Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, JUNE 2, 1903. Phormium Tenax.

Manawatu Herald, 2 June 1903, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, JUNE 2, 1903. Phormium Tenax.

We have constantly drawn attention to tha necessity for those interested ■ in the Flax trade to take immediate steps to secure a permanent supply of the green leaf, unless they are prepared to see their industry brought to a sudden finish. This, of course, would be disastrous to the millers, the district and the colony. To show how doubtful millers have been of the one industry whilst employing more labour than any other industry in proportion to value received, is yet one of the best paying businesses a man can embark in, yet in the Official Year Book in 1894 appears this caution : “ For the future, if the Phormium plant is to become a source of fibre-supply for the world’s market, its cultivation must be established in favourable situations. The natural supply is now difficult to collect, and still more difficult to renew and perpetuate. It should become one of the established crops of the country; and if the proper method of manufacture for obtaining tha full value of the natural product is adopted, the industry may be expected to provide permanent employment for a number of people.” In this district we know that we have the land on which Phormium can be grown readily, an'd on which it has been grown, as all the acreage on the south of the road to Moutoa has been covered with flax, which the “ improver ” of later years has 1 succeeded in displacing for rushes. There cannot be a more suitable area for flax growing, as the long wind of the river affords convenient places to which the green flax can be taken to steamers for conveyance to Foxton, where numbers of suitable mill sites and any quantity of bleaching grounds can be secured. We may point out that the value of the Phormium fibre has been for many years made known in the Century Dictionary, which describes it as “ the strongest vegetable fibre known ” ; also by a statement in Brett’s Guide recording that “the strength of New Zealand Flax is exceeded only by silk.” We however know all this well enough and must be glad good authorities more widely make it known, but this will not give us new flax fields. Convinced of the necessity of having good fields and convinced that planting will pay, we are now soliciting the help of all to determine which will be the best variety to plant, and any light our readers can throw upon this matter will be received gratefully. In our first start we have been met with the statement made, some years ago,, by Sir James Hector that there are 55 different names as applied to the plant by the Maoris, but it is doubtful if more than 20 marked varieties can be distinguished. Now which of these is best to grow ? Our thanks are due to Captain Preeee who in reply to our. inquiry states “ the best two kinds of flax are the Tihore, and the Paritaniwha. These are the kinds mostly used by the old 1 Maoris for making mats. The Ti- i hore is a very fine fibre almost like

| silk. There are several other kinds |of good flax cultivated by the I natives.” It is no use planting any but the best, but the position the above kinds are grown in must be taken into consideration. We need a. flax that is at home in swampy and flooded ground. We trust to receive more information before long.