NEW ZEALAND FLAX.

Manawatu Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 4404, 13 October 1934, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND FLAX.

CELLULOSE CONTENT

TESTS MADE IN SWEDEN

The consignment of 20 tons of green flax leaf which was shipped at Auckland early in September by New Zealand Pulping Mills, Limited, for a test to be made overseas of its suitability for the manufacture of cellulose pulp, is expected to reach England this week. The chairman of the company, Mr J. D. Renton, states that the company’s chemist, Mr A. D. Collins, has already arrived in London.

One of the company’s directors, Mr L. J. Keys, who is also in London, has made arrangements for the treatment and testing of the flax by Boring and Co., Limited, of Karlstad, Sweden, under a new process evolved) by Mr Collins. Advice from Mr Keys also indicates that six tests have already been made on flax taken Home by him, and the tests proved successful in establishing the fact that the cellulose pulp so produced contains a very high cellulose content, and is comparable with a high gracte pulp produced in France. These tests were carried out by the chemist of Boring and Co., Limietd, Mr Ivnutz, a scientist, who had the use of the laboratories of the S'wedish National Institute of Technology and its testing apparatus. In view of the results, Mr Renton states the outlook for the future of the industry appears to be bright.