NEW ZEALAND HEMP.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 1634, 20 May 1873, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND HEMP.

The following letters from Mr Thome hare , been sent to us for publication by the hon. i secretary of the Canterbury Flax Association, i Mr J. A. Bird :— ■ . [ 16 Mark Lane, E. C. London, March 5, 1873. J. A. Bird, Esq., ; Canterbury Flax Association, ' Christchurch, N.Z. ' Dear Sir, — Your much esteemed and valued Favours of the 21st and 23rd Dec, 1872, [ reached me oa the 26th Feb. The former • commences by expressing surprise at the difficulty we experienced by the curl remaining in bhe native dressed fibre after hackling. All ; bhe native dressed I have seen here has had the twist in it. Mr Forbes found difficulty '[ in working it in consequence. I was present : when some of the fibre was hackled in Ireland, and although it was thoroughly straight- ; Bned over the hackle pins, no sooner was it taken from them than the curlortwistreturned, ' bo that there must be some difference between ' the native-dressed, as you obtain it, and the way in whioh it is exported. The specimen you refer to has not come to hand. By this post I send you a small sample of similar native-dressed fibre to that we tried to get worked in Ireland, so you will Bee the twist or curl for yourself. Mr N. T. Lockhart, of Kirkaldy, is working the native-dressed, which was returned from Ireland, in the dry spinning process, and is making a great success of it. I note my cloths arrived in good order just in time for our colonial exhibition. Further on you say amongst the flax exhibits, fche handiwork of Mr Forbes, occupies a prominent position, and his fabrics have been much admired, and have somewhat astonished the natives and silenced the sceptics. The Lyttelton Times of Dec. 17j 1872, reached me on 28th Feb., and although it contains an account of the opening ceremony of the exhibitioH, and makes passing reference to the various courts, including the flax court, I fail to discover that any special allusion has been made to the English manufactured fabrics, although attention is called to a fine display of flax, hearth rugs, hall mats, railway mats, &c., in coloured designs, from Nelson. I have now to thank you for so kindly conveying to me the copy of the resolution passed at the quarterly meeting of members of your association, held on the 11th Dec, 1872. It is highly gratifying to me to learn my services have not been altogether unavailing in bringing phormium fibre prominently before the pubKe, and I greatly appreciate the manner in which your association have been pleased to recognise my efforts. I will write more fully upon this this Bubject so soon as the salver is to hand. In the meantime, please convey my grateful acknowledgments to your association for the feelings expressed towards me. With reference to the looms, spinning machinery, &c, I believe Mr Forbes has already communicated directly with you, and I have forwarded your letter to him for his perusal, so that hi good time I expect you will obtain that information for which you now seek. I have, agreeably to your request, sent your enclosure for Mr Forbes direct to him. "He seems greatly gratified by the special notice the association has accorded to him. He certainly has laboured in bringing the value of the phormium to public attention, and gone even so far as to point out the advantages possessed by New Zealand itself. The able essay delivered by him at the Arbroath Literary Institute has created much interest. The editors of the Some Neios and European Mail have made copious extracts from it. I sent you a copy, in a pamphlet form, by last mail, and. l hope it duly reached you, so thai you may judge what a warm friend to the colony Mr A. K. Forbes is likely to prove. It was through Mr Forbes' first efforts that Mr Lockhart was induced to make attempts to spin phormium, after having expressed an adverse opinion upon the uses of phormium to textile fabrics, and now he is a warm supporter, and is manufacturing various articles from this useful fibre. A few days back he wrote to me, asking if it could not bo applied to telegraph cable covering, and this induced me to obtain, through the kindness of Mr Frazer of the "European Mail, an introduction to Mr Hooper — Hooper's Telegraph. This gentleman tells me hitherto it has been found that phormium will not last so long mder water as Manilla ; but I almost think, it we gave him some differently prepared to the ordinary fibre, he would again be induced to try it. From Messrs D. Lornie and Sons, Kirkaldy, I have obtained a small piece of I damask table cloth, made for me entirely of , phormium fibre. It is not fine enough for the Queen's table, but it is, although coarse, fit for ordinary uee ; so you see progress is yet being made. In a letter I received from Mr Forbes a few days back, referring to Mr Lockhart's success, he says, " lam glad indeed that Mr Lockhart has taken such an interest in phormiun?, lam not at all jealous of his success, but highly pleased that I managed to inspire him with the spirit to try ; and I am sure others, seeing our success, will also find the truth that phormium is a valuable fibre." Your favour of 23rd December, 1872, owns my letter of the 17th October, and the mail bag further alludes to the curl in Native dressed fibre, whioh does not appear to trouble your hecklers in the way it bothers the hecklers here. You are quite right : Dr Featherston does take a great interest, not only in the flax industry, but in every matter calculated to produce benefit to the New Zealand colonists. I regret to say he has not been quite well of late. I hear he is now improvjag. On the 4th instant I attended the dinner of the Council of the Boyal Colonial Institute, land there conversed with many of the members on the advantages of the phormium. Our President, His Grace the Duke of Manchester, held me in conversation on tbia subject for some minutes, and expressed a warm

interest in its progress. The Royal Colonial, Institute has rooms centrally situated near the Charing Cross Station, 15 Strand, W.C., London, and colonists will find much attention paid to their interests by communicating with the attentive and kind honorary secretary, Dr C. W. Eddy. On a table in one oi'Jbhe principal rooms Dr Eddy has laid for inspection the various fabrics manufactured from the phormium, and takes every opportunity of drawing attention to them. If your Association would send newspapers regularly (the mail edition) to the Koyal Colonial Institute, your kindness would be much appreciated, and also tend to promote colonial interests. Your friend, Sir Daniel Cooper, Bart, called upon and lunched with me yesterday. He seems surprised at the advances made in utilising phormium; but his interest is evidently exercised in trying to get works for itsmanufacti>re introduced into New South Wales. He wants samples, which I have promised him, to forward to that colony, so aa to siir up his friends to action*. He says he shall be running out there himself in the course of the year — probably in the autumn! Yours faithfully, C. Thobne.

16 Mark Lane, E.O: r London, March. 21, 1873. ,. J. A. Bird, Esq., Secretary of the Canterbury Flax Association,. - Christchurch, N.Z. Dear Sir, — I fear the letter I wrote to you on the 6th mat. does not go forward until this opportunity, owing, to the mails- to NewZealand having been discontinued via San Francisco, of which notice was issued only two days after the letters had been been posted. I have very little to add to that communication. On the 18th . instant, the sample of " native dressed" hackled fibre, referred to by you in yours of the 21st and 23rd of December, 1872, came to. hand. It certainly does seem free from the curl, and in this respect proves an exception to the "native dressed which I have . previously seen; the small sample I sent to you on the 6th inst. fairly represents the bulk of the fibre I refer to, and in which- you will find the curl very strong. . ; On page 14 of the European Mail of this date you will find a long account of my late progress, which Mr Frazer,. "The AngloAustralian in London," gathered from me in course of conversations, &c. ; and on page 19 you will find useful extracts from Mr Forbes' Essay. Mr Frazer, of the European Mail, and Mr Carter Sooth, of the Some JSfews, always seem most urgent to get early information regarding progress in the utilisation of the phormium, and take every means in their power to disseminate any fresh intelligence they obtain likely to benefit New Zealand. I have not any new fabric to advise you of, but it wi)l perhaps' show you a few of the difficulties experienced in the introduction of a new fibre if I quote from a memorandum received this morning from a bleacher in one part of the country who is working cloth made from phormium forme. A telegram just received (12 a.m.) from another firm in another part of the country — the goods referred to I have promised to lend to the New Zealand Commissioners for exhibition in Vienna. [Extract from Memo.] Up to the present time, wo have only two pieces of your goods sound. We find great difficulty w ith them, indeed we are convinced that they will never answer bleached. In fact, the price for bleaching will be rather dear, more than anyone trill like to pay, as they take so much working, and will not look well when done. The firm who Bent this expressed doubts of their success when the cloth first reached them. ; ' The telegram says— The bleached damask will be sent you by tonight's mail train : the bleaching has improved it greatly. • The firm who sent this telegram stated from the first they believed New Zealand fibre would turn out a good thing, and never raised or complained of the slightest difficulty in either spinning, weaving, or bleaching it. To my mind, this clearly proves that a little careful attention, and a determination not to be beaten, will enable the manufacturers to apply Phormium fibre to nearly all the uses to which jute, flax, and hemp are at present applied, and so soon as they — the manufacturers — have found — like some of our friends have clready done — how easily the supposed difficulties ore overcome, Phormium fibre will become an important staple of trade. Yours, faithfully, O. Thobkb.