NEW ZEALAND FLAX: ITS CULTURE AND PREPARATION FOR THE PURPOSES OF MANUFACTURE.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVI, Issue 1693, 13 December 1861, Page 5

NEW ZEALAND FLAX: ITS CULTURE AND PREPARATION FOR THE PURPOSES OF MANUFACTURE.

YVangaroa, October, 1801. I have been induced to comply with tbe request of several friends that I should publish an account of my receiit experience in preparing the flax of this Colony for manufacturing purposes ; by observing that, since tbe passing of (he Patent Act of last year, one or two. parties are about to enter upon the same field of speculation ; and having myself no intention of taking advantage of such protection, I am the moie desirous that my method of preparing the flax should be generally known; both because I still believe it to be the most efficieutand simple yet invented, and that no one hereafter may claim exclusive right to the use of that which has been discovered by another. To such benefits as may arise from the knowledge of my own invention and experience, I make the colony at large most heartily welcome. It is unnecessary for me to givqany description of a plant so well known as the Pbormiuin Tenax, from which the flax of this Colony is obtained, as that is to be found in almost every work on New Zealand, from the days of Cook downwards ; but I shall have occasion hereafter to refer to some of its peculiarities and habits, when I come to treat of the mode of cultivating it. In tbe meantime let it suffice for me to state tbat each leaf of the plant contains a double series of fibres, those on the front being stronger and apparently coarser than those on the back. The natives, in their method of preparing the flax, reject the latter entirely, as is well known or employ them for making their Tabas. Let any one examine a leaf of this plant, and consider how such fibres oan be extricated expeditiously and without -injury from the mass of mucilagenous matter in which they are naturally embedded, and he will soon be convinced that the problem is no easy one to solve ; and also will not be surprised to learn that, perhaps no indigenous production of any country has had more attention bestowed upon it for the purpose of devising means of turning it to profitable account than this has had. To enumerate the various attempts which have been made both at home and in this colony to accomplish the desired object, would fill a volume; it would be useless, therefore, to go into such details. I can well remember, however, when I first visited Auckland in 1842-3, the excitement which then prevailed throughout the whole community upon this subject. It was truly amusing to find, day after day, one nostrum after another vaunted by its possessor as the great discovery, and each having his pocket sample to shew in confirmation of his success. It is no exaggeration, to say, that there was scarcely a pot in Auckland at that time that had not been diverted from its legitimate uses for the purposes of this secret alchemy, if I may so apply the term. The object then aimed at was, to soften the leaf so that the fibres might be easily separated from it, and also that the gummy substance pervading the flax, and rendering it brittle when dry, might be got quit of. Chemistry, being the science ransacked by the eager experimentalists, and but few of them being well acquainted with its principles, it is easy to imagine what dire compounds were sometimes tried, and that no practical results were likely to follow. The reaction of public feeling after so many failures, made it rather a formidable undertaking for any one subsequently to renew the attempt. Indeed, until within a few years back the circumstance that an individual was devoting his attention to the subject, was sufficient to elicit from the party infoiraed an expression oH pity, or rather of compassion, towards, the foolish enthusiast, as he was supposed to be. But, besides. chemical appliances, many endeavoured to accomplish their object by mechaniciil means ; amongst these I am Dot aware that, at any time, any one brought his invention to a practical bearing — in the Province of Auckland I mean — but a Mr. Holman, of Wangari, whose method consisted 'of attaching bunches of the leaves to the periphevy of a water wheel, and making them descend successively upon coarse hackles and blunt knives, and then through the running stream beneath. In this way he succceeded in producing an article fit, as he thought, for making wool lashings ; but when tried in that way, tbe result greatly injured the business reputation of the respectable ropespinner who used it. It was not until a year or two after my return to the colony in 1847, that my own attention was directed specially to the subject, and that Lmade an attempt, in conjunction with other' parlies, to establish a business by the preparation of flax,

I according to a method known only to myself)My plan. was to take the flax as prepared b^iße ' natives, valued at £15 or £20 per ton, and' by subjegtingf it to my process so to increase its value in the, home market as to fetch there £50 or £60 per ton. After the works were erected, a parcel of 4or 5 cwts. of native flax was submitted to the action of the solvent, but, unfortunately, in this first experiment, an error was committed which irretrievably destroyed the fibre, and my partners from motives best knows to themselves, immediately broke up the concern, and would allow no further tial, although urged to do so, California) speculations then affording 1 a much more promising field for the investment of capital than an enterprise so novel as the one attempted. To explain the cause of the failure just mentioned, I have to state that the material I employed as a solvent was caustic potash, or soda, which, when used at a given strength and in water at a temperature of 160°. to 200 Q Fahrenheit, effectually dissolves the gummy matter and makes, the fibre soft and pliable without injuring its strength ; but if the temperature is raised above the latter, point, or the water be allowed to boil, the fibre is instantly destroyed, as unfortunately was the case in this trial referred to. Independently, however, of such a result, it must be allowed that there was danger in leaving a rather nice chemical operation to be couducted by ordiuary workmen, even under superintendence, and, therefore, I am strongly of opinion that where the , application of scientific knowledge is necessary, it is better to have the process conducted in England where skilled labor is more easily obtainable than iv the colony. , But another difficulty also soon became apparent, arising from the uncertainty of the supplies of flax from the natives. It is well known to all who have bad to do with them, that no dependence whatever can be placed on their promises to do auything within a given time. "Taihoa," being one of the first words, the meaning of which a stranger learns to his cost who may have trusted to their punctuality. On the whole, therefore, it was perhaps well that this first method was abandoned. Being, nevertheless, still impressed with the importance of the object aimed at, ray efforts were next directed to the discovery of some method of obtaining, by mechanical means, supplies of fibre directly from the plant, and thus be independent of the natives. I was quite aware that numerous unsuccessful efforts had been previously made by others to accomplish the same thing, but it was not until I had. constructed some five or six different machines, some of which worked tolerably well, that I began fully to understand the difficulties which had to be contended with, and to despair of ultimate success. In this, state of mind, I was one day returning from my labratory, when the thought suddenly occurred to me, that the cause of my own failures hitherto, as well as those of others, must have been owing to the endeavour to imitate, by machinery, the manipulation of the natives by operating along the leaf, whereas the proper way to sepaiate the fibres, would be an action across the leaf. So convinced was I, that I had, at last hit upon the true principle upon which a flax dressing machine should be constructed, that I forthwith ' returned to the labratory, grooved a couple of pieces of hard wood, and fixing one of them in the vice, placed a leaf of flax upon it, and with the other rubbed across it, and I was immediately satisfied that I had made a valuable discovery. I was the more conjirmed in my opinion on my way home afterwards, when passing through the Government Domain;! noticed, what, strange tp say, I had nev^vdope that at the end of those flax leaves which had been chewed by the cattle, an'operation quite analagous to the one I had just been performing in my experiment, there appeared tufts of clean fibre. So obvious did the matter, now appear, that I avoided looking at those tufts of flax thus cleaned by the cattle when any one passed, lest the hint should be taken and I should be forestalled in 'my invention! As soon as possible, I got a working model constructed on the principle just mentioned and finding it to act perfectly, I invited three confidential friends to witness its performance ; these were the Colonial Treasure^ the late Mr. Shepherd, W. S. Graharae, Esq;, and Win. Kennedy, of the. Union Bank, Their' opinion was abundantly gratifying, and it determined me to proceed to more extensive operations. Before noticiug these, however, I will endeavour to describe the machine I had just invented, and although it will be rather difficult to do so without diagrams, I believe I shall; be able to make my explanation intelligible enough.* Let the reader, then, take a common parallel ruler, and holding ,one of the leaves fixed, moved the other one backwards and forwards, and he will produce piecisely the motion given to the principal part of my machine; which consists of a traversing bar, hinged like the parallel ruler, and by a connectiug rod, joined to a crank, the necessary reciprocating movement is given; the eccentricity of the crunk being H inches. This traversing bar rests upon its edge, and is 3J inches wide, by, two feet in length, and if made of wood, which answers very well, should be sufficiently thick to make it stiff, about 1£ inches will be thick enough. On the face of this bar are screwed three grooved plates, of cast metal, chilled iron being what I found to auswer best, each of these being 5 inches long, by three inches wide, and §■ thick. The grooves are about four to the inch, and lie at an angle of about 15 ° from the perpendicular. This traversing bar, with its grooved surface, is hinged to, and works iuside of, a frame of wood or iron, on the side of which, opposite to the bar, are three recesses, in each of which there is a block of- hard wood fitting nicely, but freelyj the recess jn which it works. These^blocks measure 5x3x3", an(j to the face of them, opposite the traversing bar, are attached grooved iron plates, similar to- 1 , those on the bar. It is evident that if these blocks were fixed, and near enough to the traversing bar as it passed, the two surfaces opposed to each other would jam.;^ but these blocks are each provided with a spring of vulcanised india rubber behind them, which allows the block to yield to the action of the traversing bar. and the two grooved surfaces to rub past each other. These blocks are further provided with stops which retain them in f.heir proper places so as to cause a space of about half an inch to arise between the surfaces every; time the traversing bar reaches the extremity of its movement; this being necessary to allow th& leaf of flax to pass between them, as its surface is successively exposed to their action. Just above the opening between the plates alluded to, the feeding rollers areplaced, whiolfgfconsist of a grooved iron roller, and one covered with vulcanised india rubber, which effectually^ hold ■;"•' the flax and pass it down at the requiiea^sp|s<i