NEW ZEALAND FLAX

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 97, 21 October 1926, Page 18

NEW ZEALAND FLAX

A VALUABLE PRODUCT

UNSURPASSED FOR TWINE

GOOD FUTURE PROSPECTS.

New Zealand flax, as it is commonly called, is responsible for one of the Dominion's most valuable industries, the value of the average amount annually exported being in tho neighbourhood of half a million sterling. The fibre produced is acknowledged to be the best in the world for binder-twine manufacture, and with improved methods of cultivation and milling there is no reason why the industry should not become of even greater importance than it has been in the past, and is at present. The New Zealand flax is well known to everyone in the Dominion, from the North Cape to Bluff, but its name is another misnomer, as popular names so often, are, since the species in question is not fi^x at all, but a member of the lily family, and therefore a near relative of the cabbage tree. The true native flax is a pretty white flowered herb, very different from Phormium tenax (the New Zealand flax). The genus Phormium was found originally only in Norfolk Island and in New Zealand, but has since spread to other adjacent islands, and consists of but two species. Phormiura tenax, a mixture of Greek and Latin, means '' strong basket"—an appropriate name for the plant. Sir Jameß Hector, in the early -seventies, places on record the fact that the Maoris had no fewer than 55

different names foi flax—harakeke, as they called it, but it is doubtful whether they really distinguished so many different varieties. The varieties are certainly numerous, for the flax grows in many and diverse situations, and it varies accordingly. It is not fastidious as to climate, being equally at home in warm, moist Auckland gullies and on cold, wind-swept areas in the South. When the white man first visited New Zealand, the flax plant occupied a very much wider area than it does now, for it grew on land which, when drained, was eminently suitable for agricultural purposes. Whero now the golden grain waves in the breeze, and lambs, unconscious of their doom, crop the verdant grass, was often in the old days a vast swamp, filled with the flax plant, whose broad and friendly leaves gave sshelter to countless redjlegged pukekos, which sought their food round the roots and found shelter from the ever-watchful hawk. Since the advent of the European, the flax area has much diminished, and- may now be roughly estimated as between 50 and 60 thousand acres. Wellington and Westland caa each claim about a third of this area, Auckland having a big proportion of the remainder. j The appearance of the flax plant is j very familiar, and, as familiarity breeds contempt, some of the points of interest often escape attention. The leaves, -stout and thick, stand erect, avoiding the direct rays of the sun. This is a contrivance of Nature to avoid loss of moisture by evaporation, which, at first sight may seem to bo an absurd effort at economy on the part of a swamp plant. But this, droughtresisting capacity of - the flax enables the plant, under stress of competition, to leave its natural home in the swamp and to inhabit other and drier situations. Its growth is regular; ten shoots go to a bunch, each shoot has five leaves, and these leaves are from five

to ten feet in length, and two to four inches broad. Dull-coloured flowers are produced on a tall, branched panicle. MAORI USE OF FLAX. It is the fibre of th« leaves that is

of so much commercial importance, thus differing from the common flax or linuin. In the case of the New Zealand flax the fibre is obtained from the leaf of a monocotyledonous plant, instead of, as in other cases, from the stem of a disotyledonous plant. The fibre of the leaves is very fine and strong, and. upon its use the Maoris depended almost entirely for their clothing. An infinite expenditure of pationco and labour was needed, but the results they produced, often dyed.and woven into intricate patterns, excited tho admiration of the early white sutlers, who we. re quick to see in this fibre great commercial possibilities. Ob- j servation of the fineness of some of the ! bleached fibre in possession of the Native inhabitants explains the application of the term "flax" by the new settlers: "hemp" might have been a bettei- word to use. The Maoris gave the first demonstration of the varied purposes to which the flax fibre could be put. This was their only textile, and they used it in a manner which greatly impressed Captain Cook. In his journals of 1770 the famous navigator says: "There is a plant that serves the inhabitants instead of hemp and flax which excels all that are put to the same purpose in othtr countries. Of the leaves of these plants, with very little preparation, they make their common apparel; and !of these they also make their strings, I lines, and cordage for every purpose, which are so much stronger than anything we make with hemp that they will not bear comparison. From the same plant, by another preparation, they draw long slender fibres which shine like silk, and are as white as snow; of these, which, are so surprisingly strong, the finer clothes are made; and of the leaves, without any other preparation than splitting them into proper breadths and tying the strips together, they make their fishing nets, some of which are of enormous size."

THE FIBRE INDUSTRY. The fibre has always^been in good demand in Britain and America, where it is made into binder twine, ropes, and sailcloth, and is put to other uses to which its strength and durability alike well adapt it. But as is the case with other commodities quality is everything, and in these days of keen competition the placing on the market of badly prepared fibre is fatal to the interests of the industry. About 13,000 tons of fibre of a value of' approximately £500,000 may.be reckoned as the present annual output—no insignificant part of tho Dominion's trade. Fifty or so mills employing 1000 hands are engaged in the industry which with improved methods of cultivation and subsequent treatment, shows every indication of becoming of much greater importance than has been the case hitherto. Natural flax areas have been utilised for production in the past, but steps are now being taken to treat flax as a cultivated plant, and new methods of. cutting arc being tried. In ordinary circumstances the flax plant is cut once tho average seven or eight tons of leaf being got from an acre. 'It takes on the average seven or eight tons of lead to produce a ton of dressed fibre, so tho annual average is about a ton per acre, plus a proportion of tow. Allowing £40 a ton, the gross return per acre reaches a figure which no othev farm' crop, except potatoes',- can reach Unlike the majority of other rural industries, flax demands a considerable expenditure 'on labour per acre of cul tivation when account is taken of the hands required for milling purposes. Land carrying flax supports more per ■sons than land of equal area devoted to any other rural industry, with the pos sible exception of timber. A large' proportion of the value of the fibre is re presented by wages, paid weekly. MILLING AND GRADING. After the flax leaves have been pick-

Ed, carted to the mill, and carefully sorted, they undergo the first stage of the milling process which is known as "stripping,'"being fed into a machino which separates the fibre from the other matter. The fibre is then passed be-

tween washing drums, after which it is bleached by exposure in open paddocks. Finally the fibre goes through a "scutching" machine, by which all remaining particles of vegetable matter are removed. The hemp is twisted into hanks of about five pounds weight and pressed into four hundredweight bales, the whole process from leaf-cutting to hank-baling taking from threo to six weeks, according to tye weather. As this fibre industry is limited to New Zealand, the various operations have been perfected by New Zealanders. Most of the machinery has been invented by New Zealanders and made in the Dominion. Scope for improvement there naturally must be, but the equipment is in the main very efficient. . Becognising that the standardisation of output is of extreme.importance in relation to export trade, the Government developed some years ago a grad ing system for the fibre and the tow. The grader, who examines at least 10 per cent, of, the bales, sends a report to the miller on every line examined, so tho latter has reliable 'information on any defects in the; fibre and can see where he should work for improvement. It i 3 upon the graders' certificates that the fibre is sold to overseas buyers. Pests, both; vegetable and animal, attack the flax' plant, as: they do other vegetation. "Valuable help in this direction .is available .from the Department of Agriculture, which has exgerts working on all phases of the industry, for it is in New Zealand, and' New Zealand alone," that Phormium. tenax can He studied. THE MARKET FOE FIBRE. Two factors at present stop ■ New Zealand flax or hemp from figuring importantly in the world's markets for binder twine. In the first place the production is only a very small proportion of the world's requirements, and, secondly, only a limited proportion of. New Zealand's production of fibre is of the quality required by twine manufacturers overseas. The fault is not in the raw material, it lies in the question of milling. Certain 'fibres, notably sisal, which are not as good as New Zealand hemp, make up for their inferiority in intrinsic quality by a superority of milled" condition, which tends to give them a better reputation. A3 a material for the making of binder twine, however, the New Zealand flax has no equal. The whole of the twine required—about 2000-tons a year—for New Zealand harvests is made in the Dominion from the local fibre, and many' millions of Australia's sheaves are tied with twine manufactured from importations of the best grades of New Zealand flax.' Of course, it cannot be expected that the whole of the raw material can be converted into grades suitable for binder twine. This may be the milling ideal, but there .must always be a proportion of fibre below twine standard. This lower grade material is suitable for the manufacture of ropes and cordage. New Zealand hemp is also used as a substitute for betterclass rope fibres, but the practice is not viewed favourably by those who value; the welfare of the industry: it is better policy to use the fibre for what it is pre-eminently suitable, that is for binder twine. The whole output, if the the milled conditions are right, can be absorbed at satisfactory prices in this direction. BY-PRODUCTS USED. A" by-product of the milling is tow, the loose fibrous material scraped away from the fibres. . The proportion of tow ranges from two to four hundredweight. for every ton of dressed fibre. It is used for high-class upholstery, for binding plaster, and for many other purposes. More than half a century ago an experiment with New Zealand hemp for the making of high-grade bank notes was successful, but there was no further development of the matter. The first general treatise on the value and uses of the .flax plant was printed qn paper made from it, but the production of paper from hemp to-day is limited to a strong brown wrapping paper. ■ It is not only the leaf of the flax plant that has its uses. The root stick is bitter and purgative, and has been used as a substitute for aarsaparilla. The leaves when cut near the root exude a viscid juice which becomes thick and gummy, and can be eaten. A sweet beverage may be prepared from the flowers, and the plantentered into the Maori pharmacopoeia', chiefly for external application. From the flower stalks, the korari, the Moriori of the Chatham Islands built their fragile canoes. Phormium tenax has been, introduced with success into Southern France and Dalmatia, and it is familiar in colder climates as a decorative plant in greenhouses or sheltered gardens. Interesting specimens may be seen in the museum of attempts to manufacture .the fibre inj;o - a serviceable linen —a phase of the industry which has not met with any success.