THE COLONIST. NELSON, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1869. FLAX MANUFACTURE.

Colonist, Volume XII, Issue 1264, 5 November 1869, Page 2

THE COLONIST. NELSON, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1869. FLAX MANUFACTURE.

Before us He samples of mats made of the root end of the.New Zealand flax, by Mr. feymons, late'"of .the Moutere Hotel, now residing at Bichmond. The samples are superior to anything of the kind we have seen imported from Englond, and could be made so as to sell at-less than one half the price at which > English mats of the same size are sold here. The samples resemble the coir door-mats, with dyed border, and Mr. Symons, who is an .engineer, as w rell as acquainted with the process of manufacture of this and other fabrics, can construct the necessary machinery for making the mats, which is very simple, and could teach children themethod of construction. Sacking, matting of various kinds, woolpacks, scrim, and similar fabrics, could all be made in an establishment with sufficient power and mechanical appliances, so that, by a judicious expenditure of capital and the employment of competent persons, as a matter of course, and the gradual tuition of the rising generation, we may hope to see, ere long, the foundation of.a manufacture of theraw material with which nature has abundantly favored us. Flax manufactured for exportation will always have a large demand, but much of the inferior product, the tow " waste," &c, could be readily utilised. ; In Mr. Lightband's window, in Trafalgar-street, the samples of mat making may be seen, together with the flax which is also dyed by Mr. Symons, whose ability we hope speedily to see actively exercised, so that the founda-

tion may be laid of a true and profitable " self, reliance," which shall at once provide hs with additional employment for labor, and lessen the excessive drain of capital,' that our dependence on foreign goods of necessity creates and maintains.

Wbile speaking of flax, we. may refer to another staple article, wools, respecting which a gleam of light is to be seen in the slight improvement in price reported by the last English mail. Not much had been done in New Zealand wools in the way of price, but still the fact of a general rise is evidence of its speedy extension to wools from this . Colony; and what is not less cheering is the circumstance lately noticed in a speech made by Mr. Bright, President of the Board of Trade, to the effect that the supply of cotton grown all over the world does not equal the demand that exists for it. This means an additional demand on other staples, and wool and flax will consequently improve in the market. May the event be speedily realised.

We desire .to withdraw an expression which appeared in our supplement; of Saturday last, respecting the erroneous story ..about a telegram published as coming from Mr. Barnicoat, and apparently copied from the Westport Times, in which it never appeared. The expressions employed have been taken to imply that the Examiner knowingly published a fictitious telegram, intending by so doing to;mislead the electors. There was no such intention^ neither was this meant to be conveyed in our hurried paragraph; and had\.we *seen a note appended to a letter of Mr. Barnrebat's,* written to our con temporary, we should have modified'frhelanguage employed. We merely took the very curious explanation given in tbe leadinjravticle, wherein it was stated that a correspondent, in whose good faith, says the Examiner, "we have every confidence," was " guilty of a mistake." Now, this explanation is calculatedin itselfto mislead; for if the correspondent merely made amistake, there could not possibly be any guilt. If he was the actual author of the untruthful story, then, it was something more than a " mistake" of which he was guilty, and the author of such a fabrication, whoever he was, could only have had one end in view, that of misleading the i electors. In the case under consideration, the Examiner was the vehicle of publication, and a victim to its own confidence in its correspondent's accuracy.forthe story seemed improbable on its face. Imputation of wilful misrepresentation by one journal against another, when a want of care is the onlymistake, is what honest journalists will not intentionally make, and when made will readily retract. We therefore, on the principle of fairness, and of our own motive, withdraw any language that seems to bear any such construction.

The circus continues to draw good houses. A correspondent suggests the propriety of shorter intervals between the various acts, so as to allow of an earlier conclusion of the performance, which is objected to by many as going too near midnight. The notice taken by the newspapers of the demand for shares in the Culliford Gold-mining Company had the effect last Tuesday of greatly increasing that demand, and a large number of would-be investors were much disappointed on learning that no more were to be sold, there being seventy reserved. All the rest are disposed of, and already they have risen in .he market 10s. per share.

Nelson Association.—The usual monthly meeting of this society took place on Wednesday evening, his Lordship the Bishop of Nelson in the chair. At the conclusion of the ordinary business, the secretary read a letter from Dr. Hector, advising the transmission of some specimens illustrating the geology of the Thames Goldfields, together with t'eports thereon. The specimens and reports were then examined by the meeting, and a vote thanks to Dr. Hector was unanimously agreed to. Mr. Thomas Mackay laid before meeting some specimens of New Zealand flax prepared by himself, and stated that they were the results of a purely mechanical process ; that he had made the machine with his own hands, that it was very portable, and would produce one ton of clear fibre from six tons of green leaf, and might be easily worked by the youDger members of the farmers' family during bad weather. The specimens, one of which was superior to anything hitherto shown to the society, were much admired by .those present. Mr. Warden Broad then gave an interesting account of the Blue Creek quartz reef, and the country in the neighborhood, and expressed himself much pleased with the general appearance. of the district as a probable goldfield. He also exhibited a specimen of auriferous quartz broken off the prospector's claim by himself, together with nuggety gold from the creek immediately below; and stated that the reef appeared to extend across the country for miles. Votes of thanks to Mr. Mackay and Mr. Broad were then passed ; and it was resolved " that the specimens from Auckland be deposited for the present in tlie Nelson Institute, in order that they may be open to public inspection."

Exciting- Pigeon Match at Melbourne.—A Nelsonian v. a Victorian.—Tlie Australasian of October 23rd, says : —"A very exciting match .was shot; on Tuesday last, at Elemington, between the well-known pigeon shots, Messrs. Redwood and Grim wood. Mr. H. Redwood, the owL.er of Manuka, arrived lately from New Zealand, but his still bb a pigeon shot had been proved many years ago in this Colony, and after so long an absence it was only natural he should wish to try his hand once more. Accordingly, a match was arranged between him and Mr. Grimwood for a trophy, at ten birds each, twentyone yards. Out of that number Mr. Grimwood missed his first bird, and Mr. Eedwood his last, consequently it was a tie, and it m as agreed to shoot on until ono missed. Each killed four more, when Mr. Grirawood missed.- Mr. Redwood's bird struggled to a tree where it perched for a moment and then fell to the ground, where it was secured. The umpire gave the bird as a dead one to Mr. Redwood, but the decision was dis» puted, and another match arranged at 21 birds each* to take place next week. The match created great interest and excitement amongst those present." Mr. T. K. Weldon has been appointed Commissioner of Police, and Inspector of the Industrial School', at Otago.

As adding to the list of local industries in Canterbury Province, we {Lyttelton Times) are glad to mention the establishment of a starch manufactory at Eangiora. The spirited proprietors are Messrs. Withers and Go., and the article which they manufacture i 9 technically known as "London Starch. It is prepared from wheat, requires no boiling, and looks remarkably well.

The Lyttelton Times of October 2fth, _ says :-= " Yesterday, a young man, named Chancy, discovered a human skeleton a short distance from the North Eoad, between Trqleayen's and White's Bridge. The police were immediately communicated with. _ There were some.pieces of blue cloth about the remains, and a hat over the face. From the position in which the body was found, it would appear to have been buried under Buspicious-circumstances.

The Otago Daily Times of October 27th, .fltatra: —"An accident of a very serious character ha 9 occurred at Queenstpwn. It appears that when Mt. and Mrs. Shepherd, of Arrowfcon, were about crossing the Ballarat-street bridge in a light spring cart, their horse, frightened at something near the roadside, began to kick and plunge, eventually bursting tne harness, and freeing itself from the conveyance. , 1* was in one of these last desperate kicks that MrsShepherd (who was clutching the front boara; received a heavy blow across the upper portion .01 ne face from a piece of wood shivered off by the norse s heels. The unfortunate woman was thrown out insensible. The bones of the.face and lower portion of the skull were broken by the contusion; and toe injuries were such that, although the patient was, according to last accounts, progressing ■wner\ rf favorably, she could hardly be said to be out w danger,"

! [ j 0» j r[HE telegraph line -is now extended as far as vW' rtTflnpanni in the Province of Wellington. ' | Railway Accident at Canterbury.—Whnt is i likely to prove a fatal accident occurred to an engine \opioyS, lianipd Brondriek, at the Chrisi church Rail- ' ) ffft y Station on Wednesday afternoon. He was i standing on the outsido of one of the locomotives, 1 to the purpose of performing some trivial duty ,J ff ]nlst it was being drawn from the shed on to tho i 'I]ioe, and in passing the tnnk he got jammed against li .jt so seriously as to endanger his life. The ppaco between the engine and the stone support of the j (jntc, ns since measured, could only have been about ' jvc inches and three quarters, and yet he was carrier! jhrough it. Although no bones were broken, he Ruined such injury to the spine from the great pressure, that partial paralysis set in, tmd Dr. Prins, Jfho, from the first, has been in attendance, does not jdpect him to recover. He is a married man.— fyttelton Times, Oct. 29. An extraordinary tale, says the Timaru Herald

of Wednesday, October 27ih, reached jjs from the south yesterday. A man working on the pad between the Pareora and the Otaio, says that on 1 j Friday afternoon last, a vessel, dismasted and seem- ] jjugly a complete wreck, wa3 close in shore at that {part of the coast. No living creature was visible on j (jer decks, which were visible ns she rolled. After a j ihort time a nor'west bi'eeze sprang up, which carried " (he wreck out to sea. The man who gave our , informant the report is mown, and we do not think 1 (hat the above report is a canard. j I A MOST unfortunate accident occurred at Caver- }', i (ham, Otago, on the 23rd inst. A young man, son ijfilr. Alexander Mackay, of East Taieri, had put to 'i ■ Isbuggy a newly purchased horse, just from the padi,;,! jock, for the purpose of driving his mother and Mrs. Allen, his grandmother, into town. Twice on, the i,''[ ioad the horse bolted, and was, with some difficulty, , I (jntrolled. Upon reaching the top of Lookout Point, Jiving been frightened by a dog, he started off for ]\ the third time, and dashed at a furious rate down the i hill- At the turn near Caversham the vehicle was ti [npsefc. Mrs. Mackay and her son were only slightly injured; but Mrs. Allen, who is between seventy and [dghty years old, had her right arm fractured near jlhe wrist, and badly cut, and her face severely ' [[ruised. — Otago Daily Times. ■ Mh. Stevens, M.H.R., and his Constituency. -Mr. E. C. J. Stevens, iv response to an invitation from Ellesmere Farmers Club, met a portion of i Jij constituents at the school-room, Leeston, on Oct. 118. The room was crowded, and the chair was occupied by tbe Key. W. J. G-. Bluett. Mr. Stevens , delivered, a long speech on general matters, com; bencing with the session of 1866, and terminating "nth that of 1869, and stating, amongst other things, jle reasons why he had opposed the motion for jjiiposicg a protective duty on grain and flour Sported into the Province. It was proposed of Mr. Sl'Lachlan, "That in the opinion of this meeting, Hr. Stevens did not vote in the interests of his confituents by opposing the corn duty." The mover aplained that he did not wish to go further and jropose that Mr. Stevens should be asied to resign iis seat, as one more session would terminate the jwsent Parliament, and the constituency could best jra expression to its opinion at the next election. ■ Ibe motion was seconded by Mr. Gardiner, and srried by a large majority, on a show of hands being sken.