AUCKLAND INSTITUTE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 9436, 6 August 1889, Page 6

AUCKLAND INSTITUTE.

The usual meeting of the Auckland Institute took place last evening. There was a good attendance. Professor Thomas presided. THE LATE MR. JUSTICE G£UJ£S. The Chairman* said before going on with the business it was his painful duty to mention the loss of a valuable member of the Institute, and of the Council, by the death of the late Mr. Justice Gillies. He desired they would join with him in paying a tribute of respect to the memory of one who was one of the founders of the Institute, and to whose liberality they owed the erection of the building in which they were met. Mr. Gillies had been a friend of scientific progress. He would move the resolution, leaving it to other members to take the opportunity of referring to Mr. Gillies, who had had a longer acquaintance with him. The resolution was as follows : — The members of the Institute desire to take this opportunity of expressing their recognition of the valuable services and great liberality of the late Mr. Justice Gillies in furthering the objects of the Institute." Dr. Pokchas said he had been asked as one of the oldest members of the council of the Institute to second the resolution, and 21 years had elapsed since the founding of the Institute. He had looked up the minute book and found some interesting dates. They held their first meeting, which was called by Mr. Gillies and a friend on the 6th March, IS6S. Throughout all that time the deceased judge had been a steady friend of the Institute. He had several times represented the Institute at the New Zealand Institute, his frequent duties in Wellington enabling him to do so. Mr. Gillies drew up their first rules, which were for a literary and philosophical society, but at the first meeting the name was changed to th«» present one — Auckland Institute. Sir Frederick Whitaker was the first president and Mr. Gillies the second, and might have held the office longer, but he thought he could serve the Institute better as a private member. Mr. Gillies' liberality and constant friendship to the Institute remained unabated during his whole career. He had great pleasure in seconding the resolution.

Mr. Stewart, as one of the original founders of the Institute, though nob a member of the council from the outset, desired to say a word. The old members knew what Mr. Gillies had done and needed no reminder, but the later members were not so well versed in matters. The deceased Judge was the father of the Institute. To him they were indebted for the ground on which the lia.ll was built, and he did not know that they would have got the hall but for his liberality. It was announced by Captain Heale, at one of the meetings, that an anonymous donor would give £000 if £1000 was raised by the members and friends of the Institute. The sum was practically raised that night in the room, the late Hon. James Williamson giwng £500. Mr. Gillies had been three times president, and done a greab deal for the institute, working in his own quiet way, and, as he had been a- near neighbour to him, he knew how valuable that work had been.

Mr. Mackechjtik said during his term of office as president he had had occasion to thank Mr. Gillies for special donations to the Institute. The deceased Judge took a warm interest in science. They could only remember with gratitude his labours in getting them the ground and their hall. The Institute had lose in Mr. Gillies a liberal patron and a warm supporter. The motion was carried unanimously. "new zealaxd fiukes."

Mr. J. A. Pond then delivered his promised lecture on "New Zealand Fibres." He said the subject was a most important one. They had to ascertain their qualities, best mode of preparation, and the best commercial uses to which they could be put—to profit by the salutary lessons of experience and do better work for the future. With the varied information now collated better work should be done. If these fibres were honestly prepared in their shipment to the English market, great benefit would accrue to the colony, but if otherwise, then the penalty of commercial dishonesty on the part of some exporters meant a general fall in prices. His object was not to enter into details, but to suggest a possible extension of our export of fibres, to call attention to the work being done, and to urge its continuance on better lines. He then referred to the vicissitudes of the flax trade, the irregularity of production of flax and of price, and the causes which had disheartened experimenters and settlers. The English merchants and manufacturers wanted a steady supply, and preferred a less valuable article if furnished continuously. Dr. Hector's work on New Zealand ilax crave amass ofscientificinformationconcerning it, as also the latest commercial information up to date, and should be in the hands of every worker and dealer in flax. The quality of native-dressed was proverbial in the early days of the colony. Science could not equal it, and yet produce an article of commerce. The process needed now for the flax was neither a purely commercial nor a purely chemical process, but both combined. The chemist could not do without the mechanic or the mechanic without the chemist. The lecturer exhibited samples of Ilax dressed by Maoris, worth £(j0 to £70 per ton ; also samples of the flax prepared by the present process for shipment, which he had received from Captain Webb. Some fag ends and waste was stowed in the centre of the bundle !

Of course there were dishonest people in other places than Auckland, bub this sorb of thing enormously damaged the export, besides punishing the honest vendor. Manufacturers, when they found bales so made up, would simply discount the price. A remedy he would suggest for this sorb of thing would be a trade mark, which should be registered at the Agent-General's office, and lists of which would be issued at the sale-

rooms. Any bales dishonestly packed bearing a given brand would soon lead to the condign exposure and punishment of the proprietor. They were sending away flax to India, to be made into sacks, when the sacks

could be made in the colony, and equally as cheap. If half thf; energy expended on making the rhea or China grass cloth into a textile fabric had been given to the phormium teimx a greater success would have been achieved. They should cultivate the flax more, and improve it, as was done with the other products, by selection. There were four varieties —the variegated (2), the bronze, and the ordinary, of which he exhibited specimens. Mr. Guilfoyle, Curator and Director of the Melbourne Botanic Gardens, had made paper from several Now Zealand fibres, specimens of which he was forwarding to him (the lecburer), bub through the delay of the steamer they were nob to band. Mr. Pond referred to the cordyline, or cabbage - tree, which would prove of great value not only as a paper plant ' bub as a fibre. He referred to minor fibres, which should be similarly utilised, sedge grass, the toi, raupo, and the kauri grass. After alluding to the part Esparto grass had played of late years in paper-making, Mr. Pond referred to the waste of by-products suitable for paper pulp worth £10 a ton, which was being washed, down the creeks ab the different flax-mills. Within the past few years, 20,000 tons of paper pulp, worth £200,000, had gone down tho streams. In future they should try to stop this waste, and by improved methods utilise the byproducts. The time was scarcely ripe yet for a paper-mill, bub they could manufacture paper pulp, or "half-stuff," to advantage. The gum might be extracted from the flax, in fact he was dealing wibh bhe article himself. There were two places ab which mills of the class indicated might be established—one Jit the Waiknto and the other ab the Thames, where there wore enormous quantities of the minor fibres, all transferable by water carriage. Hitherto the settlers had gone in a groove. One year they were all for cereals, another year it was potatoes, then wool, but the time was coming when they would have to look all their difficulties in the face, and be compelled to utilise all their resources. Dr. PuKCHAS said he had taken an interest in this matter since 1845. He rejoiced that the settlers were profiting by the improved market for flax. It was hopeless to compete with native-dressed flax on commercial lines. He deplored the reckless way in which the flax was being cub down, the bad method of cutting adopted, which spoiled the next season's growth. Only the outside leavee should be taken, and one crop a year. If the heart was taken the plant was killed. The speaker gave some interesting information as to the methods of treating the flax by the Maoris, ~nd the hundred-and-one uses to which they put it.

There was no finer country in the world than Now Zealand in which to cultivate tie true flax as well as the Phonmum Lenox, which was really a hemp. He regarded ifc as a waste of time and trouble to try to use it for articles of wearing apparel. As a material for paper ifc was excellent; in fact, as regards brown paper, you could put the flax in at one end of the machine and it came out at the other brown paper. Professor Thomas, in closing the discuseion, said he could corroborate what had been said about the waste in cutting flax. He was in Waikato lately, and saw some waggon-loads of flax on a railway siding, cut so close that the gvxa and even the soil was adhering to tho roots. The plante had simply been hacked out, killing next year's growth, and killing also tho goose that was laying the golden eggs. It might bo said ifc was nobody's business—the owner of the land would suffer for his folly —but the fact was it was simply lamentable to see such havoc and waste. Mills were springing up in that district as if by magic, and if flax fell, the settlere who were embarking their capital in these enterprises would loso heavily. They should impress upon the settlers the value of the product they were destroying, and also the necessity for honest packing ; for if fag ends and foreign substances wero put in the heart of bales, the English buyers would be disgusted, and prices would, of necessity, fall.