THE FLAX INDUSTRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81894, 27 November 1906, Page 4

THE FLAX INDUSTRY.

"The flax industry is simply ; n i'> rnraiicy,' staled All C. J. 1-ulton, I chief Fibre Expert, to a "Lytteltoii limes'' importer 011 Friday. "-No one knows what it wil, develop into at nraiur.ty. in 1030 Mr joiin Murray wrote an account of the New Zealand liax iuuus.ry w a b.>ok the pai.er or '.ihicn was entirely made of ila.\. Ihat paper is the nearest imitation ol parcumeut i have evvr That is one uf tire lines of development. Another is tue making) of lrnerr and various kinds of fabric. When ti.e Japanese representatives were here 1 took them round some AucklunU rope walks. 1 know thai for the last ten or twelve years Japan had been importing liax, and i asked them what she did with it. The i«'p y was thai it was used for making handkerchiefs. This is very suggestive, especially when 011 c remembers that Japan has not had i.ur b<st quality llax by any means—rne'ely seconds and thirds. We hope to do something, too, in the way of introducing flax-milling machinery. At present none of the machines the flax in a manner at all equai to handwork. Tlicy bruise the fibre 100 much, and preclude al. possibility of ih(J finest of work. The old Maori process was all handwork, purely mechanical. They removed the cuticle and much of lire fibre, too (which would be a .oss), but what they did leave '-was perfectly good and true. With hand-dressing you can refine the fibre until it looks 'ike a cobweb—till the eye gets tired of it looking for the thread, so fine has it become. Think of what is means ill die manufacture of fabrics, with a fibre from 3ft to 12ft long, 1 r even longer." He conceded 't' at chemical processes would produce a silken texture, but weakened the fibre.