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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 14, Issue 717, 13 September 1869, Page 4

Dirty Maoris.—The Evening Post, ;30th August, contains the following : "Preparing the Supreme Court House for -jthe quarterly sitting of the Court has proved no joke on the present occasion, the amount of dirt left hehind by the Maori suitors in the Land Court, and their wit reuses, being something almost ine edible. The disappointed claimants seem to have shaken "the dust from their feet " to some purpose ; doubtless to mark their extreme dissatisfaction. One would think that after ♦lie sweet odours which now prevail are dispelled, his Honor will pause before again giving his permission to turn the Coirt into a runanga house. Moxstkr Nuggets.—The Northern Ar gus (llockhampton) of a recent date says: —On Wednesday a monster nugget, weigh- 1 in» 2580zs BJwts, was brought into. Boc- \ hampton. It was found by a little boy pf ni'te years of ag \ the son of Mr Cadden. pn Mount Whe ler, Cowarral. It is a beautiful specimen of pure gold, s'ighth •naterworn in parts, anil is valued at £l per ounce. It was discovered a few inches below the surface, on the top of a slight ridge, near to a place where many small nuggets have been lately picked up. had the news of this rich find spread over the town, when another nug get was brought in, weighing 1790zs 14d wts, the property of Mr Luckrnan, and found within, a few inches of the one first un-j also by a boy. Flax. —Ths process of dressing thoroughly the phormium tenax—freeing it alike from gum andhusk, without injuring the fibre, in an expeditious manner —must be considert d as solved at 1 mgth, and to the Province of Otago is due the bo :or of having done so. Mr John Booth, a Yorkshire manufacturer, residing in Dunedin, has obtained a patent fcr a machine on a new principle, by which the fibre is completel cleaned. Specimens of the flax dressed by it, somewhat resembling white silk, may be seen at the Museum. The principle of the machine is simply scraping on a spring surface, the spring surface being a fixed roller covered with india-rubber. The maphine is capable of dressing ten blade:(five leaves) of fl ;x at one time, and docs it as fat as it can be frd, the motive power for driving it being only about halfra-hors* power. Machinery to wash, wring, and dry in one. process can also be applied Ouinj; fo their being no india-rubber workin this or the adj icent colonies, the machines must necessarily be made in linglaud, and a gentleman now in Wellington is about to proceed to England by the piail for the purpose of getting some made.