H—44b

1949 NEW ZEALAND

LINEN FLAX CORPORATION OF NEW ZEALAND

Presented to Both Houses of the General Assembly

Your Excellency,— Wellington, 28th July, 1949. I have the honour to submit for Your Excellency's information the 'third report of the Linen Flax Corporation of New Zealand, for the period ended 31st December, 1948. I have, &c., A. H. Nordmeyer, Minister of Industries/and Commerce. His Excellency the Governor-General of the Dominion of New Zealand.

Sir, —• Wellington, 28th July, 1949. I have the honour to submit the third annual report of the Linen Flax Corporation. This report deals with the principal operations of the Corporation for the period ended 31st December, 1948. I have, &c., F. Johnson, Chairman of Directors, Linen Flax Corporation. The Hon. A. H. Nordmeyer, Minister of Industries and Commerce.

REPORT

INTKODUCTION The influence a poor crop has on the Profit and Loss Account is shown clearly this year. The heavy rust infestation of the 1947-48 crop resulted in very light crops of low quality, and consequently most factories were working on short tonnages with resulting rises in overhead. The Methven. factory, which'was hit hardest in this regard, showed a loss of £7,885. This factory, with a capacity of 1,800 tons, processed 740 tons during 1948 ; and other factories, though less hard hit, were running at uneconomic throughputs because of lack of straw. Fibre yields were quite satisfactory, but quality was very low. Most Canterbury crops were practically devoid of any seed yield and many were retted without being deseeded. The Winton crop was good, and demonstrated the wisdom of spreading the seasonal risk geographically.