The Wairarapa Daily. WEDNESDAY MARCH 20, 1889. The Flax Industry.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3158, 20 March 1889, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. WEDNESDAY MARCH 20, 1889. The Flax Industry.

For many years the flax industry in tbis Colony was regarded as ono of our forlorn hopos, and it is only very recently that the fibre which.is so plentiful with us, and which has cost so much to manufacture, has become a genuine blessing, and the display of its bales on the Wellington wharf has put in the shade the wool packs. • Five and twenty years ago we recollect ingenious settlers inventing flax dressing machines, and some years later when a sudden upward spurt in prices made flax dressing pay, many settlers in this district sank largo capitals in the industry, only to snd themselves hopelessly adrift when a sudden drop in the rates compelled thorn'to close their mills. There are many men in this district who probably will curse flax to the last day of their lives, but they may have some satisfaction in romembering that their efforts to develop the industry have assisted very materially, now that prices lmve ajgiiip advanced, to lessen the oost of production, pil to increase the quality of ihe fibre. It is estimated that at thin disastrous period in the history of the flax industry, between three and four hundred-thousand pounds were invested in a trade tbpt could not possibly be carried fin when flax' fell to £l2, per toi). -T|),o question of moment at the pres.ejiV tinjo is whether the present high rates, are likely jtp b,o pffpneijt. TJie Lyttelton Times.'says it jp consulted growers, ■ manufacturers, shippgfs, agents, and all who are likely to bo well informed on the subjeot, with the same result. Nobody has anyt)ijng quite reliable to Bay on the All Pflft? of suggestions are offered. I" fife A growing •Hand for binder twiiio. : A Mujfe

from the, vine growers for ties, and bo. on,; but; nothing certain. Ono would almost iniagine from tbis that oiir Government is paralytio as far' as the commercial interests of the Colony , are Concerned. Surely they ought ;to have discovered tough the Agent-General long ago what oauses have led to the recent , advances in rates. What on oartli too is the use of our press cable agencies if they cannot supply information on so important a topio. These agenoiesr no doubt, will spend fifty pounds to transmit some piece of silly European scandal, but' they miss" -vital" points on which, perhaps, the fate of halt a million of New . Zealand money depends. However, the Lyttelton Times holds that the receiit rise in price is due to a. domand for flax fibre .for binder twine. It estimates, the annual consumption of this twine at 100,000 tons. If this be the oase, the advanoe in the market value of the fibre is likely to be permanent, because each year the grain area over which binder twine is used expands and every acre requires about 81b of ties, We trust the view of our southern contemporary is a correct one, for flax-mills are absorbing the surplus' labor of the district, and bringing amongst us a considerable amount of money for expenditure on wages. • • - ■