PHORMIUM: THE CAUSE OF ITS DECLINE, AND SUGGESTIONS FOR ITS RESUSCITATION.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4332, 6 February 1875, Page 3

PHORMIUM: THE CAUSE OF ITS DECLINE, AND SUGGESTIONS FOR ITS RESUSCITATION.

TO TUB EDITOR. SIR xhete can be no doubt whatever New Zealand Tioßsesses in the phormium a fibre ot great commercial value and that, the total collapse of this industry has been due to the employment of machinery unfitted for its perfect production. The present great, depreciation is somewhat attributable to the late decline in Manilla hemp, caused by the American crisis. That country takes yearly about two-thirds of this crop, and a large portion ot it being thrown upon the English market, a fall of about £lO per ton occurred. The true reason, however, lies in the inferiority of the article wo exported. Being a fibre repudiated by leading firms, and purchased only by second-class manufacturers for adulterating purposes, their requirements were extremely limited, and with the tall in Manilla hemp, ceased. ■ A comparison drawn between manilla and phormium clearly shows that it was not the quantity ex ported of the latter that caused this depreciation, but tl*o limited demand for a spurious article. The Phillippine Islands ship yearly over 40,000 tons of mauilla, realising for it usually from £45 to £7O per ton according to quality : whereas with accumulated stocks of phormium in London, amounting to 2500 tons, that market was glutted—prices fell 50 per cent., and in spite of this depreciation four-fifths of this quantity remain unsold. The destruction of this trade by the ruin of all concerned in the manufacture was the inevitable result. . ~ . Two important questions now suggest themselves —lmprimis: Is the phormium fibre really as good as manilla if extracted without deterioration? Secundics: Can it be thus extracted, and, if so, in payable quan-

tities? , . That this fibre is equal and in many respects superior to manilla is practically proved by its production by the Maori. - What gives the value to manilla? Not Us superior strength, but the white color and gloss, showing all the deleterious agents are removed by the scraping process it has been submitted to. The . Maori flax is still whiter and more glossy, but from being scraped on one side of the leaf only, a considerable portion of silica is left upon the other which no after process can remove. Take this away, and you have a fibre that will realise manilla prices, probably in excess of them. , .. .. This Maori manipulation is. however, impracticable from the great waste made, and the small product per diem unless means can be found to dissipate one, and irreatlv increase the other, combined with scraping both sides of the leaf, by the introduction of machinery, worked bymanual power for such a purpose. The phorninm mills were undoubtedly fast consuming their supply of that material, cropping it as they did close to the roots. After the second and third cutting the vitality of the plant was destroyed, and however successful, therefore, the operation might have proved, unless cultivation had been resorted to, it must soon have collapsed. There is, however, a vaufe - quantity growing wild throughout these islands, but it la scattered and uatchy and will not be available unless machinery for cleaning can with the greatest facility be shifted about it. , . ~ . , , Belfast spinners entirely depend for their supply of Irish flax upon the small farmers, who grow and steep it in the summer, scutch and dress it in the winter months, thus producing, with considerable expenditure of labor, though unfelt from the employment of their children, a vast supply, for which they readily find a remunerative market. Such would be the case with many of our farmers and small settlers if the opportunity can be afforded them « f dressing phormium by the introduction of a simple machine. They would then plant it upon - their ditches and many comparatively useless spots * upon their farms, dressing it at their leisure time. Further two men with a light portable machine v could, after exhausting the supply in one spot, journey to another, making a large return for their labors, with a ready sale for their fibre at every country The Maoris would then likewise produce considerable quantities, and in this way the wild phormium of the country would become utilised, a great deal be cultivated in small patches, and a large quantity of really valuable fibre find its way into our merchants’hands for shipment. , . , ... \n operation of this description becomes very profitable where there is no heavy outlay, as in mills, for rent overseeing, fuel, &c.. and if accomplished, cannot fail to prove of great benefit to the colony at The problem to be solved was its practicability by the production of the machine. The phormium has hitherto proved itself the most tenacious of the world’s fibres to perfectly extract from it gnramv and deleterious matters; and when it is considered that six horse-power—equal to fortyeight men—could barely drive a Price’s Stripper to half-clean a leaf of it, it appears preposterous to suppose that any mechanical means could bo discovered to efficiently do so by the aid of one man alone. In addition, it was required of this machine to exceed the Maori principle, by scraping perfectly clean both sides of the leaf, and without any waste, as to make it a remunerative undertaking, both quality and quantity were essential. Experience has now shown that it can be accomplished. A machine has been invented, the capability of which to effect all that is required will be readily understood by the following description of the simplicity of its modus operandi, and its power to drive being easily created by one man without any ufidue exertl<A light cylinder— similar to a fly-wheel—is fitted by a crank shaft and made to revolve 100 revolutions per minute by the well-known treadle action as used for lathes, looms, &c. This cylinder is 42in. in diameter, and at regular distances are securely fixed upon its surface twelve spring steel scraping knives. . Two small fluted rollers are likewise connected with the crank shaft, revolving 225 revolutions per minute, through which the phormium leaf is fed into the cylinder in any desired quantityinside these rollers, and between the lower one and the cylinder, is a flat steel plate, fixed upon sliding gear, to enable it to be brought into any desired contact with the revolving spring scraping knives. Fixed upon a wooden frame 4ft. high, 3ft. long, and Ift. wide, this constitutes the complete machine, with the treadle, ready for work. The natural inquiry will now be, how can this machine operate effectually with such trifling power as one man can apply, who likewise feeds it? The reason why is readily explained. This flywheel or cylinder is very large for such a purpose, namely, forty-two inches diameter, but experiment proved it was essential in . order to take advantage of the large flat surface it offers, near the periphery line of its circle, as with this it requires only one thirty-second of an inch deflection of the spring knife to scrape over of the phormium leaf at each contact. Now, these scraping spring knives are set at an angle in the cylinder, to cause them to glide over the surface of the fixed steel plate as they revolve, without percussion, and, consequently, without resistance to the treadle action, and on one of the split phormium leaves being carried between them, the upper side of it is scraped for IJin., and the gummy and deleterious matter, which lies entirely on the surface, completely removed for that distance. As the small rollers supply the exact quantity for each respective scrape, this side of the leaf is*rapidly completed, and the operation repeated upon the other leaves the fibre intact and uninjured. The product is white glossy fibre that will be improved in softness and spinning qualities by soaking for an hour in running water, but may be dried without any bleaching, and will require no further manipulation. The mechanical mode of scraping, and the quality of the fibio produced being established, an equally > consideration is the quantity such a : machine will pro-ince of the dressed phormium. y The length of the scrape, l|m., enables the feeding rollers to be rapidly driven, viz., 226 revolutions per " minute. Each of these resolutions feeds in fiin. of the phormium leaf, amounting to 2025 in. per minute. The cylinder making 100 revolutions per minute has twelve knives, each scraping at every contact on the steel plate l-jin., and to allow for any discrepancy between the scrapes, is, therefore, regulated to clean 2looin. 2025 in. equal 170 ft. phormium, or 42 leaves 4lt. *° The weight of the green split leaf of 4ft., without any of the butt attached, averages only 1£ ounces, amounting, therefore, to 03 ounces or 4lbs. per minute. . . But having to repeat the operation by scraping the two sides, the quantity is reduced one half, or 21bs., making 120 lbs. per hour of the green phormium fed into the machine. From this 120 lbs. the yield of fibre without any waste should be one-fifth, but taking it one sixth, the result shows the machine in constant work to be capable of producing 201bs. of clean fibre per It only remains to be stated that this treadle-action may be dispensed with, where other power is obtainable. One horse—or a small supply of water—would drive' many of these machines ; or, advantage might be taken of a small windmill (which could be made portable), similar to those used on board the coalhulks for pumping water. If any such motive power is employed, a small portion of the butt of the phormium could be used, and the machine then driven quicker, to turn out a much larger quantity : but, it must bo well understood, that the treadle-action is not intended to dress these butts, four feet from the tip being about the length of the thin part of the leaf. The fibre is much increased in value without them, and tho plant uninjured in the cutting. The simplicity of the machine, in which there are no parts liable to disarrangement, or requiring skilled workmen to look after, is a sufficient guarantee of the wear and tear being reduced to a minimum. Their cost being very little in excess of a Price’s Stripper, will prove no obstacle to their adoption. The value of this discovery at this opportune moment will, I hope, be appreciated, as I trust and believe that it will create a new era of great prosperity for the broken-down phormium. the export of which from the dressing-mills fell off In 1874 to the extent of £21,213 in value. Any further information required will be gladly afforded.—l am, &c., _ CIIAS. J. POWUAI/L. Wellington, February, 1875.