PHORMIUM TENAX.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2334, 2 June 1887, Page 3

PHORMIUM TENAX.

TO THE EDITOR. , Sir, —Times of great depression in the value of property, and cunsequently commercial interests, with money scarce and dear, aud every prospect of further taxation upon a population already heavily burdened, should call forth all the energy aud ability possessed iudividually and collectively to improve our position. Upon these grounds I ask the Now Zealand press generally to publish this communication, because I am satisfied it will surely lead up to very important results to the Colony at large. Protection to native industries is not my object. lam an advocate pleading the cause of a " fallen weed," the victim of combined mismanagement and ignorance but a weed that will yet prove, when fairly done justice to, one of the mainstays of this Colony. Phormium Tenax commonly known as New Zealand flax (who christened it?), is indigenous to this soil- It carries a misnomer. It has no ultimate fibre similar to the flax or nettle species. It belongs to the hemp category, and if tested chemically far enough would entirely dissolve. The true linum, like Irish 'flax or rliea grass, has this ultimate fibre with tapering ends, and would yield under the same treatment fibres worth £300 per ton, or more when bleached for lace or mixing with silk. Dissecting the leaf of this phormium tenax I will explain its growth and contents. The leaf springs from a bulb, first producing the butt, which throws out a leaf divisible into two distinct blades. The outer coating of these divided leaves are composed of cellular tissue, charged with green colouring matter, by which the plant is fed from the moisture it principally thrives upon. The inner covering is of quite a different nature, being composed of siliceous matter emanatiug from the butt of the leaf, which, if split open, is found to contain this resinous or gummy substance, and is intended for thesupport of its growth often reaching 12ft high. If we can remove these two surfaces, this is what we shall find embedded between them. A layer of brilliant white fibre, positively soaking in its own essential oil, fromjwhich it receives its true nourishment. Cut off this leaf and dry it, and you w ill find this siliceous matter becomes the hardest of cements, which 110 after process can dissolve, and the fibre enclosed in it is entirely destroyed. These explanations naturally lead up to the most important part of my letter, is — That all the so-called New Zealand flax hitherto sent Home and produced with the loss of more than half a million of money, never did get rid of this silica by any process employed, and the result therefore, viz.—the failure—is readily accounted for. Thrashed through a socalled stripping machine, driven at a very high velocity, which reduced it into very thin strips, washed, grassed, and turned for weeks then scutched, where one-third went into worthless tow, all the silica still remained fixed upon it, and the remanet was little better in appearance or value than dried hay. One more important point remains for consideration. Can any soft fibre in its growth be submitted to concussion without injury. It is simply impossible. The natives of this country knew much more about it; they employed no concussion, and thus it is in other parts of the world. Manilla pi-odnces 50,000 tons from the wild plant, hand-scraped, and all the ingenuity of English and Americau engineers have never supplanted the operation, the reason being, they employed concussion. Now this question of concussion has led up to a now theory. Can we avoid it by mechanically Imitating this Maori scrape? There was, unfortunately, no existing machinery for a guide, and the difficulties therefore have been manifold, the labour incessant, and the expense of casting off trial after trial as useless, somewhat discouraging. Perseverance, however, generally conquers, and we have now this mechanical result. The fibre, with the surfaces of the leaf planed off, as delivered from a machine, are intact, artificially dried, and completed ready for bailing for the market in 30 minutes. A brilliant, glossy, silky fibre of great strength, "the true phormium tenax its only ultimate fibre being one true, fine thread, divisible from the bulk from the whole length of the leaf intact, and uninjured. The weight of the product from its own oil, bulk for bulk, is 25 per cent, heavier than the dried hay arrangement. It is a fibre that will manufacture iuto canvas, coarse sheeting, towelling, &c., a fibre that will take a special position for itself ; a fibre which will put all jute aud shoddy into the shade ; a fibre that will blend with Italian hemp worth £65 per ton; a fibre the best of its class the world producos, It is uneessary to further eulogise. Offers have been air ready made from one Melbourne firm to contract for 1000 tons, and a similar offer from an English firm for the same amount at a high figure are the best proofs of its value. The labour expenses are reduced to a minimum—say, at least, 50, and the value of product 100 per cent., aud upward, The whoie system of working becomes similar to a wool-mill, or a manufactory, no outside weather arrangements being required, and its position reduced, therefore, to a certainty; the green material, being treated one day, is bailed the following one, and therefore a true estimate of profit and loss can be ascertained, a fact never before discovered under the old system. For my part, I cannot undertake to enter into any controversy of the merits or demerits upon the subject of which I have written. Facts, however, speak for themselves, and many of our leading mercantile firms, engineers, and old flax-dressers will verify the assertion made that "the problem is solved." Personally, I shall' be glad to interview auy one interested, but after forty years' study of the world's fibres—for I have been left alone to per- ; severe with the phormium—the spots in the leopard skin which you cannot rub out are fast beginning to fade away. The time has come when New Zealand can not only recoup all its losses, but carry on the increase of its exports for this material to a very large evtent,— I am, (fee., C. J. Pownall.