DE-SEEDING OF LINEN FLAX
BLENHEIM FARMER'S INVENTION TESTS BY GOVERNMENT OFFICERS DEVELOPMENT OF DOMINION PRODUCTION [United Press Association] BLENHEIM, This Day. A linen flax ile-seediijg machine, the invention of a Blenheim farmer, Mr C. J. Lucas, of Dillon’s Point, is undergoing tests prior to inspection this week by Mr R. B. Tennent, Director of Primary Production, and other Government officers who are to visit Blenheim in connection with the campaign to induce farmers to grow more linen flax.
Since practically all foreign supplies of linen flax have been cut off as the result of the war, the part the Dominion has to play in its production becomes of the greatest importance, consequently the success of this machine is linked closely with the future of a young industry. Test operations are proceeding at Marshlands, near Blenheim, where the whole of 250 tons of linen flax from the 10C acres grown in Marlborough this year has been assembled for treatment. These crops produced magnificent samples of both fibre and seed, and as the seed is being saved to build up stocks for increased sowings in the coming season, the work of Mr Lucas's machine is especially important. Imported machines which have been tested have proved unsatisfactory, but the Blenheim invention appears to be entirely successful. It is capable of dealing with a ton of flax per hour, extracting one and a half to two-hundred-weight of seed employing three men, compared with the Belgian machine which handled only three tons daily and required five operators.
Provided the equipment passes the official trials it will be taken over by the Government, and about 40 machines will be built for linen flax factories in different parts of New Zealand. The processing of linen flax is also the subject of experimentation at Marshlands, where Mr L. C. Chaytor, who for many years has advocated the establishment of the industry in the Dominion, is erecting a plant which promised to reduce the time factor materially.
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Bibliographic details
Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 26 June 1940, Page 4
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328DE-SEEDING OF LINEN FLAX Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 26 June 1940, Page 4
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