Local Intelligence.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVI, Issue 1693, 13 December 1861, Page 2

Local Intelligence.

The Consulate; — We uuderstand Mr. Kvull has been appointed IJansealicr Consul, for, this port. The exequatur and other t necessaiies have arrived, and the i otificat.ion of ibe appointment is expected down from Auckland , by the next mail, the Duke of.NewcastU having intimated to the Governor the desire to appoint Mr. Krull by a late mail. ■ ■'.'.:' The Auckland Mail is due to-morrow. From the 9th instant a new time table cornea into force. The inter-provincial steamer;js to letive Manakau on the 9lh of each montb^pal* ling here on the 14th, and reaching Ota'gp on the 18th, from which latter port it is\to leave, on the 20tfc, if the English mail has arrived^ from Melbourne. If the mail should, be/latt the steamer can be detained at Otago untiljhe' 22nd reaching here in each case on the 23rd or 25th. We believe the Canterbury and-Wel-lington muils will not be forwarded via Otago. } . unless requested. ■ >■■■•■• Export ation of STooK.-r-We regret to hear that some of the late shipments of stdck to Otago have not realised well. On lhe;cargo per Her- , mine, we believe, the loss, will *;]oe\considerably ■ over £500. Meat is scarce and, dear at Otagoy. and the Dunedin folk are getting^up a pjetition to the Government to repeal the prohibition to import cattle from Australia. Yet from the paddocks in the neighbourhpod of the toAvn being in the hands of a few, cattle : "serif doyro are obliged to be sold for what they will Fetch.; •This slate of things will be remedied, in lime,' but "meanwhile almost the on^y mode to caa% exports of cattle from here pay, seemsr to be by the exporters '. themselves entering into tub slaughtering business. , . \ : Land Sale.— On Friday, the 29th tilt., a sala of thirty-two sections in ihe Manaia Block, *^ the Hundred of Maslert6n t took pl&Veb'y auction i's-' at the Land Office. The sections varied in size from 5 to 106 acres, the smaller size-being busli. These latter sold from £2 to £4 per acre, and the remainder with the exception of eight, at the upset price of £l per acre. Bathing.— -A good bathing establishment is much needed in Wellingtou. At present, al« ~ though asea port, there is literally no' accommodation for this purpose; and persprts" are deterred from availing themselves ofih'e healthful properties of salt water batbiiig, either \lirough the fear of exposure, sharks; or having.thjirfedt : cut by broken 'glass bottles. This^raddUy might sooti be overcome, if a few sj^p^i'in--' dividuals were to take the master in h'SnaP 1 ' Select a suitable site, erect a bathirig'hbbse on' piles, drive posts in for the space that would'bo required to be enclosed, and use iron fencing wire. The whoJe might be accomplished for £50 or £100. Ladies might then, enjoy the ; luxuries of the bath, and the health of the ih«t« habitants, generally, would be greatly promoted.^ We understand, that a letter has been*{r^faeived this morning from the Oommiss4V^| De' J partment at New Plymouth, requestingsj|tthe screw steamer Wonga Wonga should be%entup immediately. to Tarauaki for the purpose of conveyiug troops from thence to Wauganui. She sails at 3 o'clock precisely on Saturday, (Tomorrow afternoon). We have been, requested to direct atteution to an advertisement in'ariolher column announcing the. alteration in the time of sailing of .the W.-S.N. Company's vessels the Wonga Wonga and Sioriw Bird; 'the former will now sail for Wauganui nnd-.-jTaraf; naki, as above, and the Storm Bird wilUsail for Otago, .:..•■••' fr. PjjEORO-Pnbumonia, - -On the 21st November, Mr. Cowper, Secretary for L-inds, Sydney, ■ read to the Legislative Council of New South Wales, a telegram which he'had received from the Inspector and Commissioners of. Pl.euroPneumoniii, from Kiuraba, to the fdllowirig . effects — " Being alarmed'by tlie^exlent of Pleu^ ro-pneumonia on tbe West; s,ide 4 of tie Yaria Yarra, we separated, and tried itf'tbe other if o[i-f rections. We.trac l ed'\theV'dißpase.;'t"Qwaru.^;.;w^Muivumb'iclgee,' and at least Ao',o6Qpfltlle^ivOuld^ likely now becdnderrDied." '. A. piiriou^ qpmmeAi tary this upou tjie memorial sigiiied by allthe merchants, and traders of Dunedin, urging the Superintendent to suspend .{he prohibition on the importation. of. ; cattleJrom Australia, ulleg-. ing as a reason : that.the disease. is confined to a comparatively small portion of Australia, and that' the colony of Queensland, arid; most of New South Wales' was free from it. ; V .;,..

to the action of the plates below- Above the feeding rollers, a bar of wood is placed 18 inches x6 x lj. This bay is supported on its edge, and three mortices are cut through it of a size just sufficient to allow a leaf of flax to pass fteely through them, and these serve as guides to direct the leaf of flax to the feeding rollers, and also to prevent them falling to the side. When, a leaf of flax is dropped into one of those guides, it is immediately seized by tbe feeding rollers, and passing them it is exposed , to the action of the two rubbing surfaces below, and leaves the machine with the fibres perfectly disengaged, and hanging parallel to each other without confusion or injury, the mucilaginous matter contained in the leaf having served to protect them from the too severe action of the rubbing surfaces. Tbe boy who atteuds tbe machiue sits before it, and with one hand supplies it with leaves placed beside him, whilst witk the dtber he collects into bandfulls tbe dressed flax; and when be has sufficient, he places it in a holder by his side. When those holders are full, other boys take them away and put down empty ones. The flax is then put out on galvanised wire lines to dry and come to a proper color, which it does in a few days. It is then slightly scutched to remove the dust, and the flax is ready for the market. Such, then, is my process of preparing the flax of tliis colony, and I trust that the description of ray machine is sufficiently clear and intelligible that any good mechanic could make one from it. It will be observed that the entirely novel principle of a cross action upon tbe leaf, and the mode of its application, are what I claim to be my own discovery and invention. ; I may mention that the size of one of these machines is only about 2 feet long, 1 foot high, and 14 inches wide, and will produce one hundred pounds of dressed flax per day weighed after it has been dried. It has been objected that ray machine requires to be fed by band; bat let any one examine the leaves of flax, scarcely two of which are alike in length, breadth, thickness, or shape, and be will soon be convinced that to make a machine automatic in that respect is impossible. The disadvantage, if indeed it be one, as a boy must attend at any rate to receive the product, is fully counterbalanced by the rapidity with which the leaves are passed through, being about eight per minute, The power requisite to drive these machines, I estimate at one horse power for every four of them, and the cost of them should not exceed £10 each, if made of metal, and in the best manner, of couise, if made of wood, they would be much cheaper. In cutting tbe leaves of flax from tbe plant, care should be taken to do so not more than an inch below where the two sides of the leaf begin to adhere to each other, and the sooner they are passed through the machine the better. It v may be often fourfd convenient, however, to preserve them fresh for some time ifter they are cut, and this can be easily done by simply immersing the cut ends of the leaves in a shallow pond of water ; if they are immersed | an inch or two it will be quite enough, and | they will, in this way, keep fresh for some weeks. The green leaves will soon be destroyed , if they are heaped together. There are, it is well known, several varieties i of the flax plant, but I found that the finer ; ' sorts yelded the largest quantity of fibre, the average being from 20 to 22£ per cent, of the raw material, cut in dry weather. Any one desirous to know the varieties of the plant had I better consult some intelligent native on the subject, as the characteristics of them are, in some cases, not very obvious, and cannot be eatily described. ■.., . - — ... r ~- From-wVarnas been said, it will not be difficult to foun an estimate of the cost of one ton of flax prepared by my method. Suppose that the raw material can be laid down at the Factory for £1 per ton (and it ought not to cost ' more), then: —

— The two last items are charged high, and from the last one, a large deduction must he made if water power is employed. On the whole, however, it may be safe to estimate the cost of one ton of flax, prepared by my method, to be about £10 per ton, and for the article so manufactured, I repeatedly obtained not less than £22 10s. and £23 per ton in Auckland, and £30 per ton at Melbourne. The best test of the value of an article is what it fetches in the market, and, tried by that test, I had abundant reason to be satisfied with my manufacture. The question will, no doubt, here naturally occur to the reader, if such a large profit was realised from your manufacture, why did you not continue to prosecute the business? and this leads me to refer to my proceedings both at the Wai If ato and at Matakana, from which it will appear that the unsuccessful results of my labors arose from -circumstances over which I had no control, and which no sagacity could bave foreseen. , I chose the Waikato as the first field ior my operations, chiefly on account of the ample supply of the raw material found there ; and I erected a small Factory worked by horse power. The difficulties I had to contend with, however, were both numerous and formidable, but, nevertheless, they could have been overcome had not an insuperable one arisen from the discovery of gold in Australia shortly after I had commenced operations. Those only who were in this colony at the time when the news of that event arrived, know how completely all departments of business were effected by it ; and in my own case, made it simply impracticable to prosecute my undertaking, so I shelved it at once, and proceeded via Australia to England. Thus, a second time, singular to say, were my interests injured, and my object defeated by auriferous influences. It was during my -short residence at the Waikato that I was asked to forward a sample of my .manufacture to the Great Exhibition of 1851, which accordingly I did, and although* the parcel had been hastily prepared, I had the satisfaction afterwards to find it among the " Honorable mentioned " in the Committee's report. I also forwarded drawings and a description of my Sax dressing machine to Sir Sir David Brewster, who kindly did me the honor of bringing them under the notice of the British Association for the advancem ent of science at their meeting at Belfast in 1852. It was when in England, in 1855, that I made my third and final attempt to accomplish the important object I had in view, and formed for this purpose a connection with two esteemed friends there, who, laying my plans and estimates before them, entered very cordially into the undertaking. It is evident that, in preparing my estimates and expressing my opinions to them on the subject, I could only be guided by the condition of the colony when I had left, it three years before ; at which time, as is well. known to those who were 1? ere, land

could have been purchased at merely nominal rates, and there were many most favourable localities for a flax business t'rom the abundauceof the natural supplies of the raw material in them. On returning to Auckland, however, in December, 1855, after haring made arrangements at home for all the requisite's of a large Factory to follow me; my dismay may be imagined, when I found that a complete revolution had taken place in the state of the colony during my absence. Land could not now be purchased but at most extravagant rates, and a system of burning off for cattle runs had rendered various districts in which abundance of flax had formerly existed utterly unavailable for my purpose. I searched in various directions for a suitable site for my operations, advertised repeatedly for land supplied with flax, but in vain •, and at last, urged to a decision by the circumstance of a shipment of niachi: nery and labourers being- on the way to the colony, 1 fixed on the only site I had under offer, and that was at Matakana ; a very desirable locality certainly in many respects, but deficient in what formed the principle desideratum, supplies of the raft material. In the hope, however, that ere those natural supplies would become exhausted, we might be able to plant a sufficient quantity of flax for the requirements of the Factory, I proceeded with its erection, and in due time had all in working order, con sistingofa steam engine of 15 horse power, and thirty-two machines, with other requisites for the business. The article produced, as I have already said, met with a ready sale at the prices formerly mentioned, and the waste material itself* sold readily at £18 per ton for iipholsterer'spurposes. It soon became evident, however, that the natural supplies of flax would in a short time cease, even although I employed a small vessel to fetch the article from various places along the coast, and I may observe, here, that almost every person, but such as have a practical knowledge of the subject, when looking at a field of flax, fall into the error of imagining the quantity to be very much greater than it actually is. An illustra-, tion of this occurred during the period now referred to.- A respectable settler, and an old one too, happening to meet me when looking out for fresh sources of supply for the works, said, " Oh, Mr. Whytlaw, if you send your vessel down to our neighbourhood, I can shew you flax in abundance sufficient to supply you for mouths, if not for a year." " Well," I said, " Mr. M"., I am not inclined to send quite so far for flax, yet as you assure me of such abundant supplies, I will send a cutting part^ and try whether it will be profitable to do so." Accordingly, I did so, and exhausted this promising field in about three weeks! . To have cultivated the flax for supplying our works, about 200 acres of land would require to have been well cleared, ploughed, and fenced, the cost of which, together with that of procuring and planting so many thousand roots of the best sorts of flax, appeared so formidable, that my partners at home shrank from so much additional expenditure, and, together with myself, finally resolved to abandon the undertaking. I have given this brief sketch of my efforts to establish a flax business in this colouy, both for the purpose of showing the true causes of their failure to such as have watched my proceedings with interest, and to prevent any one from supposing that, as yet, no efficient method of preparing the flax of this colony has been discovered. Nothing could be more simple and efficient than tbe method already described, and the prices repeatedly obtaiued for the prepared article have demonstrated its, value. . I-Juui*. — -JiuJo — dvube tnat~ L the blessings of peace are restored to this unfortunate colony, and spare capital be relieved from old established channels, this most important source of colonial wealth will be again resorted to as one of the most promising fields for commercial enterprise. In the meantime, I would take leave to suggest to our settlers throughout the country, that most profitable employment might, eveu now, be found for themselves and families, by having one of my machines on their station, and .working it when other operations of the farm did not require their attention. In this way, a few hundred weights might be now and then prepared, and iv the course of the year a ton or two of flax could be sent to the market, adding £30 or £40 to the yearly income of the family a sum not to be despised at any period, but more especially in these bard times, Were such a system to prevail throughout the colony, doubtless agents would soon appear who would travel about and pick up what each settler had prepared, and thus gradually a large export of flax might be made from the colony. I have already stated that about one-fourth of a horse power is required to drire one of these machines, but in the event of such power, or that of wind or water not being conveniently to be had, the machine is so constructed that one-third, two-thirds, or the whole can be used at a time, thus making it available for manual labor when that alone can be had. It is greatly to be regretted that large quantities of the flax plant hare been destroyed of late years throughout the country; first by being burnt off and then allowing the cattle to feed upon tbe tender sboots, by which means the flax is irretrievably injured and finally disappears. To such as may bt disposed to operate on a more extensive scale than I have just alluded to, I would now offer a few directions as to planting the flax, which appears to be tbe only way of now obtaining adequate supplies of the law material for such a purpose. The flax plant, it is well known, is an exceedingly hardy one ; the root may be taken out of the ground and left exposed for days, or even weeks, to the weather, and yet retain its vitality. It is doubtless best, however, to transplant it in as fresh a state as possible. The ground, which should be of good quality, must be well cleared of weeds, ploughed, and harrowed. The plants, after having all ithe leaves but the centre one cut off, may be put in either by means of a furrow made by tbe plough and earthed up with the hoe, at distances of not les9 than three feet apart from each other, and the furrows six feat apart. Or, the plants may placed by fours in shallow boles of two feet diameter, inclining the plants outwards and heaping the earth up in tbe centre. These groups of plants should be placed six feet apart from each other. This is the method usually adopted by the natives, but either way will do. It will be advantageous to leave a path often or twelve feet in width between the beds of plants for the convenience of fetching out the leaves when cut; and these beds should not exceed forty or fifty feet in breadth. The flax will grow if planted at almost any season, but the proper time for doing bo is during the winter months, and in eighteen months afterwards the first crop of leaves may be cut. I i have already described bow thisought to be done, but I may here add that if it be an object to obtain a very fioe delicate fibre, this can be secured by keeping tbe inner or younger leaves by themselves which contain fibres of the most beautiful textufe. The rapidity with which tbe

plant gtevs and propogates itself by offsets when the laud is well prepared, is surprising. I have repeatedly found the increase to be not less than sixfold per annum, so that a very few years would suflice to convert land, planted in tbe manner I have just described, into a dense mass of flax, and yielding many tons per acre for the purposes of the Factory. It, would be impossible to state any definite quantity, as the produce per acre, the yield will entirely depend upon the time tbe field may have been planted and the goodness of the soil. I may state, however, as the result of repeated and careful experiments, that a single plant will produce from 6 to 8 leaves per annum, and that 1000 leaves will yield about 21 lbs. of prepared fibre, or, as formerly stated from 22 to 22* per cent, in weight of the leaves cut in dry weather I believe, that the leaves may be cut at any season of the year without injury to the plant, provided, as I have already stated, tbe centre snoot is left untouched. In a> field laid out and planted as I have already described, one stout youth could easily cut and fetch out to the road about five hundred weight per day, and the flax would then be taken to the Factory by a dray. With reference to drying the fibres after having left tbe mill, I may state tfrat I found j single lines of galvanised wire to answer exceedingly well, as when the. bandfulls of flax were loosely tied to these lines, they could be turned over and otherwise handled with great rapidity when the boys became accustomed to j Alie work. In packing the flax for shipment, I used a hydraulic Jack, of 10 ton 6 pressure, and found i that I could compress the bales into about 100 cubic feet per ton weight, or 2| tons measurement. Probably, with a more powerful press, they could be reduced still more ; but in esti* mating Che charges for freight, at least 80 cubic feat ought to be allowed for every ton weight of flax. Ido not kno>v that I could add anything more in the way of information to such as may , contemplate engaging in the flax business. It would be easy to expatiate on the advantages to the colony, were parties with enterprise aud capital now to prosecute it with vigor. The way has been cleared of its most formidable I difficulty, namely, the previous want of a simple and efficient method of obtaining the fibre from .the plant. And the experience of numerous I pioneers would facilitate operations which formeily daunted many courageous minds. It is well known that the principal hindrance to the introduction of New Zealand flax amongst the home manufacturers, has been the irregularity of the supplies ; were that obstacle once removed, they would readily be at the expense of altering their machinery for its use, and a much higher price than has hitherto been obtained would doubtless be given for an article which possesses so many valuable properties. It is to be hoped that the settlers in New Zealand, especially in this Northern portion of it, will not rest satisfied with merely growing wheat, corn, and potatoes, or even wool. This colony is comparatively limited in its extent of land available for sucb purposes, and the wool growers at the South are already treading on each others toes for want of space to stretch out. Whereas if the valuable indigenous production of our soil, to which I have called attention, were carefully cultivated, large tracts of land, otherwise useless, would become valuable, and even the nooks and corners of our 'mountain ridges be made to yield much profitable produce. Iv tbe event of the plan previously suggested of each settler having his flax dressing machine. now-andiJ»«n-t»tTruVlr f becoming general, Hvould not despair of seeiog-^inja very few years, the value of our exports enhanced to a degree that would surprise the community. Be this as it may, however, I have now thrown in my mite for the general good, and although ray knowledge and experience in this matter has not hitherto benefitted myself in a pecuniary j point of view, I trust that others, under more favourable circumstances, may ultimately reap abundant advantages. -♦— —

Five Tons Green Flax, @ 20s. ... 5 0 0 Wages of 20 boys, @ Is. 6d. #- day 110 0 Do,, do. drying and housing 110 0 Interest on Capital, wear and tear 010 0 Steam power .. 10 0 Cost of I ton Flax £9 10 0