NEW ZEALAND FLAX.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 488, 9 December 1869, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND FLAX.

The following is Messrs G. and J. A. Noble's report on New Zealand flax. It is dated London, Oct. 8: — There is a steadily increasing demand for this staple, and if ordinary care is taken in the preparing and baling, we have no doubt it will become an important and profitable trade. Colour and brightness of fibre are very desirable; the coarse brown woody fibre should in no case be mixed with the better qualities. On Sept. 8, 53 bales sold at £20 5s to £20 10s per ton. On Sept. 29, 60 b des sold at £31 per ton. In their Prices Current, Messrs Noble quote the following prices for New Zealand flax-.— Dressed, good, £36 to £40; common, medium, £22 to £30; rough, £16 to £20.

The Home News has the following with regard to New Zealand flax :— New Zealand flax, judging from its value in the English market, should have received more consideration and attention from colonists in the islands than it has done. The weed that the New Zealand farmer burns down in order to clear his land, land that he afterwards crops with potatoes to sell at perhaps £10 per ton, the strong rope-like grass that the bullock driver gathers on the side of the track, and therewith safely lashes his load, the stringy reed that everywhere in New Zealand serves a thousand purposes of usefulness, and that may, nearly everywhere, be gathered for nothing, is here in London, "in the straw," and without dressing of any kind, readily saleable at from £24 to £25 per ton, and when dressed up into a fashion fit for rope-makers, worth £40 per ton, and easily saleable in any quantity at the price. If the Maori can make nets and bags and blankets out of the phormium tenax, il a sample of the grass can be so manipu' lated that a fabric equal to ordinary French cambric can be woven from it, it ought not to be difficult for the settler to so prepare it, and in such quantity as to make it a permanent and valuable merchantable commodity. Should the expense of dressing prove too great a difficulty, the straw, simply dried and packed, might be made a valuable article of export, and rope-makers here would gladly purchase it. If the dressing is undertaken en the island, it is worth doing well. Of two samples sold since the outgoing of the last mail, both equal in original quality, onefrom Auckland, well dressed and bright in colour, brought £40 per ton against £30 obtained for a badly dressed sample from Otago. If the necessary dressing cannot be done in New Zealand without destroying the quality of the staple, better send it in a state of straw, but in any case it will be found a profitable transaction. For a long time its merits were decried by English rope-makers, but they bought it nevertheless whenever 'they had opportunity. It was mixed with Manilla hemp and nothing said about it, but now, a large manufacturer announces as one, of the staples of his trade, " New Zealand rope," and professes to make it from, Nefv Zealand flax, and so he doubtless does, so far as the supply will enable him to do so. No doubt the "gummy" substance with which

■,-r-i ■ » : ■_. the fibre of the phormium tenax is so strongly coated is difficult to remove, but Messrs Devitt and Hett, the colonial brokers here, are just now in treaty for the perfecting of a machine that is expected to change all this. In the meantime, there are few better ship ments from New Zealand to the English market than the so-called flax. The fibre of the ordinary "Tussock," when beaten with wooden mallets upon beds of the same material, makes a capital article of commerce in England, the uses of which are not yet precisely defined to the outside public. It is saleable at from £45 to £50 per ton.