INDIGENOUS EXPORTS OF NEW ZEALAND.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume II, Issue 55, 25 October 1845, Page 4

INDIGENOUS EXPORTS OF NEW ZEALAND.

We extract the following Irora the Morning Herald of 24th February last, which is copied from " Brodie's Remarks on the Past and Present state of New Zealand y "on the tor-, mented subject of New Zealand Flax, as an Auckland paper calls it. Nevertheless, the torment to which it is liable, and the large sums of money spent in experiments on it, prove the importance attached to jt by many persons both in the colony and, in England. The quantity of Phormium lenax now made up into rope and used for other purposes hi the colony is becoming more considerable every day ; and as we are getting better acquainted with the nature of the plant, there is greater probability that an easy mods ot preparing it will be hit upon. ' We entirely agree with Mr. Brodie on the incalculable benefit it will be to this colony when it can be made an article of extensive export : — " It :s surprising, that although so much concurrent testimony has been adduced in proof of the great importance of promoting the cultivation of New Zealand ilax, the subject has met with such a small share of encouragement in England with a view to practical results. Almost every arrival from the colony has lately hrought renewed assurances ol the settlers' confidence in the success of a systematic attempt to cultivate and prepare for market its chief indigenous production ; /ut these assurances have been often accompanied with expressions of regret that such an attempt has not been made. Many causes, unconnected with the peculiar subject of the cultivation of the phormium tenax have operated to occasion the long delay that has taken place without any experiments being undertaken upon a large scale, but the principal reason has been the want of adequate machinery for properly preparing the fibre. But lam now happy to state to those thousands already connected with New Zealand, that a machine admirably adapted to the purpose has now been constructed, though at present I am not at liberty to give any information concerning it, hut hope I may be allowed to do so very soon. "Linens of the most beautiful texture, and cloths for wearing apparel, have been made Irom the fibre, and of different qualities (impervious to wet)has. been made out of the epidermis, glutinous substance, and refuse tow ; the tow has been valued at 28/. per ton. One great advantage in this machinery is, that we can under-sell the foreign flax growers in a surprising degree, and at the same time give a large profit to those concerned in the machichinery.* There is at present a great prejudice against New Zealand flax, simply because it has been sent home in such an unfinished state ; it has been cut at all seasons of the year, but now it is ascertained that there is only one proper time to cut it, which is just about the time it flowers ; much attention has been paid to the cultivation of the flax in the colony during the last four years. The flax which has been worked up by this machinery has been the wild flax of New Zealand, the weed of the country: thiity thousand acres may be repeatedly seen in one spot, and it is but natural to suppose, that when the flax is cultivated, that its fibres will greatly improve. The largest farms in New Zealand will eventually be flax farms, and not wheat, as we can procure our wheat from the colonies or Valparaiso cheaper than we can at present grow it. " In farming flax there is not the slightest risk attached to it ; each root will require to he planted about two yards apart, and in every year each plant will produce about 20 fresh roots, which may be transplanted or left, as the paities think proper. Flax will now very soon be cultivated upon a large scale in New Zealand, and under systematic arrangement v. ill at once confer benefit on its supporters, and call into existence a staple export, as inexhaustible as it will be valuable ; it will not only produce incalculable advantages to the settlement, but will give to all interested in the colonisation of New Zealand the strongest assurance of the resources of the colony, and of its future greatness and stability. Many parties in Dundee, Aberdeen, and Glasgow, assured me of the immense importance of the flax cleaned by this machinery, samples of which I showed them, and Mr. Mullholland (of the largest house in the flax line, &c, in Ireland) assured me, that if I could procure a large quantity of the flax, the same as the sample, it was his candid opinion, that before long the New Zealand flax would supersede the American cotton in many fabrics now made in England and Ireland. " When Capt. Fnzroy (our present governor) was examined before the committee of the uouse of Lords, in 1838, he said : — ' If properly manufactured, the New Zealand flax

* " This machinery has a great advantage over any other process ever tried, as there is nothing chemical required in cleaning the- flax ; no others patent having been taken out, nor can be taken out for it."

would mtke very good rdpe* but therr has been some defect in the way it has been manufactured, for it breaks inthenip sometimes. It wears an mciedbly longtime- in a straight line, but sometimes,, when much bent, it gives way ; yet, as the natives use it for nets or lour fathoms deep, and often. 300 fathoms long, it lasts them, for many years ;„ there must, therefore, be some wayof preparing it which would make it available for our rope. A net made in that way is kept by a family in the stump of a tree, on a wooden frame made for it, and it lasu them for many years. It may be possible that it loses some particular quality, and becomes brittle from the defective mode of packing, and its heating in sequence of a long voyage.'. Now, the defect in preparing it, which Capt. Fitzroy alludes to, is the glutino is substance in the flax, which is all takeu away by the machinery, and with the epidermis is converted into paper of different qualities, pccording to the process, which is impervious to wet. In 1831, Government gave 40/. per ton for 800 tons : if that flax was worth 40/. then, in its unclean state, whit is it worth now ? Fair play has never been given to this flax; in all instances it has been cut in the improper season — a very material point, fo; then the flax' is coarse and wiry, the fibre rugged, and not easily cleaned; the staple short, the colour, bad : but with all these defect^, Government have given 40/. per ton for it. The phorndum tenax resembles the garden iris : its chief peculiarities consist in the fibre being obtained in the leaf, and not, as is the case with Euiopean flax, from the stem ; the outside coat of the leaf being stripped, the fibres are perceived running parallel to one another through the whole length. All the flax sent at present to this country has been cleaned by the natives with the use of a mussel shell, a very rough and imperfect way of cleaning it, which must more or less injure the fibre. The leaves may be cut twice a year, the loots remaining in the soil for reproduction ; a given quantity of phormium lenax. will contain more of the fibrous substance than an equal quantity of Russian hemp ; and, I believe, of any European flax, on account of its lighter intrinsic weight. It has been in universal use among the natives from time immemorial ; formerly they cultivated it with great care, but now they take no pains about it, and the whole growth is spontaneous ; it is adapted to every kind of use,by them — their mats are made of it, some^wvlnch are exceedingly handsome, and Lgßyte silk, as well as othgr articles of clotnH^j; also their baskets, sailv^ctbles, fishing nets, &c. " The production which I think is likely to yield a larger profit than any other, and is, therefore, better calculated to engage the attention of the colonist, is the smaller and shorter leaved. This sort grows in great abundance in every part of the colony ; no soil seems unsuited for it — not even the very worst ; and it thrives as well in an exposed situation as in a sheltered one. Of all other plants it can with the least delay and the least capital be rendered fit for export in large quantities. A flax farm of 100 acres will grow 2410 plants per acre, each plant occupying two square yards, and yielding lOlbs. of green leaf, (which is under the average) ; this would give 1076 tons, and allowing one-ejghth of the gross weight of green leaves (which has beeu proved by experience out there) for real fibre, gives 134 tons of hemp, besides which a quantity of coarse tow, equal to about one-quarter of the green leaves, which gives 268 tons fit for making baggage and coarse canvass ; then comes the glutinous substance, mixed up with the epidermis, fo. making paper. The two last ought to pay the expenses ; but say they will only pay one-half, and that the hemp is only sold for 20/. a ton (which is 20/. less than it is worth), this would pay the exporter 100 per cent.^ *■ " I firmly believe that in a very few years the export of flax from New Zealand will,be equal to that of wool from New South Wales; the flax is already the weed of the country, and all it requires is cleaning. In New Zealand we have no blight, no hot winds, no heavy droughts, as in New South Wales, to hurt our flax. Compare the risk of the sheep holder in New South Wales with that of the flax grower of New Zealand : supposing the expense of herding a flock of sheep, clipping the wool, sorting it, and sending it on board the ship for this country, (which -is often 500 miles land carriage), to be the same as'growing the flax, &c, of an equal value in proportion to the wool. In growing flax we have no risk ; it will grow whether we like it or not."