NEW ZEALAND FLAX.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 333, 8 June 1869, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND FLAX.

CFrom the SouOiern Cross.) Perhaps no branch of colonial industry has been the subject of more attention of late years than the preparation of New Zealand flax (phormium tenax), and certainly none is more worthy of all the attention we can possibly give it. Auckland owes much to the Thames goldfields, but the eource of wealth which her extensive flaxfields offer to enterprise and industry may be even more abundant, and undoubtedly will be more permanent. When we come to consider the immense advantages which the preparation of flax offers in comparison with those held out by goldmining, we cannot fail to be struck with this view of the case. Goldmining is all a lottery, in which there are a great many blanks to- every prize ; but in the preparation of flax for the market there is a prospect of certain profit, as the reward of industry. In goldmining it is generally necessary to expend a large amount of capital before there is any prospect of ultimateprofit; in the preparation of flax any industrious person with a small capital may set to work at once with a sure prospect of remunerative employment. There are also other advantages not less important on the side of flax. There is the difference in the amount of skill required at the outset, the speedy return for investments, the abundance of the raw material, and the promise of even greater remunerativeness in the future as this branch of industry becomes more fully developed. The price of flax now varies from £6 or £8 to £25 per ton, but when a sufficient quantity shall be exported to induce the leading English capitalists to turn their attention to it as an article of manufacture its value may be doubled. Up to the present time it is only a few " outsiders," so to speak, who have devoted their attention to New Zealand flay &h an article of manufacture. Many persons at home have frequently tome testimony to the superiority of the fibre of the New Zealand flax when carefully prepared over the Manila; but the great obstacle has always been that'the quantity exported has been insufficient to justify English manufacturers in specially adapting their machinery to its preparation. If we could guarantee as much as 5000 tons of prepared flax per year there would at once be an extensive demand for it, and its Value would increase accordingly. The Manila fibre is getting out of use, and the supply is rapidly decreasing, and if sufficient quantities of New Zealand flax could be obtained it would altogether supersede the Manila fibre. A considerable quantity of tope has already been made of New Zealand flax, and is found to give great satisfaction to those engaged in the shipping trade. A few facts connected with flax preparation in this province may be of interest to our readers, and we have been at some pains to obtain the following, which may be relied upon : — Messrs Henderson and Macfarlane already have five machines in operation, and which are worked by water-power. The labour required to work two machines is as follows : — Two " feeders," one boy to receive the material from the machines, and another boy to carry it away to be washed, a man to wash the fibre, another man to carry it out and spread it on the green for bleaching. The process up to this point having been completed, the whole strength of the hands employed is available in turning over the flax, carrying in, and scutchiug and packing. The coat of this labour is as follows : — Two feeders at 20s each per week; a boy to receive from the machine, 7s 6d; a boy to carry it away, 7s €d; man ; for washing, 355 ; two men for carrying away, 30s each; and a scutcher, 35s per week. The coat of a machine indepandent of the water-wheel is about £23, and including the wheel £140. The wear and tsar is 25 per cent. Witti regard to the coat of the material the green flax can be cut for 103 per ton, and carted away for 15s per ton more — but of course the last item would vary according to distance. It requires on an average six tons of the raw .flax, to make one ton of the dressed fibre, and each machine will turn out per week one ton and. a quarter of the manufactured article, vThe cost then, of preparing two tons and a half in the week by two machines (the ; Bame let of men managing both), by the

figures given above would be as follows : — Twelve tons of .raw flax, £15; the labour of the men for two machines for one week as above, £9 5a ; wear and tear of machinery, and other minor expenses, say £5 ; expense of bringing to market. £3 — total, £32. Put then the value of the flax so prepared at £20 per ton, and it gives £50 for the week's produce, giving a most handsome profit. The cost of carriage to town is about £1 per ton, and when of good quality, it will fetch £25 per ton in Auckland, and £45 per ton at home. If it could be exported in large quantities home direct, and a constant supply ensured, there is no doubt that a splendid trade will spring up. To show the strength of the rope made of New Zealand flax, we may state that some very heavy machinery had to be drawn up a hill at the Thames, and a four-inch Manilla rope used snapped like a packthread. A 2^-inch New Zealand rope was then employed, and it stood the strain without a single strand being injured. It was, too, only an ordinary rope with nothing remarkable about it. We have also collected a few facts with regard to the preparation of flax by machinery worked by steam power. A man well known in connection with flax preparation has been for some time past engaged at Papatoetoe working under considerable difficulties in the manufacture of the raw material into the article of export. He p.iys 30j per ton for the green flax, 5s per day for the use of an engine, 9s per day for driving it, firing 4s a day, and he puts through 9 tons of the raw material in a week, yielding one and a-half tons of prepared flax, valued at £24 to £25 per ton. The labour is his own and that of his wife and family, so that the profits are confined entirely to his own small circle, and it will be seen that these profits are very considerable. Other parties at Papatoetoe are also working at flax, and at Mongonui, Waiuku, and other places, largely at Raglan, and in some parts of the Waikato a considerable amount of labour is bestowed upon its preparation for the market. We notice by advertisement in another column that a small vessel, to carry about thirty tons, |is wanted by certain parties at Raglan for the conveyance of their flax to the Manakau. In time we hope to see quite a large country fleet employed in this manner. As for the raw material, it may be said to be inexhaustible, and if cut judiciously it will spring up afresh better than ever, and in some places after being cut it has been known to grow nine feet in a single year. On the Thames and Piako rivers and the Waikato there are immense swamps filled with immense quantities of it — indeed, it is to be found over the whole country. We believe there is a great demand for flax in Melbourne, and flax-fields are much inquired after in this province. Only recently applications have been made by some settlers at the Wairoa to make uae of the extensive flax-Bwamps in the district. This is a good and healthy sign, and we have no doubt will lead to permanent good to the province. The value of this brunch of industry to the settlers generally cannot be over-estimated. And chief amongst its advantages is the scope it affords for utilising the whole of the labour of any family. From the father to the child of a few years of age, all can be profitably employed according to their strength or several capacities.