The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1882. THE LINSEED INDUSTRY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1018, 17 October 1882, Page 2

The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1882. THE LINSEED INDUSTRY.

Ax a meeting of the Linseed Oil and Fibre Company of Christchurch held recently the Secretary read a letter from Mr Lament, of San Francisco, stating that he had patented a machine capable of threshing the seed and reducing the straw to fibre at the same time, the latter thereby retaining all its natural strength, lustre and softness, entirely doing away with the tedious and expensive method of retting, the work being done in the field where the plant has been grown. The Secretary stated that he had written to Dir Lament asking for full particulars, stating at the same time to the meeting that if there is anything in the machine it would he a great advantage, in fact a perfect machine, such as that described would bring the preparation of flax straw within the reach of every farmer. It is very difficult to believe that such a machine can ho constructed, hut, if it can it will prove invaluable to flax growers. It would add 20 per cent to the value of the industry, and we think that it would ho well worth (ho while of the provisional directors of the local company to institute inquiries concerning it. But the provisional directors appointed here recently seem to have gone to sleep. 'We have not heard of them for .some time past. They began vigorously ; they drew up a prospectus, took up £l2O ) worth of shares amongst themselves, appointed a suh-Ccnnnittee to settle some preliminaries, ami have not been heard of since. >So far as wo know the prospectus has not yet been printed, and nothing further has been done. What the cause of the delay is we cannot understand, hut we woul dremind them two very old adages : “ That

there is danger in delays,” and that there is nothing like striking the iron while it is hut.” The iron as regards the linseed industry was hot a few weeks ago, but if the provisional directors continue to work in a dilatory manner, the result will be a cooling in the enthusiasm felt in the enterprise. The real cause of the delay probably is that the directors donot think they could,under any circumstances, get ready for coming season,and that they have time enough for the next one. They certainly have time enough in that case, but even so they outfit to float the company as quickly as possible, so as to get in money, and he in a position to proceed with the work of erecting buildings, and buying machinery about the beginning of the new year. If they allow things to go on as they are until the last moment the result will be that the first call will not give them enough money to go on with, and further delay until the second call becomes due will occur, or else they will he compelled to borrow money. At any rate they ought to float the company before the enthusiasm felt in the matter cools down, and when that is done it is very easy for them to calculate as to the time they will be ready to work. THE WOOL SEASON. The gloominess ot the news from London concerning the state of the wool market was relieved somewhat by the recept of the following telegram from Melbourne : “ The N.Z L. and M.A. Company, Limited (of Melbourne), announce that their opening wool sale of the season wil'. be held on October 19th. Great importance is attached to the event, owing to the expected attend, ance of large numbers of foreign buyers, greatly in excess of any previous year. The clip generally in Victoria and New South Wales is reported to be smaller than last yea,r, and active competition is expected in the case of sound wall-grewn wools. It is expected that the total exports for the year will show a decrease of 500,000 bales. Queensland will, on the contrary, show a considerable increase compared with last year. The clip generally is of excellent quality.” Taking into consideration the fact that there is a depression in the Lonpon market owing to the absence of foreign buyers, and the information contained in the above telegram, it seems to us very probable that the foreign buyers have come to the colonies to buy their wool at head quarters, If our surmise is correct it is very good news for wool growers. The foreign buyers will he able to give better prices than the colonial firms, because they can ship the wool direct to wherever they want it, and will not have to pay the commissions, auctioneers’ fees, and the thousancl-ancl-onc other expenses incidental to exporting it for sale in the London market. The news that the clip iu the other colonies is unusually small this year augurs well for the price it will fetch. On the whole the telegram is very re-assuring.