The Southland Times. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1869.

Southland Times, Issue 1182, 15 December 1869, Page 2

The Southland Times. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1869.

It would' be L a ' matter for permanent regret were anything at the present moment to interfere -wiLh, or retard the efforts being made to develope our flax manufacture. The raw material is abundant, the market for the prepared article almost limitless, the business seems a profitable one, and hundreds, it may be saicl, are anxious to embark in it. The only obstacle in the way of its rapid . expansion, is one which has just recently cropped up, and which should be removed as soon as possible,, viz., the uncertain position of persons occupying land, other than freehold, for the purpose of utilising the flax growing thereon. In this province a check has been given to several contemplated operations, through doubton this point, originating in, or at all events increased by, the appearance of an advertisement bearing the, signature of the Commissioner of Wasfe Lands, .cautioning all. and. sundry*, against " removing flax from the waste lands of the Crown, and public reserves," and threatening the " utmost rigor of the law" upon those who contumaciously set J the warning at defiance. As conserva- ' tor Of Crown Land, the Commissioner has, of course, the right to prohibit its being tampered with, but so far as regards the, "publio reserves," we believe they have passed altogether from under his jurisdiction, and that the Superintendent alone has the power of dealing further with them. The question of how "the flax crop is to be utilised; without infringing upon existing rights, upon open land, is surrounded with considerable difficulty. It has given rise to new considerations and combinations not provided for

by legislation. On freehold land, the flax of course belongs to the owner of the soil, and in that case the question is resolved only to one of private arrangement, but in. the case of . unsold land within the. Hundreds, and on runs, it is more complicated, at least where it is desired only to lease the land fbr the sake of the flax. An impression prevails that the Waste Land Board has power to .grant leases for, such purposes, but this is not the case. The only method it can "at present be dealt with appears to be t^ia; — The Superintendent can declare any area into reserves, to be ratified afterwards by act of Council, and can thereafter grant leases ofthe same for the term of three years, such leases being of course renewable. Within the Hundreds this course might not clash with any existing arrangements, but when put into operation /on runs, it would at once come into conflict with the rights of the squatter. Under the pastoral leases, as is well known, the tenant of the Grown has a claim for! compensation for any land sold upon his rnn dnrlncf .iAhe, . fiiirrflnc.V pf the lease. But there is no compensation , for land simply reserved from sale, inasmuch as, , in ordinary reserves, the squatter still has the privilege of its . pasturage. Should, however, reserves be made with the object of afterwards leasing the same for a flax manufactory, the question will arise whether the squatter is not in that case as much entitled to compensation, seeing that he will be deprived of its use as effectually as if it bad passed into the hands of. a freeholder. This is a point which will require attention, and the sooner it ia placed upon a settled footing the better. In the, meantime it might not be amiss to suggest to those contemplating the starting of mills,' the desirability .of their adopting tho simple arid profitable plan of purchasing the ground outright. There can be no doubt that the most successful manufacturers will be those who choose a good site and erect permanent buildings and machinery, cultivating the flax as they would any other material required in perfection. But even in the case of those who would prefer only to cut the original crop and then *' flit," the purchasing system would be the safest and most economical, for while they secured the undisputed .possession of the land as long as they desired, they eou.ld. always sell it at nearly, if not quite, its original cost, after they had done with it. The permanent cultivation principle is, however, the one -which, should be fostered, and the •one which is sure to be yet generally adopted, both on account of the stability it gives to the enterprise, and of, its being more profitable. The following" -very encouraging figures are extracted from an, article on the -subject; recently appearing in the Southern ■ Cross, and are worthy the notice of our readers .*--- --"It is a well-established theorem, .that a flax-bush, properly treated, will yield two crops a year, or^ ifo! other words, every -acjre ot* ground will ,pro,duce> 15 tons of green flax— bf fibre about; two tons.; :This, eold.at the low price of £20.. per ton, gives £40 per acre, or ,££o,ooo frotn a thousand acWsY Flax, like every other article ofj commerce, commands a price according to quality, inferior grades "being about £20 per ton, a tetter quality from £30 t6- £ 40£ while' extra' ■■ fine is worth £50 per ton. At the latter figure a thousand acres of flax-bush would produce £100,000 per annum. It -cannot be expected, however, that the entire product of an estate will be extra fine. A Mr way of arriving at the 'aggregate yield would be to divide the gross amount into first, second, and .third classes, and accept £40 as the mean price, which would give £80,000- a-year. The fuljlowing is an estimate of the cob t of preparing , . aud . putting , into; ,- ,market i four torisi ■ i ~ Depreciation' ;of v ma- ■*'■ chinery, 12s; eight 1 men's wages, 25s per weeky -£10; one*' man at engine, £1 15s ; twelve luds at 12s, £7 ( 4s ; twenty-four tons of green flax at 15s, i £18 ;! packing, baling, &c, £4 ; two- tons i Bc wt of coal at 20s, £2 8s ; freight, and , sundry other expenses, sjy £8 ; making , a total; of £51 19? for fonr tons, or, £12 * 193 9d for one ton. Deducting this sum ( from £50, the mean price of the fibre, we have £27 Os 3d left as a net profit per * ton, or £54,050 on the 2,000 tons of fibre , taken from 1,000 acres of land. The estimated cost of machinery is — An eight-* ] horse engine with Cornish boilei'Sj £200 ; four machines at £22, £88 ; scutching ' hooks, £15; one screw press,- £12 : ' building, £185 ; making the total colt of J mill £500. All -this-refers to the manu- ] factory of -indigenous flax 7 with present ' rude ; appliances' and comparatively 1 unskilled workmen. "Were it, like many •• other branches of industry, reduced to a •* science, the estates cleared off, the .best ■ quality of flax planted and properly < cultivated, gathered carefully, and manu- j factured with the view of producing the j finest and whitest fibre, the profits per i annum would be very largely increased." < ___

: : — ; — : — i A meeting'of the Committee of the Acclimati- < sation .Society took place at the Government Buildings on the 14th inst. Tbe Secretary * intimated the receipt of a clutch of pheasant's ' eggs from the Messrs Hill, and the despatch of i 50 young trout to the Waimea basin, under the ] care of those gentlemen. Of the remaining fish *j it was decided to put a number in the Waihopai, < a few in the Makarewa, and come in a suitable j oreek near Biverton. , 1

Should the day prove fine, a great treat is promised holiday-makers on the 3rd of next month, namely, a trip per steamer Phoebe to Buapuki and back, at a very cheap rate; We are requested to intimate that the prize list for the forthcoming Caledonian games will be published in our next issue. At the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday, 14th inst.) a youth of 14/ belonging topmost respectable family in town, was brought up on the charge of having stolen ajiook. From the evidence, it appeared that .on the. previous day the lad attended a sale of furniture, kc, held by Mr Osborne, in Don-street, that he picked up the book in question— rather a valuable one— and carried it off; that, when afterwards taxed with the theft, he denied it, but on being pressed, ultimately produced the volume from his bedroom. When asked whether he had anything to say for . himself, after the witnesses in the case had been heard, he said he had only taken the hook home | for his mother's approval, and had 1 afterwards forgotten all about it. The story was, however, evidently trumped up for the occasion, as he had i said nothing of the kind to the constable when ; apprehended. After a severe reprimand, his Worship sentenced him to 24 hours' imprisonment, and a flogging. A man charged with 1 being drunk and disorderly, was next placed in ' the dock, in the flrst instance with having I been) drunk on the previous evening, and in the Becond. with W*=B **"*<*» d obscene language in the public streets, and resisting the police when taken up . To the first charge he pleaded guilty, but professed ignorance of having committed the second. He was fined thirty shillings, in default, three days' imprisonment. The Taranaki Herald says :—" Captain Morshead has informed us that during last week, his bees have performed a feat hitherto unrivalled even in New Zealand, a last year's hive having swarmed four times in eight days. The i swarms he assures us, were all above the average size, and are now carefully housed, and can be seen by anyone." A Hamilton (Victoria) journal reports that a strange accident occurred lately at Mr M'Kellan's Strathkellow station, on which some deer are running. It seems that >a fine buck by rubbing his antlers against the fence, had succeeded in removing some palings, and he escaped firom h^ enclosure through the aperture so made. James Catton, the gardener, went up to the animal, wliich waß usually very quiet, and hadsucceeded in placing his hand upon him. The stag turned on him suddenly, and ripped the poor fellow's stomach in a frighful manner. G-eorge Lindsay, the groom, who was on horseback afc the time, came' up to render assistance, and for • that" purpose dismounted from his horse. The buck then attacked him and plunged his antlers into the left breast above the heart, penetrating a couple of inches. Had not the groom managed to scramble upon his horse and gallop away, worse might have befallen him, for the stag was preparing to renew the attack and chased him some .distance. ' On' getting off his horse, Lindsay found there had ■been ' Considerable loss of bipod from his wound. Both men are progressing towards recovery, although confined to their beds. In opening the proceedings of the - Supreme Court in Dunedin, Mr Justice Ward said: — " Before commenting • on -the cases to* be brought . before you , to-day, I cannot .. but advert to the great change that has taken place in the circumstances. i>f .the Colony, since the opening of the Court in December last, when I first addressed a Dunedin grand jury. The darkest cloud that overshadowed the prosperity of New Zealand was then lowering over the North Island. From day. to day tidings reached us of massacre and i murder ; of the abandonment of mile after mile of settled and cultivated districts to the havoc and ravage of the Maori foe. And owing to the success of the insurgent chiefs, a general rising of the Natives under the banner of the King was anticipated, to be accompanied by a simultaneous attack on all unprotected settlements ; coupled ; with this came an enormous war expenditure,' and an unprecedented depreciation in the Home price of the great staple export of wool. Andy though;, except in respect of the last two items, the material prosperity of Otago was not affected in any great degree, there can be no doubt that it w^s a period pf severe depression for the Colony at large — of utter ruin, for the time, to many districts. How. stand matters now ? The tide of war has rolled back from every British settlement, the settlers are re-occupying their homesteads and re-stocking their farms, while [the chiefs of the rebellion have fled before the Colonial troops, and many of their followers, convicted of high treason, are. now working as prisoners on the roads of Dunedin. The Successful visit of ' the Native Minister to the... chiefs of Waikato gives a fairer omen of permanent peace than any i occurrence since the commencement *of the Waitara war. Moreover, the Thames gold mines will soon drive a wedge to the heart of Waikato ; and no more certain method can be devised fpr binding the Maori chiefs over to keep the peace than the payment to them of heavy rents for their land. Lastly, the depreciation in the price of wool has turned a large amount of capital and labor into new channels, and the result has been, during the past twelve months, an extraordinary development of the trade in New Zealand flax. In the North a large proportion of this trade will be carried on by Maoris, who are already purchasing flax-dressing machines ; and we shall find that tho profitable industry thus initiated amongst them, will prove our best security against future disaffection. Altogether we may fairly hope that the Native difficulties, which have. so long retarded the progress of fcho Colony, may soon be happily ended, and that a day of peace and prosperity may shortly dawn on both .races. „ As . the wealthiest Province in New Zealand, Otago, although she has not suffered the most, has contributed the most to the expenses of the war, and has therefore good reason to re** joice at its approaching - termination, and every New Zealand colonist may well join in thanksgiving to the Almighty for the preservation of the Colony amid the perils of the past, and in prayer that under His guidance those now at the helm may steer the ship of State safely through the dangers that yet remain. A correspondent, writing to the Daily Southern Cross, says: — "I see, amongst the principles recommended for the preparation of New Zealand flax, one recommended by Dr Hector, which the people would do well to turn their attention td. The principle referred to is the hackling principle) or as Dr Hector designates it, the combing principle. Tbe machine recommended for this p irpose is styled by him a steel co-üb ; the

machine we v ged in Auckland for the above purpose we styled a hackle. The hackling principle produces the strongest fibre, inasmuch as it separates the fibres from the glutinous substance that surrounds, without bruising them, which is not the case by the beating or percussion principle. With regard to the profitableness of the hand-hackling, I would observe that an abie*-bp-i-d, >pati may earn 50s , pec^ weekf working " about nine hours "a day, providing he receives a reasonable price for his flax from the merch mfcs ; but if-he- were obliged to -sell-flax worth £38 "and" £40 per ton, at 143, 9s, and 3s 6d per cwt, as the hacklers had to do in 1867, then I should recommend him to discontinue hackling fl^x. Should the cultivation of flax provea success, which we have every reason for believing it will, other countries will not be slow in taking, the mitter up, especially countries whero thousands of emigrants are arriving annu.illy in need of employment. Such an article would not only give employment to the emigrants, but would prevent them from being compelled to' send large amounts of nnney to foreign countries for the purchase of rope materia'. The hand hackling machine is the only machine by which New Zealand flax can be profitably prepared by hand.'' The Q-awler Times (3. A.) writes : — lt will be remembered that at. the last Paria Exhibition our fellow-townsman, Mr James Dawson, obtained the prize for flour, and has not been forgotten by the Emperor of the French, who has recently sent an extensive order to the firm for the supply of a large quantity of flour for the use of the military establishment at New Caledonia. We understand the floor is required to be packed in barrels, and that for the next few weeks several coopers are likely to be engaged preparing the packages. A Uttle extra stir may therefore be expected at the Albion Mill. We are not aware of the amount or terms of the contract, hut we beheve for the next few months 1000 barrels, containing 100 tous of flour, will have to be delivered monthly at Port Adelaide. We may j congratulate Mr Dawson on the practical result whioh has arisen from his forwarding a sample of flour to the Paris Exhibition of 1867.