NEW ZEALAND FLAX: WILL IT PAY?

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIII, Issue 3122, 19 July 1867, Page 4

NEW ZEALAND FLAX : WILL IT PAY ?

To the Editor of the Daily Sottthern Cross. Sir, — A long letter with the above heading appeared recently in your columns, the author of which was Mr. James Robertson, of Mangere. It is much to be regretted that a gentleman who, from his .previous connection with the manufacture of cleaned flax, might be looked upon as 'something of an authority on the subject, should endeavour to dishearten those who are endeavouring to utilise an abundant natural product of the country. It is most important that every man who is possessed of the least degree of public spirit should, to the best of his ability, aid and foster every attempt to develop the resources of the country, and thus strive to raise it from its present state of depression. Public-spiritednesB does not, however, seem to be a weakness of Mr. Robertson, if we may judge from the complacency with which he relates how closely he has always buttoned up his pockets against the insidious advances of those -who offered him "a share in their works," — not an unnatural thing for them to do, considering that he, as a worker of flax, had an interest in their success. I trust, before I have finished, to prove that the effectual cleaning of New Zealand flax is not so hopeless an event as Mr. Robertson would have us believe ; and, even by that gentleman's own showing, the excellence of the fibre is such that the object is well worthy of the attempt. Unquestionably, Mr. Robertson gives us a formidable array of failures in efforts to clean the New Zealand flax, ending with the most ignominious of all, the addling of the egg that was laid with so much labour by the joint efforts of Mr. Finlay MacMillan and Mr. Frederick Whitaker. In one respect all these attempts, with the exception of MacMillan's and the earlier efforts of Mr. Whytlaw (not Whitelaw), were all conducted on the same principle. They all sought to clean the fibre of the Phormium tenax by mechanical means. In the details they differed totally. Some acted by percussion, stamping, or beating the green leaf of the flax; othera by tearing it in the manner of heckles, by circular motion or otherwise. Mr. Whytlaw's last experiment was' an attempt to remove the vegetable matter ,by means of friction, in a manner intended to imitate the action of the jaws and teeth of a cow in chewing the leaf. In no case, so far as I am aware, was any effort made to prepare the, leaf by any chemical treatment for the subsequent mechanioal manipulation to which it was subjected. Now, I would beg leave to suggest that the chief error of our flax-dressers has been upon this very point. The Phormium tenax is, as ita name implies, a very tenacious and refractory plant. The difference in thickness. of different parts of the same leaf points' it out as difficult to deal with by merely mechanical means. But, besides this, most of the mechanical methods hitherto tried involve the separate handling of each separate leaf of flax. Now there' are in a ton of flax about forty-five thousand leaves. The mere once handling of each separate leaf would be no 'inconsiderable task, and one which would add greatly to the/ cost of the undertaking. The best sample of machine-cleaned flax I ever saw was prepared by Mr. Cole ; of Papakura, but his process labpurs under this difficulty. He produces a splendid fibre, and saves the vegetable matter as food for cattle, but will, I fear, hardly make it to pay. It may be objected that the want of success which attended Mr. Whytlaw's earlier efforts would seem to deter people from the employment of chejnical appliances. But the fact of one failure is not! conclusive against the system. Moreover, it is provable that the solvent employed by Mr. Whytlaw) was a solution of caustic potash. Similar treatment would reduce wool or silk to precisely a ain^lar state to that in which Mr. Robertson describes the flax to have been ; yet that is no argument against the utility of those two. substances.

European flax and hemp are \>y no inc-ins nieh intractable plants to deal with a.a"tl e Niw Zealand flax. Yet in the cane of both of them the chemical prooesH of retting is resorted to before auy purely mechanical process is adopted. The 01 dinary mode of retting does not answer in the ca*e of New Zealand flax, in consequence probably of the intimate manner in which the vegetable matter is miy ' with the fibre. 1 here if, however - • -^'. U P proved mode of retting ~ " s - *** »« rav which consists * ,o. «»itod Schenoks mofchod, fc y S • m keeping the flax for some in water, at a high but uniform temperature, and this mode might not improbably be found to answer in the case of New^ealand fl* 3^ At all events, the attempt, tdrf nd out a means of cleaning this flaiis n6t no' h^pele^s is Mr. Kobertson would have ua believe. The matter is' purely one of experiment; - and those •who do not venture can ,neyer win< < 1 am glad to find that Mr. Robertson promises us a disquisition on European flax and hemp. It is to ' 'be hoped that his decision will be more favourable in the, case of these plrn'i than in that of the phormium tenax.— I am, &c, 1 1 ; Colomist.