Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, MAY 6, 1898. Paper Making.

Manawatu Herald, 6 May 1893, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, MAY 6, 1898. Paper Making.

■ -■ — ♦ The Agent-Genera! Has had some experiments made -with the tow of the phormium 4&nax by the English paper makers. The first experiment showed that though the result was favourable as regards strength, it. was found impossible to bleach it sufficiently to secure a product white enough to make a good white paper. In the second attempt it was found that the paper was specky. and had not the strength looked for. We have been singularly unfortunate in getting this important industry properly attended to. The late Agent General knew nothing about flax-dressiug, and the present Agent-General knows no more, and the Government appear unable to employ a really competent man. The report on the trials of tow for paper making prove this beyond , a doubt. The paper-makers must have had an exceedingly bad sample to test and they must have treated it in a most incompetent way. They were unlike the featheredbipeds of an advanced, age, as. they could not distinguished the difference between the outer husks of corn and the kernel. They complain that the use of the tow resulted in an unsatisfactory colour being obtained, and also that in another case it turns out specky. Any hemp-miller in the colony could have told them such would have been the case if they placed the whole of the tow into a vat andjused the result for pulp/ as every long fibre is encased with a skin very similar to the gross outer green skin of the leaf and is simply lighter in the tow from bleaching. This skin is aliowed to dry over the internal fibres and in drying, after the dressing and bruising it receives it is likely to stain the " ultimate fibres " which are about an inch and a half in length, of pure white in colour, and of a remarkably fine and soft nature, and which combined build up the single fibre that appears in the dressed leaf. The tow as it emerges from a hemp-mill is thelast product that should be sent to London for paper making, from its being unsuitable for the finest paper, and from being too expensive in carriage to allow of its being sold tor making a cheaper paper. We are aware that the result to be obtained from tow, by a proper and cheap treatment, is a fibre that would compare with snow in colour and with a spiders-webb in fineness. Anyone interested can ascertain the fact for themselves, as they have only to obtain a single strand from any bale of flax and shred the hard casing off it to discover its concealed treasure. In paper-making the highest authority asserts " the com-

i bination of flexible fibres by which the paper is produced, depends on the minute division of the fibres and their subsequent cohesion." The " ultimate fibres " of the phormiuni tenax answers in every respect to the requirements. We are farther enabled to state, from having viewed the result obtained, that the fibres have the property of subsequent cohesion, as was instanced in a sample of wadding, soft, white, and strong made from these short fibres, the real ultimate flbi'ea, We are aware therefore that the tow possesses all that is needed for the finest white paper, bufe the paper* maker needs to be informed of it. It would, -appear however, both as being the means of employing labour, and also reducing cost of freight, that the tow should be prepared in the colony and only that, the ultimate fibre, which is of value sent Home. The report asserts that had the tow* realised the laboratory tests it would have been worth eijjtifc pounds to ten pounds ft ton, which should pay the " reducer " of it here, reckoning the higher price obtainable, if even at the same rate quoted, by there being no Waste sent with it as there must hive been in the sample tested. The Government act so half-heartedly towards this important industry that otic cannot anticipate their" -willingness fco do the smallest act, promptly, towards increasing the value of it to the colony, but if they could be induced to move it would be ah inexpensive work to have a few tons of tow reduced to the condition We have, described, and sent- to the paper- makers. We have the address of % gentleman who produced material such as we have described and who probably could be induced to superintend the preparation. We want the value tested by the public funds as.: "if: "if successful the result would be to everyone's advantage, and the {Waste of the mills instead of being burnt or thrown into rivers would become a wage paying product. How long shall we have to wait? >?. „ .