NEW ZEALAND VIEWS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume IX, Issue 31, 30 July 1892, Page 751

NEW ZEALAND VIEWS.

A. NEW ZEALAND FLAXMILL. MERCHANTS and dealeis will tell you that the flax industry is not at present by any means in the flourishing condition it ought to be. English buyers appear to object to pay a reasonable price, and unless American buyers can get our flax at their own figure they prefer to use .sisal, a fibre which has a close resemblance to our product, except that it is somewhat shorter, and coarser in quality. Through the courtesy of Messrs Carr, Johnston and Co., of Auckland, our representative saw a sample of this rival staple, also specimens of Mauritius and Manilla hemp, Indian and China jute, and other near and distant relations of our flax. But though from the broker’s point of view flax is not so profitable as it ought to be yet it is an important industry, and affords employment to a vast number of persons. In 1886 there were only 30 flaxmills in New Zealand ; now there are upwards of 177, employing some 2,200 men and over 1 000 boys at a yearly output in the matter of wages of £116,168. Considerably over 109.600 tons of raw material were treated last year, the value being in excess of £59,210, and this, when dressed, was worth some £232,800, as against £20,059 for the product of~lBB6. Truly the trade has improved wonderfully in a few years; but owing to the present low price of competitive fibres the value of New Zealand flax has fallen to such a level as to compel many millers to cease operations. There are almost twice the number of mills in the Auckland district than there are in any other, but the number of hands employed and wages paid in the Wellington district is very much greater. Many of the Northern mills are very small and the Southern ones would appear nearly invariably to be large concerns. In the south the fibre can be turned out cheaper than is possible in the Auckland district, but the Northerners claim a superiority in fineness of texture and quality generally. The process of the manufacture of flax is not 'uninteresting. It is cut in the marshes and fre-

quently brought to some convenient road by a species of barge or raft. It is there transferred to bullock drays which deliver it at the mills. Here it is first put through the stripper, that is to say, all the pulpy green fleshy part of the leaf is torn off leaving only the fibre. It is then washed in the running water which is a necessary complement of every flax mill. This is mostly the work of boys, and on

the thoroughness of this washing and the subsequent soaking depends the fine colour of the finished ‘ hanks.’ After soaking, the flax is laid in fields for about a fortnight, during which time it is turned, after the manner of hay. The next operation is known as scutching. This is the clearing away of any of the outside husk which may have been left is effected by a large revolving wooden wheel. If the scutching be too severe it is apt to break the finer fibres, ami the product is weakened. On the other hand, llax with toomuch outside leaf left in has a disagreeable appearance, and gives manufactuiers a lot of trouble. Consequently ill scutched and indifferently stripped flax fetches but a poor figuie even when prices are high, while in a weak market it is practically unsaleable.

The figures anent flax production as quoted, are taken from the census returns, and are, of course, for last year. This year the output is not, we understand, so great, and flax is not, as we said before, so strong in position as might be wished. StiU there is but little doubt that it is an asset, and a valuable one. The question of fire in flax has been pretty thoroughly discussed of late owing to the Leading Wind and other fires. There is no doubt that Insurance Companies aie n<»t at present in love with flax, but. smoking and carelessness has probably as much to do with many of the tires one hears of as spontaneous combustion.

PLEASANT PICTON The long account of that most charming ami picturesque of our New’ Zealand townships, yclept Picton, appeared so recently in the Graphic that we are left with little to say in presenting another view of the town from the railway viaduct. The picture is certainly an excellent one, and gives an admirable idea of the district represented. The viaduct is, too, a noteworthy piece of work and shows what stull the engineers of the New Zealand Railways were made of. An may be judged from our social columns, Picton is second to no city of ita size in New Zealand in point of gaiety. There seems forever some new excitement, and Pictonites lead apparently the most pleasurable of lives.