems to fill the bill so far as quality is concerned. The plants should be put in six feet apart in the rows and the rows the same distance apart. This would require 1310 plants to the acre. During the first two years root crops could be grown between the rows, but after .".that time the flax will have grown too tall to permit of cultivation between the rows. Mr Fuller recommends cutting every year, as this method produces a uniform quality and length of fibre. The present system, on the Jother hand, produces a mixture of leaves of. all ages and lengths, which cannot make a good sample after milling. If the flax is cut downwards so as to leave the heart and a couple of inner leaves to protect it the plants are not injured by annual cutting. We arc informed that two tons of fibre can be produced from each aero of ground planted with fla", and that the profit resulting under favourable circumstnees is £SO per acre. Assuming that the profit, after paying [all cxpensos including rent, is one-tenth of tins amount, the result would not be an unfavourable one. Mr Fuller is, wo understand, to give a lecture on flax culture in Pahnerston next Wednesday under the auspices of the j Manawatu A. and P. Association.

THERE never has beon a more conclusive proof of the unsatisfactory character of our cablo servico than was shown yesterday by the reports of the discussion at the Imperial Conference on preferential trade. We hayo had_ ol^tlie

speeches of Ms? Deakln aud Sir Joseph Ward, and details of every banquet and reception attended by tho Premiers, yet tho reply of the British Government .to the proposals for preference is condensed Into three lines. Mr Asqnith, we are told, "point blank refused any fiscal preference and indicated vaguely the possibility of assisting the steamship lines and cable companies.'' It may be that fuller details will arrive today of Mr Asquith's speech, but yesterday there was space for the intelligence that Sir W. Lyne totally disagrees with the views of the British' Chancellor of the Exchequer. It is of the • greatest interest to everyone in the colonies to have a clear idea of the arguments put forward by the British Governmnet, and in our opinion nothing can do more harm to the Empire than the spectacle presented by our cabled in-

telligence of the trusted delegates of tho colonies begging in vain for a preferential tariff, which is refused in a. few curt words. Of course, we are certain that Mr Asquith made a long speech, reviewing the whole position, and from what we know of the power of his oratory and the strength of his case it was probably a most effective performance. Yet day by day our columns are filled with the old arguments for preference, which we have heard a thousand times, and the real kernel of the 'whole matter—tho attitude of the predominant partner—is contemptuously dismissed in a sentence. [A fuller report of Mr Asquith's speech appears to-day. ]

WE note that Marton Borough Council lias added its voice to the loud chorus of complaint against tho sudden decision of the Labour Department that so-called factories which employ women or boys under 18 must close on Saturday for tho weekly half holiday. Mr Millar lias, however, taken up the apparently impregnable position that liis conscience will not permit him to be a party to a breach of the law. We are not at all sure that a man in Mr Millar's position can afford such a, luxury as a conscience, and we hope that pressure will be brought to bear on him from all sides of such strengtli as to prove whether his is one of those Ministerial consciences which are only sensitive when no votes are in danger of being lostWellington Trades aud Labour Council lias already passed a resolution congratulating Mr Millar on his enforcement of the Act, alhough tho .same Council maintained a sinister silence when the law was being put into force against the slaughtermen who struck in defiance of the Arbitration Act. Unless MiMillar's conscience should prove elastic, very great inconvenience will be caused to tradespeople and the general public by the sudden revival of a moribund clause in the Act at a time when Parliament is not sitting. We have already drawn attention in these columns to tho absurd classification which includes almost every place of business in the number of factories, and it is clear that Parliament will have to make some distinction between factories and what should rather be called workshops. Under the present definition there seems no doubt that if the Labour Department was not grossly negligent, it would register as a factory every ladies' sowing meeting working for a bazaar on the ground that, in tho words of the Act, two or more persons were there employed in preparing goods for sale.