FLAX PREPARATION.—NEW MACHINE.

Southland Times, Volume VI, Issue 491, 11 June 1866, Page 3

FLAX PREPARATION.—NEW MACHINE.

Last Saturday we published a letter ■ from Mr. P. J. Wilson, of Taranaki, describing a machine which, he had contrived for cleaning ilax, and the same day "sve were requested by Messrs. Eraser and Titrae to visit their engine shops to look at a machine, similar in every respect to that which Mr Wilsou had described^ •which they had completed by way of < experiment. We were unable to pay our promised visit to the works until yesterday, when we had the pleasure of seeing how very correct the principle of the machine was. With a few alterations in ■construction, it is quite certain that the little machine in question, which may he made for about £8, will clean one hundred flax leaves per hour. The flax isfiratboiled, and then fed into the machines, and when it has passed through beneath the beaters on the cylinder, all that remains to be done Is to rinse the fibre in water. There is no .waste, and the fibre is quite uninjured. The vegetable and gummy particles are ■also entirely removed, and a strong white fibre is the product of the machine. Having ■seen the various processes tested for cleaning and preparing New Zealand flax for market, that to which we now call attention is the most effectualandeconomical in time ■and labor. Messrs Eraser and Tinne deserve the utmost credit for their persevering efforts to produce a cheap and perfeet°m.-i chine for preparing the mdi- - - genous fias of this colony. We trust they '- will reap that pecuniary beneiit which they liave earned by their perseverance- and skill. With regard to Mr Wilson's cornj.^. xaiini cation, unreserved and v coujplete as it. respect of •tfie^.onkfeuctioiiJiif- iV--machine, the fact that Messers Fiv.s.r sui-i Tinne have elaboval-e-!-<•»•«! 1...;!<•"••* T>oes i-a* 'iJiis.vr wr '>rrr;o" iV'.m vu v>- ■>: