NEW ZEALAND ELAX

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIII, Issue 3231, 23 November 1867, Page 4

NEW ZEALAND ELAX

The following extract has been furnished to us to vi by a firm in town :— There is some of the hackle-dressed kind so very ibrong and harsh that it is useless for any description of rope-making ; in fast, it is more of the nature of wood than fibre. From the shape of the bundles, and the mode of making them up, it appears to me that this strong kind is the sole production of certain parties working where this description of flax grows, and is not mixed up with other of a finer kind, If this supposition is correct, you must avoid buying it. Amongst the backle-dreised there ia some of a green colour that appears to be prepared by simply hackling the green leaves without boiling or steamring ; at all events, it is simply leaves hashed up, And will rot in three or four months. I bought a parcel here some time back, and found it was partly rotten. There are two kinds of machine-dressed ; they are the same in general character as what I bad before, but not so well dressed. The kind in small bundles has pieces of the leaf left entirely undressed at either end, and this undressed leaf is very hard, and the difficulty of dressing it is increased by the inequality of the root end of the' fibre. There are likewise in both sorts undressed pieces of the leaf running from end to end that will not drest, and have to be picked out, which takes a good deal of time and expense. I examined, yesterday, a quantity of flax on board the ' Alice Cameron, 1 which is going to Melbourne, which I consider is a good lot, and properly got up. Could you not send me some of a similar kind ? I can assure you I would much rather pay a good price for a good article than hare inferiorsoits at any price.