FIFTY YEARS AGO.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16201, 11 April 1916, Page 9

FIFTY YEARS AGO.

|v MEW ZEALAND ; FLAX, ' METHOD OF TREATMENT, ; mth ■ — (From tie HEBAW) of April 11, 1666.) - Wm might have been expected the fact of » discovery of a plan, however crudoaone, 1 whereby the phormium tenax.of Kew Zealand could be cleansed of the gummy matter and vegetable refuse, has given ittWß to new and improved methods of per- & forming the process. We have to-day 'jsseen a sample of prepared flax by a system 'hat far excels any yet discovered, :. not only because the sample is 83 good as V: that we have hitherto seen, but because f the operator, by the new process, can :' prepare a far greater quantity of cleansed flax in a given time than any experi- % mentalist ever dreamed of being ablo to do. The discoverer is Mr. J. Weymouth, a well-known citizen, and_ a practical busi- .. r,e?s man. The process is a chemical one, >; ft ad the chemicals themselves are simple ; ! i and inexpensive. The strength oi the flax is not impaired by the solution. Mr. Weymouth commenced operating on half ' * leaf at nine o'clock this morning, and Z"; bv noon it was a clean hank of fibre fully \ ?ft in length. Mr. Weymouth intends to apply to a patent.