NEW ZEALAND FLAX.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 14, Issue 747, 27 December 1869, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND FLAX.

The Nelson Colonist, of the 14th Decern her, publishes an article “ from the pen of a gentleman who has had large experience in Christchurch” from which we take the following extract: —Great fears of late have been entertained regarding the combustibility of the fibre and the danger caused to ships in carrying it. Doubtless prejudice has arisen in consequence of the wool ship Blue Jacket, en route for London, from Lyttelton, part of the cargo of which (unfortunately for this new industry) was New Zealand flax, to which so many have attributed the origin of the catastrophe But from subsquent investigations, and the certain knowledge of there hiving been damp wool and Fiji cotton that had been refused by the captains of other vessels, and with the testimony of the officers of the unfortunate vessel that the fire broke out in a part of the ship quite different from that where the flax was stowed, there is conclusive evidence that it could not have been the flax. Flax improperly dried is a very dangerous cargo, every one mus 1 know ; end as the old adage says, “ pre vention is better than cure,” Let it bo a sine qua non that your flax be dry before you ship it, and from the experience of the earliest shipments from New Zealand and remembering the raw leaves simply dried, that have been suit home in quantities as much as fifty tons at a time and arrived home with perfect safety, we need not fear but that practice will overcome prejudice and the Now Zealand flax vvi. 1 be pronounced as safe an article for export, as wool, cotton, or any other fibre. A. precisely similar prejudice existed in the early days of the jute exportation from India, but, like all new prejudices, time has worn it out.