THE NATIVE FLAX.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 7, Issue 370, 23 April 1866, Page 3

THE NATIVE FLAX.

Elsewhere we give from the Auckland press an article on the preparation of New Zealand flax for the market, as a means of keeping the wolf from the door of the unemployed. The simple process there given has, however, since been superseded by one still more simple, discovered by the same gentleman, and, like that, made public for the general good. It is simply boiling the flax in water containing salt—or sea water — for an hour or so, and then rubbing the gummy matter away in a manner similar to that usually practised in washing household linen. We may add, that we, in common with most of the old Wellington settlers, have known for the last seventeen years a process, if possible, still more simple than either of the above, and available when sea waltfc is not easily obtainable, and the use of salt would come rather expensive—that is, boiling in fresh water, and then rubbing away the gum as above. Steaming the green flax answers equally well, or perhaps even better. A close wooden trough (similar to that used by boat-builders for steaming their timber), from seven to ten feet in length, into which steam may be admitted, will answer every purpose; and while one lot is being washed, ‘ a second lot can be undergoing the process of steaming. What an industrious family might be able to earn in this way per day is a problem that has yet to be solved; but if, as our Auckland contemporary proposes, a ready market be provided at say 2d. per pound, we should say there need be no more actual destitution in districts 'where flax csn be obtained for the labor of catting and carrying it away.