THE SUPPLY OF FLAX.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 379, 22 June 1889, Page 7

THE SUPPLY OF FLAX.

(From Wellington N-Z. Mail). If any proof were needed that a spirit of enterprise still exists in the Colony in spite of the long continued depression, that pr^of would have been supplied by the hearty zeal and spirit with which people have thrown themselves into the flax trade. Piices have not long been at their present high point, yet already there are ncills nearly enough to use up all the flax in the Colony. In this province all the flax in private hni)ds is being worked. In Wairarapa there arc more mills than can long be supplied with raw material, and experts say that in a few months the bulk of the tall flax will have been cut, and that some mills will be obliged to stop for lack of material. On the West Coast of this province all the flax on private lands is, we learn, being r&pidly cut. All that remains is some patches in the bands of Maoris, who have not yet got their lands through the Court, and therefore cannot gi »-c a valid title. In other provinces ajl the- flax is in the hands of millers, except what belongs to the Maoriß, or is inaccessible. We drew attention some time back to the danger which exists that with a vast demand for the manufactured article at splendid prictes, the trade might ere long begin to languish for lack of the raw material. It is certain that this danger is no imaginary one. Yet we cannot learn that any precautionary measures are being adopted to check the waste and needless destruction that is constantly going on. Largo tracks of valuable flax, or of young and growing plants, are allowed t# remain unfencpd and open to the incursions of cattle, by which the flax is speedily and effectually ruined for all useful purposes. With a largo and most valuable trade at its command this Colony seems to ns in the proverbial danger of " killing the gopse which lays the gold»n eggs."