NEW ZEALAND FLAX.

Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 2026, 2 November 1869, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND FLAX.

The Taranaki Herald has been favored by Mr F. U. Glcdhill, with the following extract from a letter received by him from Mr James Hirst, of Halifax, England ; " I received a parcel containing two samples of flax from your province,—one dressed and the other in leaves as it was cut down. As it is the intention of some in New Plymouth to set up machinery for dressing the flax, and you wished to ascertain its value in the London market, I at once took the samples up to London, and spent a few days in getting the necessary information as regards the past, present, and future prospects of New Zealand flax. I was told that former importations were of so mixed a character—good, bad, and indifferent —as to make it unfit for the market without assorting; that its value was depreciated considerably more than if they had all been separated. At present a better article is coming into the market, and the importers arc making Large profits on it. Amongst others, three of the principal brokers in this trade gave me their opinions—showed me their sales and samples from them, which I compared with the dressed sample sent to me, but there was not one in the trade could show a sample equal to it, and some even went so far as to think it must be Manilla flax, which is the best that can bo got. Length and strength are the two great objects to be attained, and if silkiness can be got besides it is all the better—but, I suppose, the latter is got in the dressing. Now, if I am correct, a ton dressed wilt cost from L 6 to L 7. 1 am not aware what the waste is from the leaf, nor what kind it is, as a sample of it has not been set me ; if it had been, I would have ascertained its value in the market. It might be imported to pay well, perhaps ; if so, would make the other more profitable, and you will see by the account of the sales I enclose you, that there are various prices. They have been assorted, and I thought that the two bales, No. IT, producing L2B per ton, was only part of the waste which had come out of the other. The ten bales, No. 1, sold at L4O 5s per ton, was not equal to the sample sent; in fact, one said if I had sixty tons of that flax in the market, he would guarantee me L 45 per ton for it. The broker who had these eighty-two bales put into his hands to sell, said the importer told him he had made Lls profit at the prices sold at—say 130 tons would be a profit on the shipment of nearly L 2,000. Now the question is this, can these prices be maintained ?—some say not, as these sales of late have set the New Zealand houses here on the <1 ut vive, and who are writing to their .agents to send flax—hence, it is probable that the market may be overstocked. This is the reason given by some of the brokers. I shewed this sample to a member of a very old house who are chiefly in the Manilla flax trade, who, when he had compared it for a long time with all his Manilla samples, said it was worth LTD to L-4S per ton. I told him what other brokers had said about overstocking the market; he said they had been arguing upon assumptions which wore not correct. In the first place, they imagined New Zealand was full of this flax, whereas it was chiefly confined to certain diotricts in the Northern Island, and, perhaps, not aboveone-fifth would be equal to this sample. Another reason was this, that long and strong flax was mixed with the Manila for submarine cables, and as the supply from the latter country is limited, his opinion is that this long and I

strong quality will keep np its price for some years to come. The Manilla flax is about a foot longer and a little stronger than the sample sent me; but at the last sale the broker sold it for L 55 per ton, and the next he expects will sell for more, as the demand for submarine cable flax is on the increase, so many telegraph cables of this kind are wanted. He also says that the land which has grown this sample, with cultivation, would grow flax equal to Manilla. However, this is a question for you to consider, and I will write on the subject; for, if cultivated, you need only select the very best plants, as freight and charges are the same on the lowest quality as the best, I think the freight is heavy, viz., fd per lb, whereas wool is brought from Australia at Jd, and the latter is greater in bulk for the weight than the former.”