NEW ZEALAND HEMP 193 



Waikato and other interior districts of the North 

 Island, the production was confined to the native 

 tribes north of Auckland, so that in 1861 the export 

 fell to two tons, of value 43. Attempts were then 

 made to devise machinery by means of which the fibre 

 could be profitably extracted by European labour. 

 About this time the increasing demand for white rope 

 and the limited quantity of Manila hemp available 

 led to a rise in the value of New Zealand hemp from 

 21 to 56 per ton, and even to 76 in America during 

 the Civil War. These high prices stimulated the 

 endeavour to introduce Phormium to compete with 

 Manila, and several machines were invented for pro- 

 ducing the fibre rapidly from the green leaf. With 

 these machines the export trade again increased, so 

 that from 1866 to 1871 the yearly average was about 

 56,000. The total quantity exported between 1864 

 and 1876 amounted to 2.6,434 tons, valued at 592,218. 

 In order to encourage the industry, the New Zealand 

 Department of Agriculture has repeatedly offered 

 bonuses for a machine or process which should be an 

 improvement on the machines or processes in use, 

 and which should be found to reduce materially the 

 cost of production, improve the product, or increase 

 the yield of dressed fibre. Another bonus has been 

 offered for a process for utilising the waste products 

 of the hemp. As a result of these offers, improve- 

 ment has been effected in various machines, including 

 those for converting scutching w r aste into market- 

 able tow and those for washing and trimming the 

 fibre, whilst a new automatic scutching machine 

 has been invented. 



GRADING 



Owing to the complaints of rope and cordage manu- 

 facturers with regard to the lack of uniformity in 

 New Zealand hemp, parcels bought under the same 

 classification and shipped from the same port varying 

 in colour and preparation, the Government passed an 

 Act in 1 901 providing for the establishment of a grading 



