Making

Dressed Bamboo for Hat-

Tahiti Seeking New Industry

From Our Own Correspondent TAHITI, September 20.

SEVERAL local firms are experi menting again, and on sounder lines than formerly, with the ex port of bamboo as a material for the manufacture of women’s hats.

This material, as exported, is the product of a very old native industry, carried on exclusively in Tahiti and the surrounding islands, so far as is known.

The bamboo used is an indigenous wild variety, peculiar to these islands, with long spaces between the joints.

Only a few of these lengths, or "pona” as they are called by the natives, can be used, and that only at the proper season of the year. These lengths are subjected to a long and compli cated treatment of splitting, washing, bleaching and drying, until the mar ketable result appears in the form of lustrous white sheets of material, each the length of a “Pona,” and as wide as the circumference of the original bamboo.

These sheets are readily torn into narrow strips with a, needle, for plaiting into high grade and extremely attractive hats for ladies, and the fin ished article is both light and suit able for summer wear in any country Two or three years ago, before the slump in copra set in, considerable quantities of this hat material were exported to Europe. But, as the de mand increased and the local price rose accordingly, the natives became more and more careless with the work till finally they produced a very in ferior grade of stuff. The demand thus declined and, eventually, ceased entirely.