THE FLAX SECRET DISCOVERED.

West Coast Times, Issue 181, 18 April 1866, Page 3

THE FLAX SECRET DISCOVERED.

MB. M'MIIiLAN's MIOCEBS MADE KNOWN. The discovery of a process by which the phormium tcnaxi or New Zealand flax, may be cleansed of the gummy substance which has hitherto alone »tood in the way of its competition with European flax, cannot be overrated in the important results vrhieh it may bring to this and other provinces in New Zealaud. A short time since, the public were made aware that amongst those who professed to have discovered this long-sought process was Mr Finlay M'Millan, now of Tailranga, an old and well-known settler. Mr M'Millau has divulged his secret to his Honor the Superintendent for the public benefit. It is a very simple process, but it frequently happens that the oolu« tiona to most difficult problems are, when made known, found to be so simple that every one wonders they have not been discovered long before. The flax ia, it appears, boiled in a preparation of cowdung and water, after which process the gummy portion of the stalk at once parts from the fibre, and is ready for dressing to the required degree of fineness. So simple a process as this is within the reach of every man in whose neighborhood the flax grows or can.be grown, and thus the preparation of flax as an export may become a regular operation of industry on almost every farm in the province, enriching the European population, and the country collectively, by the establishment of a large and paying export. The making known this discovery at the present time is most opportune. There may be but little truth in the forcible word pictures which have been presented of late to the Auckland public, of alleged distress in the Waikato districts, amongst the military settlers ; but it is certain that the placing such an opportunity of working up raw material, growing at their very doors into a valuable marketable commodity ,!will do much to enable them to settle more comfortably and successfully on their lands than they could otherwise have done. At Opotiki, too, we have half-a-million of acres of splendid land, the greater portion of which is covered with the native flax. Who can doubt but that the settlement of this land will be greatly facilitated by the means thus placed in the hands of those who may settle upon it of having a marketable produce which they can almost at once, and from time to time, send to market. Opotiki, as well as Tauranga, may now be considered open for sale. The natives of the district are completely subdued. They declared themselves still believers in the Hauhau superstition, but they have given in a most unqualified submission to Colonel Lyon, yielding up native trophies of such value in their own eyes as proves the sincerity of their submission. As will be seen by the letter of our correspondent, they are determined on effecting the capture of the arch-traitor Kereopa himself. To return, however, to the more imme* diate subject — the process of Mr M'Millan. It will of course be evident to anyone acquainted with the merest rudiments of chemistry, that if a solution of cowdung has the effect stated/upon the flax, that effect is owing to some one or more of the component parts of the cow-dung. These, in other and more convenient forms, can of course be supplied in quantity, and therefore, to give full value to the discovery, it remains to be tested what quality or qualities combined which may be found in cow-dung is the substance that has the effect upon the flax. — New Zealand Herald.