NEW ZEALAND FLAX.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 87, 30 May 1843, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND FLAX.

(From the Nelson Examiner.) We copy the following extracts from the Nelson Examiner, upon New Zealand Flax. In our next number we shall probably refer to the subject: — We cannot speak as to the general impression, but, for ourselves, we were very much disappointed at the result* of the meeting on the subject of the flax on Wednesday last. It is of course the most important reason for the disappointment that there does not appear at present any probability that anything worth speaking of will be done in establishing a manufacture of and trade in flax; there is also a little in the way of offended vanity, in having been misled into talking bigger than the circumstances justified, “but that’s not much.” The flax question still stands exactly where it did in our view, except as to the immediate prospect of realizing, which we had fancied would have been opened by the bringing together of the experimental producers of the partially manufactured article and the traders in it. That, when labour is cheap because food is cheap, the flax may be prepared so far as to be fit for exportation, and be sold in Europe at .a remunerating price, we entertain no doubt, but it would appear, from what passed on Wednesday, that we have been too sanguine as to tlie how soon. The case, as put by the experimenters, stood thus :

£2O 0 0 The cost, then, according to this, is to be 20/. per ton when on board the vessel. There are several questions to be asked, which it is important should be answered somehow, ,to enable us to proceed with any degree of safety in the endeavour to make the flax a regular remittance to England in return for the various necessaries and luxuries which we must (if we «an afford it) for many ye.ars «ontinue tp receive from her. Is this 20/., at the present rate of wages and prices, a fair and proper price to pay for the production of the article ? Can it not be produced for less, and yet return the producer a fair and reasonable profit for his outlay and labour ?—really a mpst important point to be determined. Who has looked into the statement laid before the meeting on Wednesday, with the view of discovering whether the sums set against the various items really express the necessary outlay ? We have only at present the presumption that a reasonably low estimate would have been put in, with a view to induce support; but there is at least a possibility (not meaning to assert a want of straightforwardness of those concerned) that, in the way of bar-gain-making, the highest rate may have been put forward, expecting some beating down, with a view to be secure of a good profit. We should be sorry to sav anything to throw discredit upon those to whose exertions we are indebted for even that, insight which, up to this time, we have been able to attain into the probable working of any established manufacture of the flax ; but they must, as men of the world, expect their plans and data to be open to a close scrutiny from thofee whose' support they ask, and whose interests are so much concerned in their feasibility and correctness. It is our own belief, produced upon such incomplete statements as are at present before us, that flax of the quality referred to, as subject to that cost, may be prepared and piit on board vessels in this harbour at a considerably lower figure than 20/. per ton. The cost of gathering such a quantity of the leaf as would produce one ton is 3/. Three toris of the leaf is allowed by those making this statement to be equal to one ton of the flax. A gentleman present at the meeting offered then, and has since repeated the offer, to provide the leaf at ten shillings per ton; and.he had experience to back his offer, for he has been in the habit of procuring the leaf for purposes independent of its manufacture into hemp or flax. Here is a difference of one-half—l/. 10s. for 31. This is something if correct, and suggests the possibility of a slight alteration in the other ,items. To leave this. Capital—who can and will afford to buy one hundred, or twenty tons of flax, and wait out of the money (to say nothing of the risk) until the return comes ? To take a hint from the “ Wellington Creed”—Do you believe in flax ? “ Yes.”

What is meant by believing in flax ? By believing in flax, I mean that the phofmium tenax may, at a certain price of labour and with a proper mode of preparation, become a formidable rival in saleability; Utility, and as a source of profit, to the Russian herfip, if not to the European flax. What do you mean Whefi you Say “ at a certain price of labour?*’ I iheanto express the necessity there is that labour should be brought down to the rate of old Countries before we can compete with them in atfy exportable production or manufacture, and to this it is essential that the prices of the necessaries of life should be also reduced to at least the old country rates.

According to that, then, it is your duty not to turn your attention to the production and manufacture of the flax until you have produced food for yourselves at a cheaper rate than it can be imported ? Decidedly, if we were in a less artificial state, and Could confine ourselves to the mere necessaries of life; that would be the more natural course.

What, then, do you conclude to be the effect, as regards the export of flax, of your being in this artificial state ? Why this —that, as our artificial tastes have produced what amounts to a necessity for importation of various luxuries, which in a less artificial state would have been subsequent to, not coexistent with, our first struggles to secure an existence, it amounts equally to a necessity to provide an export to pay for the imports, unless there be an existing capital which will provide the luxuries while the production of necessaries is proceeding, and so obviate the necessity of an immediate export. It is your opinion, then, that there is not sufficient capital here to do this ? I fear it is more than doubtful.

You think also, it is to be presumed, that the settlers will not, in the mean time, rest content without the luxuries you refer to ? Certainly. Nothing will bring them to that but necessity and a crisis. I need not explain what a crisis is.

No ; we are obliged to you. You may retire, say the examiners, long residence in the Australasian world having made such information unnecessary. Various offers were made on Wednesday, A gentleman would take any quantity if it were now ready, but could not undertake to purchase at any moment, as funds might be otherwise invested. He, nor any one, would undertake to advance weekly the payment for three tons, that being the quantity estimated as furnishable with the power which could at present be applied to the machinery. At this rate, it would take nearly nine months to produce one hundred tons, and leaving alone all question as to the profit to be made upon the cost as put in, the lying out of the money would eat up more than could be made by the trade in it. A very liberal offer was made by Mr. Joseph, to lend a water mill for two years, and also to subscribe towards its erection. The mill also was offered for sale at a reasonable price, but no one, as we have said, was prepared to ensure the sale of the produce, so as to make it clear that a subscription for the purchase and erection of the mill would be an advisable step. It was proposed by another gentleman that the New Zealand Company should take the necessary risk of the price that could be procured in England being less than the cost of producing and getting it to the market; and he offered to take one hundred tons, if the New Zealand Company would guarantee its fetching the cost price, within three months of its landing. In reference to this question of what assistance may be fairly expected of the New Zealand Company in such speculations, we think there is much to be said, and shall advert to it in our next, as we are warned by the want of room to leave off at present.

A. s. d. Gathering . per ton 3 0 0 Plaiting 5 0 0 Pressing 1 0 0 Boiling Dressing, washing, drying 1 10 0 and making np 5 10 0 Sundries, and profit to men 4 0 0