THE MANUFACTURE OF FLAX AT PORT CHALMERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 714, 5 August 1865, Page 5

THE MANUFACTURE OF FLAX AT PORT CHALMERS.

fPROM THB DAILY TfMES CORRESPONDENT.)

Of the many praiseworthy attempts which have from time to time been made to utilise the native flix of Ne^v Zealand, there is probably none which has come to so inglorious a teunination a? that which has just been fie I at Pore Chalmers, by an ingenious amaljianutbn ofthecipital of the inhabitants, a water-power possessed by a settler in Sawyer's B iy, and a secret as to the preparatiou of the fibre, which was expected to be divulged, but is yet profoundly kept, by a Mr Donaldson, who was sent for from the Province of Canterbury. In the present dulness of trade and absence of shipping at the Port, it was conceived by some of the inhabitants, whom it is now very difficult to discover, that an appropriate antidote to those evils would be got by initiating what was called a "local industrial enterprise." The extent of the popuhr sympathy with this idea was indicated by the occasional use of these three words in Mr M'Glashan's recent addrtsi to the electors, eliciting always vociferous a-id almost ecstatic applause. Jhe Town Board having let its quarry, and refused to license the manufacture of bricks in the Town Belt, the limber supply in Sawyer's Bay being seriously exhausted, the patent slip looming far in the future, and one of the billiard-rooms in the town having recently been burnt down, it was conceived that, if next to the discovery of perpetual motion, there was a source of industry left to the inhabitants of the Port, it must be the manufacture into a useful article of the present prcvokingly useless native flax.

A preliminary Committee was formed, at whose meetings it was felt unanimously and metaphorically that New Zealand flax was the true philosopher's stone ; that, as there were a number of persons of that description of character, residing in Port Chalmers, it was, par excellence, the spot at which a time-honored experiment should be revived ; and that with such object in view, the Committee— should collect subscriptions. A public meeting was subsequently held, and was attended by a large number of persons, who receivel a considerable amount of novel information on the botanical characteristics of flax — its fibrous nature, its inherent mucilage, and such like. It was also described how a Mr Donaldson, in Canterbury, had for sixteen years made phormium tenax his close and peculiar i study, and how his arduous labDrs had been rewarded by the ultimate discovery of a process of utilising flax which, it might be safely paid, was destined to lead to a revolution in Europe — particularly in the ! flax and hemp trade. The Committee did not descend to any questionable means of encouraging public sjTnpathy with the enterprise. They refrained from exhibiting the mysterious and much mispronounced words "phormium tenax" in illuminated letters on the walls, nor was the room decorated with more of the fiax than was brought in the pockets of a few gentlemen, and exhibited on the table, in the various stages of Mr Donaldson's dressing. The members of Committee simply rose and addressed the meeting, a'b-it with much, vigor and imagination. At the conclusion, theie was a general wish, if not a confirmed feeling, by those who became subscribers, that the: water-wheel in Saywer's Bay mi;|ht prove to Port Chalmers the wheel of fortune; and that, among the custom-house records in future years, there would appear, sld . by side with gold and wool, so many thousands of tons of phormium tenax in, and so many hundreds of tons of prepared flax out. The small bays now crowded with lighters and sailing craft were to see them no more ; from the Waitaki to the Mataura every creek and harbor was to pour forth the flax now wasting in its vicinity ; there was to arise in Sawyer's Bay a new and numerous population, with their peculiar industry in their fusty and flaxen appearance ; and, not least of all, there was to be a considerable accession of trade to the stevedores of Port Chalmers. The two parties in the local Town Board who had divided on the motto for the Town Seal — those who had, in their simplicity, proposed " Pro bono publico," and those who had moved and carried " Per mare et terra" (spelt according to the taste of the writer), would be united under one common seal, and the words on that seal would be " Phormium tenax." There were, it is needless to say, I several impertinent questions as to how all this was to be brought about ; but these i were not put by subscribers, of whom there were a considerable number, for amounts ranging from a guinea downwards. It was agreed that, pending the ordinary course of post, Mr Donaldson should be telegraphed for ; and, by the first steamer from Canterbury, the inventor arrived — terms : expenses paid, board and lodging, and a share in the profits on the one side,- a preliminary experiment, with as much of the secret as possible, on the other. From the date of this event, Port Chalmers underwent a conversion from its chronic state of quiescence into

an acute state of excitement, and for a week past there have daily been public meetings, committee meetings, and Greeks meeting Greeks in all parts of the town, in the persons of the unfortunate inventor, and the still more unfortunate subscribers. Too late, it was discovered that the inventor, in bein<s born with genius, had not e«cnpeci i's eccei tricilies- Among other s **v>rdi'ia f 'e institutions, theie was a committee nouiinaied to a' tend s«peci illy upon the inventor, not so much with the intention of enhancing, as of limi'ing, the quant? f v of his creature comforts. Their duties were reported by them to the public meetings as being much more laborious than those of the actual working committee, who had to provide the necessary appliances of a ton of flax, copper boilers, patent crushers, and their own share of the funds, which the inventor evinced such a desire to spend on object 9 not immediately connected with the project in hand. At each of these meetings the inventor appeared, and afforded a large and varied amount of information on every conceivable subject but flax, preferring chiefly to substitute chaff. Of the inhabitants generaliv, the judicious, and those who had paid their mont}-, grieved ; the unworthy, and those who had not subscribed, smiled. The hilarity which wa9 first excited by the comic complexion which the previously hopeful experiment had assumed was soon succeeded by such a depression on the part of subscribers that, at the meetings — which were public, numerous, and, in a sense, influential — • scenes occurred, and expressions were used, which it is not customary to see recorded in the public prints. The inventor had enough to do to hold his own against the maelstrom of virtuous indignation in which he found himself situated ; the subscribers had extreme difficulty in reconciling: themselves to-jthe belief that it was "all right,'* and " chance the ducks." At length, an experiment as to the value of the Donald - sonian system wa3 attempted. A public place was chos3n ; the appliances, consisting of the inventor, a gin bottle with a blue fluid contained in it, a copper boiler, a porter hogshead, amputated into two tubs, a tinsmith s rollers, and a quantity of flax, were brought to the spot ; and, the local interest being considerable, the bellman was sent round by the Chiirman of Committee^ to announce that the performance was about to begin. The crowd collected was large, and anxious interest was taken for a considerable time in the boiling of some sheaves of flax in some very goodlooking coppers. The stewing process being finished, the flax was washed, and subsequently compressed tatwee \ rollers, and it is, at least, due to the inventor, to say that it \va«, from first to last, easily and speedily reduced to a fibre, not materially affected in its strength, and said by some to be frees of its mucilage. The assembled crowd ware, however, less interested in the stewing process than in " roasting" the experimentor ; and on both sides, while the " cauldron boiled," there was a free use of language presumed to be of a cabalistic character. At a meeting promptly called at the termination of the experiment, there was a mighty passage of arms between the leading promjters and the inventor, in which gentlemen in the back seats took a perfectly unintelligible delight-. Without an excess of deliberation, there was a free expression of opinion that parties interested should "cry quita." It was resolved accordingly, the subscribers reserving to themselves the option of not treating Mr Donaldson badly, though he might have promised less and performed more. Mr Donaldson also proposed and carried, by an unquestionable majority, several resolutions on his own behalf, and generally antagonistic to the working committee. In the meantime flax is a tabooed subject in Port Chalmers, and the numerous specimens which were eagerly acquired by subscribers, as well as the Hat of their names, have been suddenly put beyond the rude gaze of the vulgar crowd.

"We extract the following from the " Lyttelton Times :" We are sorry to state that fears are entertained that Mr D. Kinnebrook, who resides at the Paketiraki station, near Oxford, has been lost in the ranges for the last three weeks. From the information we have been able to gather, it appears that he left the station on July 4. in company with his son, for the purpose of inspecting some new country he had taken up in the ranges adjoining the run occupied by Mr Minchin, the upper Waimakariri. On the Bth the boy was unable to proceed, and, being exhausted, lay down and fell asleep. On awaking next morning he found that he had been wrapped in a blanket by his father, who was not to be seen. Observing smoke, he made for it, which proved to be proceeding from afire at a hut belonging to Mr Hawdon, of Grasmere. The toy was sent home, which he reached on the 14th. Nothing further having been heard of Mr Kinnebrook up to the 21st, Mr Walker, of View Hill, accompanied by Mr Pattison, started in search last Saturday, but with what result has not at present transpired. The country to which Mr Kinnebrook went is described as offering a traveller without supplies little chance of supporting life."