NEW ZEALAND FLAX.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 14, Issue 739, 29 November 1869, Page 4

NEW ZEALAND FLAX.

The following extract from the Lon Uon correspondent of Mr E. Reece, deserves the notice of all interested in the manufacture of flax :—" Enclosed i;-: .Devett & Hett's maiket nummary for South Sea cotton and Kevv Zealand flax, &c. —By parcel (post) I send sample of Canterbury flax "wholly undressed and lately sold at £3l per ton; also of some well dressed Canterbury flax which was recently valued at £42 to £44 per ton, but I rather think it was done in London from the aforesaid straw by a Frenchman's machine nearly perfected after many experiments, and bv which the raw New Zealand flax can be thoroughly cleaned with comparatively little waste, and made worth £42 to £4B per ton. He is sanguine of perfect success, and although not able to define a price for his machine, he expects they will range between £ 100 to £l5O each. Should the experiments on larger parcels of New Zealand flax, which are purposed this autumn, prove successful, would you incline to have one of these apparatus? The New Zealand flax attracts increasing attention in the London market and should prove an important export from each Province. Messrs Devitt and Hett report as follows on New Zealand flax :—The sales during the month have comprised 385 bales Otago at £2O to £3O for second quality but strong fibre (one bale well dressed £38); also fifty bales Canterbury at £3l, and twenty-eight bales Auckland well dressed at £3B 15s. Fair roping Manilla hemp is now 525,"

The Melbourne Argus pays:—"An uncomfortable feeling seems to have existed lately amongst t.he underwriters and shipping agents in reference to the supposed hazardous character of New Zealand flax as a cargo. It has been asserted that under certain conditions it is liable to spontaneous combustion, and the immigration officers have intimated that it should not be allowed to be carried in ships coming under the Passenger Act. We understand that the underwriting companies have decided, under the circumstances, not to accept risks at ordinary rates when flax is carried, and that it is considered to be undesirable cargo, especially with wool, unless thoroughly dry and well packed."

The following letter appears in the Sydney Morning Herald, addressed to the Editor of that journal :

Sir, —Although I have no personal concern whatever in the New Zealand flax trade, T have been sorry to observe the alarm taken by underwriters and others as to the supposed danger of shipping that article to England or other distant ports. That a rising industry which promises, at no distant day, to be one of great importance not only to our neighbors but to ourselves, should be checked, or have unnecessary obstacles thrown in its way is much to be regretted ; as formerly I was during many years engaged in the preparation of the Phormium tenax in New Zealand, and made shipments of the fibre both to Australia and England with perfect safety, I may be allowed to make a few remarks on this important subject.

It is well known that both animal and vegetable fibres are apt to heat if damp and in a state of compression I had occasion some five-and-twenty vears ago to import a few bales of totton waste for engine purposes, and when they were landed on the wharf here they were so hot that it was impossible to put the hand into them without injury, and I have no doubt that had they remained but a few days longer on board ship they would have burst into flames. On examination as to the cause it was found that these bales had been exposed during the voyage to the droppping of water from the cabins above, and so go! heated, as any other vegetable fibre would have been in similar circumstances. And we have but the other day an instance of wool itself inflaming spontaneously at Geelong, and I have no doubt, could the circumstances have been ascertained, that the true cause was the damp state of the wool when packed,

I am perfectly convinced, from long experience and knowledge of the article itself, that there is nothing peculiar in New Zealand flax to render it more liable to this spontaneous heating than other substances of a similar kind, such as hemp, jute, &c, of which such enormous quantities are sent annually to England. The whole danger lies in the flax being packed and shipped in a damp state, —a condition which there is no difficulty in detecting, and that all the more readily here, after the short voyage hither has given time for any dampness in the bales to dev elope itself, under examination by a competent party. It is a wise precaution, therefore, of the insurance companies to insist on such an examination being made before taking the risk.

It is a mistake to suppose that the danger of heating arises from the flax being insufficiently dressed. All the evil which that circumstance does is to render the drying of the flax more difficult. The cleaner the fibre is made the more effective will the desiccating process be. If I am correctly informed, there is a great deal of water used in the method now generally adopted for preparing flax in New Zealand; and it is no doubt owing to sufficient care not being taken to expel that water by proper means that the evil adverted to has arisen. To depend on atmospheric influence alone to effect that object will not suit in so moist a climate as our neighbors have got; and I would, therefore, respectfully suggest to them that they should always finish off the preparation ot their flax by subjecting it to a gentle current of heated air before it is packed for shipment. Trusting that these few remarks may be useful to parties interested in the business, T remain &c, M. Whytlaw. 18, Wynyard-square, Nov. 3.

The total quantity of flax exported from New Zealand during the quarter ending on the 30th September last was 627 f tons, representing a money value of £13,776, as against £2,125 for the corresponding quarter of 1878, being an increase at the iate of 547 24 per cent. Of this amount £6,479 was exported from Auckland, £6,515 from Lyttelton, £687 from Dunedin, and £95 from the Bluff. The average value per ton of the total quantity exported was £2l 18s 5d ; the average for each port being as follows :—Auckland, £22 5s 3d; Lyttelton, £2l 12s 8d ; Dunedin, £2l 9s 4d ; Bluff, £23 15s.