NEW ZEALAND FLAX.

Southland Times, Issue 1311, 23 September 1870, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND FLAX.

It is satisfactory to note the increased attention devoted to the, manufacture "of native flax. In the Legislative Assembly, Mr Fox brought forward a series of resolutions, amougst others the proposal that an exhibition confined to New Zealand should tako pl;ice during the next session of Parliament, and that £500 should be given in prizes. A. second resolution embodied the proposal that another exhi-. bitiou should be held in 1872 of every variety of flax in its natural, cultivated, prepared, or manufactured state, and that £2000 should be given in prizes open to the world. Although modified, these proposals have been so far adopted by the flax commission committee that it is more than probable samples of all varieties of fibre, prepared both in the colony and England, will be exhibited at Wellington during the next session of Assembly, and information furnished as to the result of all experiments made up to that time. The subject is one which is fast assuming an important place among the social problems of the day, hence the necessity of information anent it being fully ventilated. The following are a few items lately made public on the point: — Messrs S. Tully & Co., rope manufacturers, Fenchurch-street, London, give the following analysis of a few bales of fibre manufactured into rope. The fibre was from the mills of a Canterbury firm : — cwfc. qrs. lbs. Gross weight of flax received 18 2 10 Bands off same... Iqr 19 lbs Boards ....' 1 qr 11 lbs 0 3 2 Net weight of flax 17 3 8 Yielded when spun into yarn 16 1 11 Showing waste 1 1 25 Of this about 141bs would be tow and the remainder dust. We have made it into 10 coils of rope — tarred, weighing 20cwt Oqrs 51bs. It is very good rope, something like Manilla in appearance, only not so bright, and is of excellent strength, the yarns averaging 103 lbs breaking strain. We think the tar will preserve it, and cause it to wear well. It could be sold at 10s per cwt on the price of flax. One great drawback in the manufacture is the large amount of waste ; even in this parcel, which appeared tolerably clean, the waste is considerably in excess of any other fibre with which we are acquainted. At the last meeting of the "Wellington Philosophical Society, Dr Hector exhibited a sample of machine-prepared flax, received from Messrs Rees and Gibson, of Wanganui, by a new process known but to themselves as yet. The process, it is said, entails an additional expense of £6 per ton, but the sample possessed considerable lustre, and seemed to be entirely free from gum. He also said that experiments had recently been made in the laboratory between New Zealand flax and Manilla rope, which went to show that New Zealand rope shrinks up more tightly than Manilla after saturation by fresh or salt water, and on becoming dry is more loose and free in texture, showing that the former was more prone to absorb moisture. In looking over the laboratory papers, he discovered one by Mr Skey, which had! been overlooked during the enquiry of the Flax Commission, pointing to a solution of salt as being the next best detergent to soap of any solvent that had .been tried in 1866 (the time the paper was written) for eradicating the gum. A circumstance

was mentioned by the doctor that would point to the advisability of improving the flax plant by cultivation and selection, as he had seen a strip of flax of the variety known aa tihore, stripped of its outer covering by the finger nail. The Canterbury Flax Association offer a prize of £30 for the best dressed bale of flax, and £10 for the second best. Each bale must be not less than .3 cwt, and competitors must state cost of production, and mode of preparation. There must be three competitors, "or no prize will be awarded, and the flax must be exhibited at the Agricultural Society's Show in November next. The successful competitor will be called upon to produce 5 tons of fibre equal to prize sample, at a cost to be named by himself, but not to' exceed £22 per ton, baled up for shipment.