The Wairarapa Daily. TUESDAY, JUNE 25, 1889. THE FLAX INDUSTRY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3239, 25 June 1889, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. TUESDAY, JUNE 25, 1889. THE FLAX INDUSTRY.

The Lyttgltoh Times has recently published sop interesting particulars relating to the growth and progress of the flax, industry in the Wellington Province. From tbem wo gather.! that the cost of produolion is variously in estimated at from L 9 to LIS per ton I , e by different mill proprietors, and it is obvious from tho rates which luve been paid-4'ijfing tho past year that the industry iias been exceedingly „ profitable. In this district, however,' many of the mills have been started so recently that the total returns so i2 far do not represent anything like the amount of capital invested in them, It js .satisfactory to find that it is possible under favorable circumstances a to produce dressed fax at JU9 or LlO a ton, becHueo hfc such a low rate it is likely to hear a moderate profit and find a permanent market even with a »1 fall in rates much more severe than 18 has recently been- experienced. The n larger mills, where several' Strippers ie are at work, are said to produce the (j fibre af the minimum cost; the 'e smaller ones, sometimes worked with insufficient capital, apt} tjiaf often borrowed, proving less profitable')'' All. conditions now are much more favorable to the industry than they were fifteen years ago. Then expensive '* buildings and machinery were deemed '. peces3ary,'wiioreasn.q)y comparatively cheap machines and slighter JBtrJu.ctjjre| are generally adopted. "Carriage, too) n between the district and the port is materially reduced, and labor is • obtainable on moip favorable; terms, .Charges for interest, insurance, pd d sea freight are also lower than they & ,werejn former years, and there ib now d eyjery; prosper'\pf• : the; industry. [. .be.co'mjing establh^e^.,. jLt' iq jj&seried „ that with|ax : .in : ]Lorj,dpn : at jL^Oper r ton, good mills in this prpyjuce fi9'nld r hold their own. The present -revival of - tho .:industry, .vdatea f from about'.'•''' eighteen ;;■ .months v ago, when, tlie. firß^ : ' : rtew/'Tqoill - yw

St»ceith(*n ajmosi. every fortn|»lit lias seen!Romomill added to tho list in.f hi) Pjoyitjotal district of AVell ing t on., l!h o supply of ; 'r'aw flux is paid to;be iinich' less tiiiiii formerly, owing to it liiiVitjg been; regarded as cunibersouie. and valueless for a considerable number of years, aud almost all .that is available is now taken up, There are, however, immense... areas of land which 'are suitable for flfix plantations!, arid it may-he found profitable to .cultivate the plant when the present raid upon it exhausts the supply,' It has been calculated that forty tons of the raw material can he grown to the acre, and a crop of this magnitude' would prove a profitablo investment. It is said that royalties as high as ten shillings per ton for green flux have been paid hy some mill proprietors, and it is evident that At such a price a hundred acre iield of, tho fibre would represent a small fortnue. The great value of. the industry co a district like tho Wuirarapa at the present time is the employment it finds for hundreds of 'Hands ■■ who might otherwise be idle, We regret to say that there is still an appreciable number of unemployed persons in this district but the number would be far greater, and the consequent distress. much more marked, were it not for the relief to the labor raaikct afforded by the flax mills. The money, too, circulated for wages, and for tlio raw material, is a great consideration, and is assisting materially to bring about a revival of tho good old times, when Bvery able-bodied man in the community could commaud profitable employment, In the .Provincial district of Wellington the flax industry is now estimated to find employment for over a thousand bands, Its importance to the Colony cannot he jver estimated, and tho Government aid legislature might, with advantage, :onsider how th'e ; industry may be urtherdevcloped.Primte enterprise is if course, doing a' great deal, but it night be possible for the Government ,o procure valuable information as to .ho markets where dresßed flax iliimately finds its way, the uses to vhicli it is applied or capable of being ipplied, and more especially the best neansof preventing our flax fields from lecoming exhausted, .Colonists genirally have very.insufficient informaion.asto the substances into which lie dressed fibre is worked up. ft pay possibly bo suitable for weaving nto many materials where strength nd durability is noeded, and infornation on points of this kind could ie more readily obtained by an expert n the employ of the Government ban by tbe individual efforts of flax uillcrs, •/';' ' , ■