The Auckland Chronicle. Wednesday, October 18, 1843. FLAX.

Auckland Chronicle and New Zealand Colonist, Volume 2, Issue 11, 18 October 1843, Page 2

The Auckland Chronicle. Wednesday, October 18, 1843. FLAX.

The Flax Question has set one half of the people of Auckland, by the ears ; almost every child you meet with in £he streets, tells you, that it's father, mother, brother, friend, or friend's friend, is engaged in dressing flax, boiling flax, gathering flax 4 or doing something with flax ; and that they will all be rich in a "pig's whisper"/!! Alas! alas \ this getting rich is a thing much easier said than done / and we fear that the newly discovered method of separating the filaceous tendons of the plant from the extraneous and glutinous substance, even tho' done at

such a comparatively trifling cost; (so far as the poorer working classes are concerned,) is only a delusion, a chimera) a—-a — "South Sea Bubble* !! but that Dr. Martin's discovery will prove fully available in every respect for person's who have a capital to put it thoroughly and completely into there can be no hesitation in saying:—As for the pom' man the reasons that will prevent him from partaking to any extent in the benefits arising from it, {independent and individual labour only considered,) are obvious; but augur nothing against the general capabilities of the scheme for making it available as an important and lucrative branch of Colonial Commerce and Exportation. Of course, when we speak of the poorer classes, we mean those more particularly, who are residing in the towns— and who consequently form the great preponderating bulk of the indigent white population of the country; There are three kinds of 5 Flax in New Zea'and - namely, the " Tanri," the " Maori,"" and the poorest kind, or " Sea-Flax ": The " Taori,"' is the most valuable, both for the strength and whiteness of it's fibre, and is found on high, dry, ground, about six or seven mile£ inland; the Natives use it for their finer kinds of mats, and never, or seldom, have been known to dress; it for sale, to the whiteman. The next in quality, is the "Maori," or Swamp Flax. This is the kind which is most commonly used both by Natives and Europeans—and this is the kind which has from time to time been exported to Sydney and England to be converted into ropes whalelines, &c. As its name indicates, it grows in low, damp grounds, or marshes, in the inland districts; at least so far inland as to preclude the sea air from having any effect upon it—and is capable of improvement, and of becoming equal in virtue to the " Taori," by being transplanted into a dry exposed situation, The third and last kind, is the " Sea Flat 1 —or that\vhi<! h grows near the coast, and frequently prevails as far as seven or eight miles inland, unless indeed some high hill afford a shelter from the atmospheric influence of the salt water. This kind is positively useless, and can never re>pay the workman for his trouble; it is quite as easily dressed, and can be as whitely bleached, no doubt, as the best " Taori,'" but the fibre is good for nothing and breaks as easily as the finest thread, in most cases ; this is likewise the kind which flourishes around Auckland ; and indeed around all the sea-ports, you will find nothing else, and this therefore is the main reason that will prevent the poor inhabitants of all the New Zealand Settlements, from sharing in the benefits of Dr. Martin's, or any other person's scheme for dressing'nax ; be that accomplished ever so easily, or at ever such a trifling expense:—besides if all the flaN around Auckland were good, and worth the expense and trouble of manufacturing, the plants, are actualiv so scattered, and are in such very limited clusters when found, as almost to justify the opinion, that even in that case, they would not be available to the great mass of the population; and this is not only about Auckland, but throughout the whole country, with very few exceptions, and where it is much rougher, and much more impracticable:—we can assure those persons who have never been far into the bush of New Zealand, and who have never travelled over a< y of its ugly-looking nil's, and mud-flats, that one day's flax gathering would prove the best restorative (for their wild chimeras), we could prescribe, and especially where the clusters of plants are at all Scattered! There is a very slight difference in the appearance of these three kinds of Flax—and so slight that the novice could not detect it; the Swamp Flax would appear the best because of it's luxuriance. And the Taori the worst,

because, probably of it's, if anything, more stunted growth. As the greatest, and most important discoveries that have been made in science since the world bei>ari, ha e often proved to be, when made, the simplest, so has it been in the case of Sew Zealand Fiax ; with regard to the proper, least expensive, and least troublesome, plan for dressing it, and for making it available as a source of future greatness and prosperity to the Colony The amount of benefits it is calculated to confer upon the people at-large, we are not at liberty to determine, hut they must be, unquestionably, very great ; insomuch so, as to lead one to suppose, with some appearance of sense, that in a few years, our Colony .wiil rival the most favoured ones of Australia, either in the extent of commerce, the flow of capital, or in the concentration of national wealth. As Great Britain pays annually such an immerse amount of money to the Russian merchants for this very article, Flax, (above £2,000,000 Sterling !) it is only natural and reasonable to suppose that she will transfer her patronage from them, to tin se of her own nation, the very first opportunity that presents itself for her doing so ; even supposing that furnished by the latter to be a little inferior in quality, and higher in price. In the case of New Zealand Flax, however she is not called upon to make any such sacrifice; for so far as regards the first objection, we are assured by those who have themselves travelled in Russia, and who have examined the Ffax of that country, that, ours is fully equal in quality, when properly prepared, if not in many cases superior, to it ! and in reference to the last, we have only to observe that the very trifling expenses incurred in preparing it, free from the deteriorating substances which envelop it; (according to Dr. Martin's plan of boiling in a solution of potash or wood-ashps,) w i'l enable our enterprising merchants to supply Great Britain wiih it actually cheaper than what Russia could. Thus in summing up, (to use a technical law term,) we must say, that, we are fully of opinion, that a brighter day has dawned upon Nevy Zealand, and that a truly favourable "change has come over the spirit of its dream" till now so clouded, and disheartening ! The great mystery has been at length solved, the fibre of the Native Flax can be, and has been positively and absolutely divided from the superlative matter: by the most simple and cheap process imaginable, and has been made an available article of commerce ; (we need not say a most valuable one,) and the man who has accomplished the great end, is— Doctor Martin.