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Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 2, 25 August 1931, Page 5

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NEW INDUS1 AY COMPANY TO OPERATE FIBRE FACTORY AT WHAKATANE. SACKS AND WOOLPACKS. An important stage inithe development of the flax indus try is being undertaken .by the Bay off Plenty Development Company, Ltal., which at present is engaged in preparing to equip the freezing works building at Whakatane as a factory f/or the manuf acture of flax fibre iiyfco sacks and woolpacks (says the( Whakatane Press) . The company cyntrols about 5000 acres of land oir ihe Rangi taiki Plains, a large porticm of which is already under flax cultivation and the balanee is being prepared for planting. A representative of the eompany, M. E. P. Coombe; who is at present sm the distridt, and who recently spent 18 months in EnglandVand the Cohtinent investigating mauters in conneetion with the fibre in\dustry, showed samples of material syitable for woolpacks and sacks mad^ frqm New Zealand flax, which, he'v said, could be produced at a price \ that would compete with ^'ute produces at the present lowest prices on redord. The amount going out of the Do ni- j nion for jute products was £l,500,0v'0 j annually, while Australia importec.' ' £3,500,000 worth of wool packs and : sacks. The articles produced from New Zealand flax were superior in every way to the jute products, and if the company obtained a footing in £he trade it would mean the establishment of a very important industry, employing some hundreds of hands in Whakatane, and would be a very considerable benefit to the Dominion. The company at considerable expense instituted research and experimental work abroad, with the result that complete plants have now been designed whereby it will be possible for the green leaf to be eonverted into fibre and spun and woven into sacking in the one day.

The jute manufacturers in India had made huge profits, the dividends paid by the companies ranging from 60 per cent. to 400 per cent. From detailed costs of production on a basis of local wages it had been es-" tablished that the industry can be inaugurated locally so as to comp.ete sueessfully with the prices of imported jute products. The sample of materials produced from the New Zealand fibre was.pronounced by authorities to be more perfect than jute g'oods, while the revolutionary methods of treating r.he raw materials meant a saving of pounds per ton in the cost of production. Only approximately 60 jper cent. of material was needed to obtain the same strength of bag and woolpack as was required for the jute article and the cost of treatment was also about 60 per cent. below the cost of preparing jute fibre. With regard to the local aspect of the industry, Mr. Combe said that all the fibre was grown specially for the manuf acture of sacks and woolpacks •and not for sale as raw material, thus giving permanency to the industry and obviating the closing down of the flax areas when the market prices of raw material fell. The company would be prepared to buy flax from local farmers, who would thus be enabled to cultivate flax profitably on their spare land. The advantage to the district from the establishment of this secondary industry would no doubt be very considerable as, in addition to the utilisation of waste lands for flax production, it would result in increased population and circulate in the district a large proportion of the cost of manufacture in the form of wages.