NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 13983, 12 February 1909, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

NEW ZEALAND FLAX

New Zealand flax, says a correspondent of the Field, has not yet taken that position among commercial fibre plants to which it is unquestionably entitled. It is unrivalled for its yield of fibre, no less than 15 per cent, of its fresh leaves being pure fibre of excellent quality, and the plant is as tenacious of life as a dock if the conditions as regards soil and climate, are suitable. In New Zealand it is of more economic importance than any native plant, except, perhaps, the kauri pine, and the Maoris are very clever in extracting the fibre by hand. The only obstacle to the plant becoming of first importance among the vegetable fibres of the world is the difficulty experienced so far in constructing a machine or hitting upon a process that will extract the fibre at a reasonable cost. The New Zealand Government, aware of the importance of their flax industry, have collected together all the forms and varieties, and are cultivating these side by side, with the object of testing their respective qualities. The employment of labour in New Zealand being more costly than in other countries where this phormium can be cultivated, is likely to widen the field of this particular industry. The writer, who has put his finger on the weak spot which is crippling the industry in New Zealand, goes on to mention that there are many districts in Ireland where the plant would grow well. In fact, he adds, it is already represented in many of the gardens there by examples equal to any that New Zealand could show. It is also, he says, quite at home in the open air in some parts of Devon and Cornwall.

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IX THE ANTARCTIC REGIONS. Tho attainment, of the actual Pole, attractive as it is from a popular point of view, loses its sensational interest, says Engineering, in presence of the real solid work accomplished in many directions by the sustained efforts of those who laboured zealously to secure valuable and permanent results, unsupported by *ho hope of winning the coveted prize. Under capable, if untried, hands, a well-equipped observatory arose in the inhospitable latitude traversed by those who took part in the Discovery voyage, and observations were made with the same accuracy and regularity that characterise those in institutions where long experience has systematized the work. The height and behaviour of the tides were under constant observation. Earthquake tremors were recorded on appropriate instruments, pendulums were occasionally swung to derive the gravity constant, and magnetical and auroral observations were pursued with care and method. In the 21 months the seismometer was in use, 136 earthquakes wore recorded, but none of them of sufficient violence to attract the attention of the staff. They point, adds Engineering, to the existence of a locality of great seismic activity to the south of Australia and New Zealand. An examination of the seismograms, and a comparison with the records of the same chock at othe.- stations, show that the rate of propagation of the several forms of earthquake waves is the same as that previously deduced, and varying, according to the character of the waves, from 12 to 3 kilometres per second. A curious feature in connection with tho records is to confirm a suspicion that earthquake shocks may be recorded at antipodal stations without affecting intermediate localities. Earthquakes originating in the neighbourhood of New Zealand, have repeatedly been registered in the British Isles, particularly at the Liverpool Observatory, while stations nearer to the origin have remained unaffected. The Antarctic records disclose the same peculiarity, and we have now a number of instances, where the movement from an epifocal area has travelled round arid through the world to reappear as a registered quantity at. it* antipodes.

AMERICA'S WEALTH. A number c,i interesting addressee and reports were presented at the conferences of the National Conservation Commission, which met a few weeks ago in Washington. More than 30 State* were represented by their chi=*f executives, and the reports dealt largely with mineral, forest, land, and water resources. It was estimated that the annual value of the minerals raised in the United States now exceeded £400,000,000, and wis second only to agriculture in importance. The coal supply, available and easily accessible, was estimated at 1463 billion tons; and the known supplies of high-grade iron ores were estimated at 3840 million tons, which, at the present growing rate of consumption cannot be expected to last beyond the middle of the present century. In submitting the report, Senator Flint predicted that the supplies of high-grade iron ores will bo consumed by the middle of the present century, high-grade available coal by the middle of the next century, copper, lead, 'zinc, and precious metals by the end of the present century, and phosphate rock, so essential to soil fertilisation, within 25 years, at the present rate of use and waste. The subject of the forest resources of the United States was dealt with in a report by Senator Reed Smoot. He said that the United States forests now cover 550 million acres, or about onefourth of the total area of the count whereas the original forests covered 850 million acres, or nearly one-half. The yea.rly growth does not average more than 12 cubic feet per acre, or less than seven billion cubic feet in all, whereas the annual consumption is estimated at 23 billion cubic feet. Every year the United States uses 100 million cords of firewood, 40 billion feet of lumber, more than a billion posts, poles, and fence rails, 118 million hewn ties, 1500 million staves, nearly 500 million barrel hoops, three million cords of native pulpwood, 165 million cubic feet of round mine timbers, and 1125 million cords of wood for distillation.

Complaints sometimes roach New Zealand of the way in which frozen meat cargoes are handled in discharging at London. According to an officer for many years engaged in Home boats, it is at this end the trouble takes place. Loading under difficulties is often attended with damage to the carcases. In a heavy swell the filings may knock against the tide of the ship and upset the equilibrium of the frozen mutton. Then carcases tumble out of the canvas into the hold, and the result is bruised flesh and broken shanks. Hence the complaints. The handling at London, eays the officer, is above reproach.