New Zealand Flax.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XIX, Issue 1827, 3 May 1886, Page 3

New Zealand Flax.

The following letter appears in the Mew Zealand Times

Sim,—Your correspondent " 0,” in your issue oI Tuesday, repeats the oft told tale of the danger of using this fibre where exposed to moisture, and, moreover, suggests that it should be altogether prohibited for seafaring purposes. Permit me, before this condemnation is effected, to be the interpleader in the cause of this unfortunate material. What has ever been dons hitherto to discover and realise any true merits which it possesses ? Absolutely nothing. The leaves have been indiscriminately cot front their native bed, and submitted to the action of a most barbarous maehine called a “ stripper ’’ io which, by the concussion arising from the enormous speed of the cylinder, they are separated into thin threads These threads are washed .and grassed for many _ days in order tbat from atmospheric bleaching their appearance may be improved. Lifted when dry, mote like a bundle of straw than fibre, they an submitted to the action of a scratch' iog maehine, which, after loosing a large quantity in the shape of *' tow," leaves the remnants ready for market at a coat which barely covert expenses. The phorminm 1 twin may therefore be qnoted as a victim to the idiocy, stupidity, and therefore maltreatment of all who have been engaged in its manufacture, and to myself more partienlarly as being the worst of that lot, because I am about the oldest band in it. Canstie remarks of this nature require some explanation for adopting them. The matter is of more than general importance to this country in these fiiiMM of depression end low prices for onr other exports, end, if yon will permit me the neeeeeeiy spaee. 1 will state why I have made use of them. What is the leaf of the phorminm tenax composed of ? The under surface of it (when split) is thickly covered with silicons matter containing a«M, while the outer or exposed side contains wllnli. tissue charged with coloring matter, and, as the most vital agent in its future growth and consistency, “essential oil ” in a considerable supply. Lying between these two surfaces is a man of brilliant white fibre. As a result of the barbaric stripping m«whiM I have quoted, not a particle of taiw ailioe is removed either th en or by the other processes named. It is allowed therefore to dry upon it, and then becomes of a consistency similar to plaster or stone •• That no after process can ever remove," for tbs fibre attached peri*he* with it. Exposed to tbs atmosphere for many days, the coloring matters diaappears, bnt by the same action all the wewitill oil likewise evaporates, and with it the very heart and life of the fibre. Tour correspondent “ 0,” I notice, attributes its failure in this state to the gum dissolving by tbs aetioa of the moistnre, whereas it ■imply dseavs and rots rapidly awsy. It is a compound brittle mast of fibrs and silica, which when knotted or twisted onts itself ; all its vitality baa been destroyed. This explanation of tbe result of the existing process ao far shows no canes agsinst its eondemnation no leas another mode of treatment can be suggested Supposing, therefore, end I will Mat H at present ss s supposition only, that |ba w l *** on one aide of tbe leal, and tbe coloring w«ati«r on the other, can be removed mechanically without any disarrangement of tbe fibre, all tbe present after-operations dispensed with, and tbe operation from green leaf to fibre ready for baling completed in a lew hour*, what would then be the result obtained and the ralne of the material ? Tbe recall woall be the production of a bright fibre, silky in its sppearance from being charged with essential oil, and therefore impeivions to moistnre, and of a relative strength that wonU bear comparison with any of the hemp dais to which it belongs, not excepting tuanilla, and finally of all round value over present production of at least 75 per cent., while orodnced at less cosh Experiments alone sad to practical results, bnt so far the proposed operation appears perfectly feasible, and tie whole fact may shortly be realized, and wy present statements therewith folly so. Tbe time, however, for supposition only abort this fibre is thoroughly exhausted, and Dotting leas than the given reality will be any longer accepted. I am, <te., Ch AS. J-PoWNALL. Wellington, April 91.