The Evening Star. FRIDAY, JULY 1, 1870.

Auckland Star, Volume I, Issue 149, 1 July 1870, Page 2

The Evening Star. FRIDAY, JULY 1, 1870.

There is something in the mind that prompts people to sympathy with one that is figntiug against heavy odds, and this principle cannot but be moved in relation to the phormium tenax. Ii has had a heavy battle to fight, but assure as there is strength in its fibre si sure will it drive its competitors fron. thefield. In its own valuable ingrediente fcaa been Us greatest difficulty, and tlk very tenacity with which its gum holdshe place which nature gave it, whilt cieai.ng difficulties in our first relations, and resisting our skill and. effort to subdue it i the strongest prooi of its value when we find somi simple key to the secret of ii _. enacity. Had the qualities of the fibre aud the qualities of the gum been such as to admit of easy separation, it would have given us no such evidence of the inherent goodness of each ; and we may rest assured that the Creator never gave such stamina to phormium tenax without intending chat that plant should yet be applied to useful practical purposes.' There is at present a cloud over the prospecte of New Zealand flax growers ; but it its not a cloud without a silver lining ; and though the market value of the fibre has been suddenly depressed, every day and every mail are bringing something fresh to dispel the fears, and give us brighter hopes of the speedy triumph of our noble fibre. It is charged against it that it has failed for shipping purposes. In a southern papt-.r we find correspondence from a ship master stating that he hao thoroughly tested it in lengthened and trying voyages, and subjected Manilla rope to similar and simultaneous trial. " In the wet weather " he says, " going 'Around the Horn we found the New ■ " Zealand flax rope much more pliable "than the Manilla j in fact when the " Manilla rope was quite hard and > " wiry, the -flax rope was as pliable as " the Europe hemp rope;" and he addß " So far as my own experience goes, 1 > " should use it for running gear in " preference to Manilla rope" Ihe New Zealand flax again has bean j mixed with ManiLa fibre and twisted into cordage and has been found to fail. The secret in this has also come | to light. It is acknowledged that the 1 flax is liable to stretch at first, and [j that to an unusual extent; so. thai I when" mixed with the Manilla, the strain is divided; wholly thrown al ] first on the banana fibre, and then ] when it has snapped subjecting * the fibre of the Phormiuut ■ -fe_a_ to a trial for which it was not intended j That any thing else, should have reg* suited was not to be expected. Tht|f New Zealand fl x has quail ties, peculiali to itself, and by those qualities r >mts nature gave tliem it is prepacked to stand or fall itself. But while there is no doubt that difficulties have been encountered x|n.

utilising the New Zealand flax, we think that the heaviest trial it has had is tha Unfair treatment that it has experienced in home commercial circles. A combination against it is no longer hinted at, but broadly stated ; and we see nothing unreasonable, but wholly to the contrary, in the supposition, j Commercial relations have been esfcablished in Oriental trade, and the! rupture of these relations would necessarily be attended with inconvenience, if not loss. Everyone knows how intricate are the involvements of commercial exchanges, and what losses would result in the sudden depreciation of the value of any commodity, for example tea. If any leaf, ;easily procurable, was suddenly found to have all the properties of tea, taste, flavour and effects, and all in a higher degree, and more agreeable, if possible, to the palate, so much so as to present the prospect of supplanting the Chinese article, it would be looked on as the blackest of disasters to Oriental merchants; and we have no doubt that every effort that commercial ingenuity could invent, would be set in motion to avert the coming ruin, or to give at least sufficient time for stocks to be cleared off, and new commercial relations to be formed. .New Zealand flax has that in it which will put banana fibre to rout; and not all the calumny and villainy that commercial trickery can devise will avail. And while it is a duty which the people of New Zealand should feel and act upon, to thoroughly and honestly try our fibre in its application to local manufacture, we see more than a ray of hope in the fact that hundreds of tons of the fibre are being bought up in the youth by agents, for exportation to America, vvhere our future staple will have the honest • test of Yanltee, downright, straightforward, practical clear-sigh 1> jdiiess.