FLAX COMMISSIONERS

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great that a Native cannot dress more than two or three pounds weight in a day ; and at that rate they could not earn anything like a sufficient sum to induce them to set steadily to work at its preparation. We shall never get it until the finer kinds are largely cultivated, aud some quick process of cleaning it has been discovered.

(No. 101.) —Chaieman to Mr. Ralston, Bank of California, San Francisco.—loth June, 1_371. I have the honor to inform you that, at the request of the Hon. Mr. Vogel, I have forwarded to your address, by the mail which carries this, sixty-two plants of the Manunu, and others of the best varieties of the Phormium tenax (New Zealand Flax). They should be planted in a deep moist loam, and if possible by the side of a running stream. A sample bale of flax, as ordinarily dressed in the Colony, is also forwarded to you, and the Commissioners will feel much obliged by your distributing it among manufactures and others who may take an interest in the subject.

(No. 63.) — Chairman to Mr. Moeeison.—23rd March, 1871. The New Zealand Flax Commissioners are desirous of obtaining, for an Exhibition that is to be held at Wellington during the next Session of the General Assembly, a series of samples of all articles (except rope) manufactured from the fibre of the Phorinium tenax, and I beg that you will be so good as to forward, as soon as you can conveniently procure them, small specimens of all such fabrics as can be transmitted through the Post Office.

(No. 141.) —W. Ralston, Esq., Bank of California, San Francisco, to the Chairman.— 19th July, 1871. I have the honor to acknowledge your letter of 10th ultimo, advising that you had shipped to my address, at the request of the Hon. Mr. Vogel, sixty-two plants of the best varieties of New Zealand flax; also, a sample bale of flax, as ordinarily dressed in the Colony, which you desire should be distributed among manufacturers and other parties who may take an interest in the subject. Allow me to thank you, on behalf of our people, for this manifestation of a wise and liberal policy, and to assure you of the great pleasure I shall take in complying with your request. I hope that by this means a market may be opened with us for your valuable product, and that the culture of it may be initiated on this coast. As soon as the packages have passed through the hands of our Eevenue Officers, I shall take charge of them, and attend carefully to your suggestions.

(No. 133.J— Mr. Mobeison to the Chaieman.—l6th June, 1871. It is difficult, next to impossible, to comply with the request you officially made, for specimens of all articles manufactured from New Zealand flax. The brokers who deal in the article, and should know the use it is put to, cannot get hold of any, inasmuch as the fibre is not manufactured into any article except rope. To mix with other materials it is used in making paper, but the quantity made use of is so small that paper made from the mixture cannot be said to be made from Phormium tenax. I am trying to get samples of the produce. I believe for paper making it will be, in time, more extensively used than it will be for ordinary purposes. It will not, so lam told, spin. In the Lyttelton Times, of 3rd March last, there was an account from a Mr. Jones, who represented that shirts had been made from the flax, and that the officers of the 65th and 48th Regiments, stationed at Woolwich, used none other. This is, I believe, an imaginary account. I know, for a fact, that the regiment were never stationed at Woolwich, but as the Controller of the Royal Arsenal has privately undertaken to ascertain more about it, I may be in a position to tell you in my next the result of his enquiries. Should you happen to have any seeds of the different kinds of flax, I would be greatly obliged if you would send me, by post, a little of each kind. I want to grow them, and see if they will do in the open air at my residence at Huntingdonshire; besides, being so often applied to for green leaves, I should like to cultivate some and have it in my power to furnish specimens of the leaf in its green state.

(No. 142.) —Mr. Mobeison to the Chaieman.—29th June, 1871. I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your letter No. 63, of 23rd March last, directing me to procure and forward samples of all articles (except rope) manufactured from the fibre of the Phormium tenax. In reply, I beg to acquaint you that I have made extensive inquiries on the subject, but have been unable to ascertain that any articles, with the exception of rope, are manufactured from New Zealand flax. I enclose herewith copies of letters received from the following firms in reply to my inquiries, viz.:— (1.) From Mr. C. Thorne, of 16 Mark Lane; letters dated 7th and 13th June, 1871, with printed circular attached. (2.) Messrs. Manning, Collyer, & Co., of 141 Fenchurch-street, dated 14th June, 1871. 5