The Committee, at its inception, consisted of Mr. Thomas Hogg (Chairman), 
representing the Advisory Council of Science and Industry; Mr. J. E. Robilliard, 
of the Agricultural Department of Victoria, as agricultural expert; and Mr. E. 
R. Morton, of Drouin, as the representative of the growers. After a few months, 
the Committee was unfortunate in losing the services of Mr. Hogg, who was 
compelled to resign through ill-health, his place in the Committee being taken 
by Mr. A. C. Downs. The Committee was, however, considerably strengthened 
by the appointment of twe@ additional members, Dr. S. S. Cameron, Director of 
Agriculture of Victoria, who was appointed Chairman; and Mr. A. E. V. Richard- 
son, M.A., B.Se. 
PREVIOUS EFFORTS TO ESTABLISH THE INDUSTRY: 
For the past twenty years or more, ‘fibre flax has been grown on a limited 
scale in the Gippsland district of Victoria, and attempts have also been made 
at various times to introduce its cultivation into New South Wales and Tasmania, 
but without success. Owing to the scarcity and high value of labour, and the 
low price at which flax fibre could be imported, the return the Australian 
farmer received for his flax did not prove sufficiently attractive to encourage its 
cultivation, and the one or two attempts that were made in recent years to 
establish the flax industry on a larger scale in Victoria ended so disastrously 
as to prejudice him still further against this crop. The Bounties Act, passed 
by the Commonwealth Government in 1907, provided for the payment of bounty 
of 10 per cent. of the market value of all products from flax grown in Australia; 
but so little was this inducement availed of, that when the Act expired in 1917, 
not more than 300 acres of flax was under cultivation. It is doubtful whether 
the bounty system, lacking as it does both educational and controlling features, 
is the most effective method of encouraging or establishing a new industry. 
EUROPEAN AND AUSTRALIAN CONDITIONS CONTRASTED. 
It is more than likely that, in addition to the low returns for fibre and the 
comparatively high cost of labour, one reason for. the retarded development in 
the establishment of the flax industry in Australia was the difference in climatic 
conditions as compared with those of the fibre-producing lands of Europe, and 
particularly with those of Ireland, in which country most of the farmers who 
have attempted flax cultivation in the’ Commonwealth originally gained their 
experience of this crop. 
In Ireland the practice is to grow for fibre only. The crop is pulled when 
green, with the result that the seed is immature and never ripens; and, prior 
to the war, each year’s sowing requirements were imported from Russia or 
Holland. In Australia the crop is harvested at a later stage of its development. 
and the climatic conditions are such that the seed attains maturity in the seed 
boll, while the sheaves are still standing in the fields. Fibre and seed are thus 
obtained from the one crop. ‘To what extent, if any, the fibre yield is affected 
by this later cutting is problematical. Old North of Ireland growers. still 
contend that the Australian method results in a poorer quality of fibre, although 
in the linen trade journals at the present time the advisability of following the 
Australian method and growing for both fibre and seed is being debated. Trish 
flax is usually water retted, the straw being placed in pits or dams, and then 
covered with water, when the fermentation necessary to dissolve the pectine 
or gummy portion of the stalk is effected. The system adopted in Australia 
is that of “dew” retting, the straw being spread’ over the paddocks in’ thin 
layers, and the fermentation being brought about by the action of the dew and 
the sun. Again, in Ireland, and in all the European flax-growing countries, 
the custom is to pull the crop by hand, while in Australia it is cut with a 
reaper and binder. There appears to be no doubt that cutting is wasteful, 
besides being detrimental to the production of first quality fibre, but the loss 
sustained by the Australian grower through the adoption of this method is 
probably more than compensated for by the greatly decreased cost of labour. 
Enough has been written, however, to show that the flax-growers in Australia 
have had to learn by the practical experience of local economie and natural 
conditions, and that the methods of cultivation and treatment that have proved 
successful in Europe may not be equally so in the Commonwealth. : 
THE WORK OF THE FLAX INDUSTRY COMMITTEE. 
When the Committee was appointed, its first act was to requisition all the 
seed from the previous year’s crop.. In view of the limited quantity available, 
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