New Zealand Colonist. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1842.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 31, 15 November 1842, Page 2

New Zealand Colonist. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1842.

The public attention at the present time is naturally directed to the best means of repairing the losses which have been sustained by this Settlement, through the unfavorable whaling season, succeeded by the late fire. There are two modes in which this may be done ; by cultivation ; and by procuring an article of export. The former will enable us to dispense with a very large portion of the supplies which we are now compelled to draw from abroad; the latter will furnish us with the means of paying out of our own resources for the imports which still are necessary;

The chief export upon which we were taught to rely is the flax. Hitherto nothing has been done to overcome the difficulties of its preparation ; although much time and ingenuity, and some money, have been expended upon the trial. But within the last few weeks, there has been

a renewed vigor in the attempts to overcome these difficulties, which augurs most favorably for ultimate success. There is one method

suggested’ by Dr. Evitns, which, so (nr ns it is possible to estimate the result of a machine from description only, appears to meet and obviate all the difficulties that have been found insurmountable in the plans hitherto adopted. We hope that, in a short time, a working model may be constructed, which will enable 1 the learned gentleman to bring his plan to the test of experiment; and we have very little doubt that the result will prove entirely satisfactory. The special advantages possessed by the New Zealand flax, independently of the peculiar character of the fibre, and the circumstance that it is to be collected in unlimited quantities at no other expense than cutting and carrying it to market, are the proportionately large produce of fibre which it will yield, and the small amount of labour required in its cleaning. So decided are these advantages, that we arc fectly certain, had the New Zealand flax and the European flax been the products of the same country, growing side by side, the European flax never would have been turned to any account. To enable our readers to estimate these advantages, we have made a calculation from data supplied in Urc’s Dictionary of Arts and Manufactures, from which it appears that the ultimate amount pf available fibre from one hundred pounds of green flax is only '05326, a little more than 5 per cent. And from sixteen to eighteen hours’ labor are required to procure from the retted flax, as it is termed, 241 b. of fibre. So that with all the contrivances for saving material and abridging labor, which the experience of three thousand years has discovered and perfected, a Maori with a shell, is able to obtain from the indigenous flax of his country a larger return, with less labour, of an equally valuable material. With such a proof of the facility of the task, and of the value of the results, we can have no doubt but that some speedy, and satisfactory discovery will follow the efforts which many of our Colonists are now making, even if that to which we have referred should disappoint our expectations. Wo have not at hand any materials from, which to estimate the actual cost of bringing flax to market, though we have reason to suppose that its culture and preparation are by no means peculiarly advantageous branches of industry, or attended with extraordinary profits ; and consequently, that the price which it bears in the English market is equal to the cost of production with the ordinary profits. But we have made calculations, from which it would seem that, taking the price of labor at a very low rate, the cost of labor alone in preparing 100 lb. of flax cannot be less than 305., or £3O per ton. And this is independent of the rent of the land upon which it is produced, and the cost of cultivation. If, therefore, we can succeed in procuring an article fit for exportation in sufficient quantities, we can have no reason to apprehend any competition by which we could be injuriously affected. The cheapness of the material, and the comparative facility of the process, must secure us fully against any such ground of apprehension.