WOODHAUGH PAPER MILL.

Evening Star, Issue 4075, 18 March 1876, Page 1 (Supplement)

WOODHAUGH PAPER MILL.

Among the many projects for developing the industrial powers of the Colony, paper-making was suggested by our Provincial Council some years ago, and a sura was placed on the Estimates, to be given as a bonus on the production of a given quantity of paper, on specified conditions. . It is easy to give a promise to pay of that character, and it is wise to do so, for a few thousands thus laid out may lead the establishment of manufactures suited to the Colony. Investments in railways are good, for they tend to cheapen production and distribution of commodities, but they would be valueless were the goods not in existence to be distributed. Bonuses on the establishment of manufactures may be said to be the complements of the public works’ system. They foster the. growth of those industries which only require a start to take root among us \ and avoid the evils which protective, duties entail. Bonuses aid the natural growth of industry ; protective duties are a perpetual tax, every one dependent for a livelihood, upon their continuance to the position of a. pauper. While, therefore, we should have regarded a projected industry as a national burden, we consider one founded upon a bonus a national gain. Perhaps it might be in answer to the vote of the Council, perhaps because of con vie tion that paper-making will prove remunerative —-most probably the latter—that Mr Edward M'Glashan has nearly completed the erection of a paper mill in the romantic valley that bears his name. At that bend of the stream that flows through the valley where a saw mill once stood, a new class of. buildings has been constructed, while the old ones still standing have been utilised.; Some of the sheds are enclosed and have become warehouses for storage of material, yhile extensive and commodious structures have been erected containing new machinery for the manufacture of paper. *

Although paper is in, every-day use by. man, woman, and child, either for purposes of instruction or as a vehicle for conveniently carrying many articles of .consumption ; for purposes of ornapr for protecting “ things ,of beauty; ’, for use in the arts, and even for, personal adornment, few have any Mea.of the process by which it is manufactured or the materials of which it is made.. It is said that “the history of. .paper making is the history of T° a certain extent this is true, although" among some nations, the Mexicans , and the Peru for instance, textile materials, as the most handy, took precedence. But r, E^te to world paper may be been fe- diffuser of * e r ’ r ecords were car vied

in stone, and theology proclaimed in rocks, is true; and many of those enduring myths have reached us in these latter days. But while the rock bore its carved inscription, its use was limited to those who could visit it. Its warnings or its teachings could not, travel: ic needed a less rugged, less ponderous, apparently fragile material j to give its inscriptions vitality. The i chisel was necessary for recording on the rock, the stylus or the brush or the pen, with a pigment of earth or smoke dye, for the other. The rock remained fixed, immovable; the papyrus or some fibrous preparation, light, portable, easily and quickly impressed, distributed the information throughout the world. These apparently flimsy films have been the world's civilisers. They have proved more enduring than rocks ; they have handed down the results of the observations of each age to succeeding generations. They have enabled men to ponder over, analyse, or elaborate thoughts that have been handed down to them, so that the mistakes of the past may be corrected and the theories of the present substantiated. They have distributed knowledge among myriads, who but for them would have been ignorant; they have facilitated business, rendered transactions possible that without their aid would have been impracticable, given definiteness to iustnuctions, validity to contracts, rendered conversation easy with friends separated by half a globe, and are useful in thousands of ways that are little thought of excepting when a “bit of paper” is wanting. We might go on to show the use of paper in the arts; how it is rendered available for the painter, how the sun is induced to stamp his pictures upon it, but our purpose is different. We have to deal with it, not in its utilisation but in its manufacture. In order to understand this it is necessary to comprehend that it is made up of fine fibres of vegetable substances —it scarcely matters what, so long as they can be so interlaced as to form a thin filmy web to which a smooth face can be imparted. There ‘is scarcely a vegetable product that could not be converted into paper, although the fibrous portions of many are so srpall compared with that which is useless, that only certain descriptions can be profitably worked. But among those substances are many that, in the absence of such a mode of utilisation, are useless. Paper-making is essentially an economiser of natural wealth. That which without its aid would be thrown away, left to rot, becomes available. Rope, linen and cotton rags, torn wrappers, fibrous grasses, bits of string, straw, fibrous leases of plants, waste papei\ cotton and linen waste, and even wood, can all be converted into paper. How many times ten thousand pounds worth of such materials have been wasted since Otago Was settled, it is impossible to say. Possibly the utilisation of them would have cost more than could have been obtained for their products in times past; for however plentiful they may have been, suitable labor was not available, and expensive machinery is required. And not only is the power of production necessary for profitable investment, but a coni yenient market for sale of the produce. Both these are now available.

By the kindness of Mr Lynn, Mr M'Glashan’s manager, we were shown over the works, and the arrangements for the different processes were explained to us. From what we have said, it will be inferred that the formation of the close, thin, fibrous web which forms the texture of paper cannot be secured by a direct process of weaving. No loom could. be fine enough, were it possible profitably to apply a process so tedious. Fortunately other means are available, which perform the operation far more perfectly although not so obviously. The first process is carefully to sort the different materials, free them from dust and all impurities, and cut them into suitable lengths. This is done by hand upon a table formed of open meshed wire netting. All the rags are carefully examined, the buttons cut off, pins taken out, woollens excluded, and all useless substances removed. The material that is useful is then passed through a cylinder with large teeth, which is caused to revolve 200 or more; times in a minute. By this process the fibres are loosened, all dirt is got rid of and all knots or lumps are thrown out. After the material has been carefully prepared as described, it is boiled in order to reduce it to a pulp. To free it from grease or resins a solution of strong caustic soda, or soda ash with caustic lime is used, after which it is mixed with water in a large vat. It, is lifted thence by an elevator into a vat, in which it is. agitated so as to further cleanse it, and descends into what may be termed a washing engine constructed somewhat on the principle of a turbine. After having been subjected to this cleansing operation, it is passed on to the, “wire vat,” where, it is again agitated and reduced to a pulp of proper consistency. We need not minutely describe the subsequent processes, for it will be sufficient to state that after the pulp is reduced to a proper thickness suitable size is added by which surface is given to the filmy stratum which is formed by the interlacing of the fine fibres form-ing-the fabric of the paper. Having thus prepared a mass of pulp,, the next object is to reduce it to thin leaves, of uniform thickness, to free them - from water, and to dry them; This is effected by passing the fluid by means endless banda

over cylinders heated by steam," and between rollers covered with felt or 1 wire, or such materials as are requisite : to produce . the quality of paper desired. A web of paper of any length may be thus extended, or it may be cut into lengths and sizes as required for purposes of trade. It is hardly necessary to state that, as rapid motion is required at various periods of the processes, powerful motive machinery is necessary. Before the extraordinary demand for paper which has sprung up within the last few years it was possible* to work the necessary machinery for paper-making by hand, and for certain descriptions of paper hand processes are still considered the best. Mr M‘Glashan has two steam engines of about twentyhorse power each, fed by a large Cornish boiler, and we have no doubt he will find full employment for both. In order to secure a full supply of water at a given pressure, he has provided a tank, to be placed at a proper elevation, capable of holding 1,800 gallons. The whole of the machinery is of the best description; and although we cannot boast of its having been constructed in Otago, as one of the next best things it is of Colonial manufacture, having been made by Messrs Chapman, of Sydney. It is the first paper-making machinery manufactured in the Colonies. We sufficiently appreciate the interdependence of every part of the British Empire, not to imagine it any great advantage to have Colonial-made goods and chattels rather than English manufacture. It is a very short-sighted view to imagine anything is gained through an article being constructed in one spot of the Empire if it can be produced and supplied more cheaply in another. The very soul of trade is that goods shall be bought where cheapest, and supplied to those who cannot make them so well and at such low price for themselves. But if they can be had on equally reasonable terms of our own makers or our immediate neighbors there is great gain. Those who make can mend, and because of the possession of this making and mending power, processes are possible that will enable us in the Colonies to utilise many products that would otherwise have been wasted. It is a means of varying the employment of our population, and thus of adding to our power of sustaining them in comfort. We cannot benefit alone, and although we manufacture our own paper in the Colonies, and write and print and wrap up with paper cheaper than we can buy at Home, we have more money to spend on articles that they can produce than we, and thus we give equal employment to the Home people as at present. ' Every new industry helps all the old ones to live.

The buildings have been put up by Mr Howlinson, excepting the brickwork, which was done by Mr Binney. It is expected that the work of papermaking will commence *at the end of the present month.