242 



XLV.— ECONOMIC NOTES-SWANSEA AND 



DISTRICT. 



J. H. HOLLA^'D. 



In tlie course of a visit to Swansea during- the Museums Con- 



ierenee, July 6-11, 1914, the opportunity was taken to visit the 



Swansea Docks and also those at Bristol^ Avonmoutli and Cardiff.-. 



At Bristol the Museums and Art Gallery well repaid a visit; the 



Botany collecti(in in the Dame Emily Smyth Room being of 



especial interest, Margam Park was also visited with the members 



of the conference on the invitation of Miss Talbot (see K, B. 1907, 



pp. 390-392). A visit was paid to several of the parks in Swansea, . 



the principal of which are the Victoria, Cwm Donkin and 

 Morriston. 



The following plants and produce were noted in the short time 

 at my disposal : 



-J 



ti 



Kew Zealand Flax or Hemp '^ [PJiormhim tenax).~^v^'o fine 



specimen 

 fibre, in 



The 



? J 



m bales 4 feet by 3 feet 6 inches by 2 feet 6 inches, each 

 weighing about 489 lbs., sewn loosely in'"* Gunny" cloth, was 

 being landed at the Avonmouth Dock from the SS. ^' Buteshire 

 from ISTew Zealand. 



* y^ V* 



Peas {Pisurn arvense) from New Zealand were being ItViidod 



irom the same sliip; they are used in this country for feeding 

 pheasants. 



. Bananas (Musa sapientum), from the West Indies. The 

 SS. "Patia" was at the moment unloading a cargo of 65,000 

 bunches for Messrs. Elders and Fyffes. Each hunch was stood on 

 the cut-end of the stalk and placed side by side in the hold con- 

 sisting of three decks. They were being raised by means of 

 elevators fore and aft, each elevator carrying about six bunches 

 singly in cradles at a time. As each bunch reached the top it was 

 thrown by two men, one on either side, on to a bed of straw covered 

 with mat and immediately picked up by another man, who handed 

 it over the side of the ship to a carrier on the wharf, who in turn 

 handed it in to a ventilated railway van, where each bunch was 

 arranged in the same manner as in the licld of the A-essel. Tally 

 was being taken at the entrance to each van. . ,._ 



Unloading was also going on through two large outlets from 

 the hold, one fore, one aft, on to the wharf, single bunches being 

 passed out at a time. All the bunches were quite green. Some 

 700 men were hard at work, and certainlv this numl)er conveyed a 

 true impression of the '' driver ant" like crowd, who from their 

 appearance made one appreciate fully the provision that nature 

 has provided the banana with a detachable skin. 

 ^ Canadian Bixi:h{B(tulapapyrifpro).— Boards 1 inch to 4 inches; 

 logs squared, of varying dimensions, one 18i feet bv 16^ inches 

 square, and logs in the round up to 2 feet 6 inches in diameter had 

 been recently discharged at King Edward Dock from ss. 



Englishman from Montreal. Birch wood is used larc^elv in 

 niaking boxes to contain tin plates, the export of which is^'one of 

 the staple industries of Swansea and district. Some boxes lying 

 in Messrs. Power, Bacon and Hough's Warehouse, South Dock, 

 Swansea, ready for despatch to J^angoon and Calcutta were 



