1857 - Hursthouse, C. New Zealand, or Zealandia, the Britain of the South [Vol.II.] - CHAPTER XIV. INVESTMENTS AND INDUSTRIAL PURSUITS...

       
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  1857 - Hursthouse, C. New Zealand, or Zealandia, the Britain of the South [Vol.II.] - CHAPTER XIV. INVESTMENTS AND INDUSTRIAL PURSUITS...
 
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CHAPTER XIV. INVESTMENTS AND INDUSTRIAL PURSUITS...

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CAPITAL AND CAPITALISTS.

CHAPTER XIV.

INVESTMENTS AND INDUSTRIAL PURSUITS OTHER THAN AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL.

CAPITALISTS. -- LOAN COMPANY. -- The reader must not imagine that New Zealand capitalists are of the same family and status as the Goldsmid and Gurney leviathans of Lombard Street. An emigrant landing in New Zealand with £3000 to £5000 is a capitalist, a ruler of the money market. Ten per cent, is the common rate of interest on mortgage securities, twelve and a half to fifteen on bill-discounting; and the transactions in either line are quite as safe and bond fide as similar transactions in England, where the rates of interest would not generally exceed five to seven per cent. Where a necessary article is scarce, there it will be dear. Money is scarce in New Zealand, profits are high, and New Zealand farmers and traders, each having a lucrative little business and no rent, tythes, assessed or income tax to pay, can well afford to give ten and twelve per cent, for permanent and temporary loans to enable them to extend and nurse up their thriving little concerns. In New Zealand, even now, there are hundreds, (in a little time there will be thousands) of that

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MORTGAGE INVESTMENTS.

"Bete noir" of the "high-price" colonisers, the industrious emancipated labourer, tilling his own fields. These, the hardy yeomen of the new-land, the steel sinews of the country, are safe and excellent customers to the capitalist. Indeed, it has always seemed strange to me, that in the exasperating difficulties which the "high-price" doctrinaires have met with in their efforts to construct that nice machine which should repress and regulate the rise of labour in new countries, and make the busy drag the idle up the hill, they never proposed to make it compulsory on their labouring-emigrant to borrow money of their capitalist-emigrant at fifty per cent.; so that the latter might have been relieved from all toil and trouble of cultivating the stubborn acres, and would only have had to step in at harvest time and pocket half the produce. Badinage apart, however, there can be no question that these small Yeomen-Farmers both can and will borrow a good deal of money in New Zealand, at ten and twelve per cent. The very fact of their industrious ambition having already raised them half a dozen steps in the ladder of life, justifies the belief that a continued display of industrious ambition will raise them half a dozen steps more. Thus, the moral, the personal, securities of such a class of borrowers are good; but such borrowers do not come to borrow capital on personal securities--all have their little homesteads and freeholds, and it is on these that they ask to borrow £50 to £100, to enable them

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CAPITAL.--INTEREST.

to buy a few acres more, or to enable them to increase their dairy, or to get a few sheep, or to improve the fences, or to build themselves a better house barn or granary,--and such men as these may safely be trusted to repay principal and interest when their bonds are due.

But it is not among small yeomen only, that capital would find a good agricultural demand. Large farmers, dairy-farmers, sheep-farmers, cattle-farmers, numbers of thriving well-to-do colonists engaged some way or other in the cultivation of the soil, would frequently like to borrow a few hundreds at ten per cent, for the profitable improvement of their young estates, or for the purpose of enabling them to take part in some of the many excellent little speculations which are always offering to a man in a young and rising colony. A dozen times during my residence in New Zealand I would gladly have paid ten or even fifteen per cent, for the use of a ready hundred or two for a few months, to have enabled me to take part in some little enterprise or temporary investment, which would have returned me thirty per cent.; and hundreds of colonists in every settlement would have done the same.

The mercantile, the retail-trading, and the mechanic interests, like the agricultural and the pastoral, are also frequent borrowers of money on short terms. In England and in most old, occupied, densely-peopled, rich countries, there is far more of capital than of profitable employment for capital; and

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NEW ZEALAND LOAN COMPANY.

there, millions lie almost waste and barren, or are dissipated in catching shadows. Millions lying with the old lady in Threadneedle Street produce their owners no more than a sorry four per cent.; and blundering London, the financial El Dorado of every clever scoundrel and swindling State in Christendom, will always throw the mackerel to catch the sprat, and cheerfully pay down millions sterling for Peruvian bonds, for Russian railways, Choctaw lead mines, Diddlesex death-offices, or Royal British Banks. But in a young colony like New Zealand the exact reverse of all this is the case--there, profitable employment for capital far exceeds the amount of capital; business is brisk and steady, profits are high and certain; the young commerce of the country is in its robust childhood, and needs but the "golden food" of capital to make it grow to youth's estate and expand to manhood.

Indeed, such is the legitimate demand for capital in New Zealand; such, at last, is the safe political and industrial condition of the colony, that I do not think any more certain and profitable commercial enterprise could now be started than a "New Zealand Loan Company." If fifty shareholders with £100,000 or so (some of them going out to reside in the colony) were now to organize a Loan Company, establish an office under good management in each of the six provincial capitals, and advance money on good securities, in £50 to £500 sums, and perhaps eventually add the purchase and shipment of wool to their business,

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RUSSIAN RAILWAYS.

my deliberate opinion and that of many others, is, that such company might divide a nett annual profit of full twenty per cent. And I would respectfully hint to any capitalist reader looking out for an investment, that "New Zealand Loan Company" shares would assuredly be preferable to "Russian railway" shares,--inasmuch as Russia, in all human probability (about ten years hence), will despatch every fractious British stoker in her territories to cool himself in Siberia, and will sack every penny of British capital which Russo-British stockbrokers banded with "Oily Gammon" engineers, have lured stupid Mr. Bull into lending her -- so prenez garde mes enfants, and rest assured, that "La Russie recule pour mieux sauter."

DOCTORS, LAWYERS, SURVEYORS. CIVIL ENGINEERS, &c.--I do not advise any gentleman to take the field in New Zealand with any one of these professions as the only string to his bow; but, taken as a second or minor string, any one might, more or less, promote the success of his shooting. To Doctors, I may hint that though cholera, typhus and small-pox are happily unknown in New Zealand, ladies, there, are generally in that interesting condition which in new countries is so commendable. Lawyers would find great activity in the markets of real property: lands, houses and hereditaments are often changing hands; and common law, conveyancing, special pleading, and forensic weeping, are not, I fear, at all likely to become

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PROFESSIONAL MEN.

"lost arts" in New Zealand. Solicitors practise as barristers, and barristers as solicitors. Any gentleman of the law going out, should carry with him his diploma authorising him to bleed the pocket; but the forensic wig he may, I think, leave with his laundress. The theodolite finds work in opening-up new districts, in laying-out new towns and villages, reserves and public sections, and also in private field practice among the agricultural settlers; and roads and bridges are beginning to call for the civil engineer. Whilst even as to the fine arts we may say, that though most New Zealand colonists would prefer the "Wool-List" to the "Stones of Venice," and though none might buy the "Scapegoat" or the Apollo Belvidere, yet that many would patronise low art, and gladly pay a guinea or two for a daguerreotype of the New Zealand baby, or for a sketch of the Home they had hewn from the Bush. Experience shows that soldiers, sailors, lawyers, doctors, surveyors, engineers &c. may all succeed in the agricultural pastoral or mercantile pursuits of New Zealand just as well as farmers, graziers, or traders; and professional civilians buying wild land and engaging in the work of creating an estate, may now and then make their guinea or two, and add a little to their incomes by occasionally practising the old profession, without neglecting that new and principal business which they are prosecuting with success.

MERCANTILE AND TRADING PURSUITS.--There is

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MERCHANTS AND TRADERS.

increasing room in New Zealand for active men of business, possessing £2000 to £3000, and good mercantile connexions in London, Manchester, and Birmingham, &c. They would establish their houses in some of the rising provincial towns; have their correspondents in Sydney, Melbourne, Point de Galle, Singapore, and other neighbouring marts of commerce; buy up native and colonial produce for shipment thither; bring back sheep and agricultural stock, sugars, teas, coffees &c.; consign wool, oil, ores, flax, and European exports to their agents or partners in London, and receive back British manufactures, for home consumption, in return. Even the present export and import trade of New Zealand is far more considerable than any one would suppose it to be who might casually hear that the population of the colony was scarce 50,000 Europeans. These 50,000 pioneer colonists are mostly young, vigorous, industrious, well-to-do people, engaged, more or less, in the work of producing, and well able to purchase and consume a large amount of British manufactures. Their annual raw-produce production, and their annual consumption of imported articles, is probably double the production and consumption of any 50,000 middle-class people in the United Kingdom. But it is not only the existence of a "free-consuming" European population which creates trade in New Zealand; there are some 70,000 natives who are every year becoming better customers to the merchants; and the united exports and imports of New Zealand even in this,

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SHOPS AND SHOPKEEPERS.

the rising infant state of the country, probably amount to quite a million sterling a year.

It appears to me, too, that a considerable extension of native and general business would be created and nursed up in New Zealand, if enterprising mercantile houses on the coast, were to organize a better system of internal trade by pushing-out, among the natives,--frontier "trading-posts" (under the care of active native clerks), for the sale and barter of European manufactures, clothes, groceries, stores, &C.; and the collection of flax, gum, potatoes, wheat, cured-pork, and other articles, which the natives might thus be stimulated to produce in larger quantities.

RETAIL TRADERS.---Small shopkeepers (in colonial parlance, storekeepers) are generally far too numerous a class in all young emigrant communities. Almost every colonial village displays half a dozen flimsy little band-boxes, called "stores," where the sanguine proprietors, having chalked up their names and put a bar of soap and a frying pan in the window, may be seen seated on a cask of negrohead, ready to sell you the worst possible article at the highest possible price; and placidly smoking their short pipes in the delusive belief that they are on the high road to fortune,--whereas if they knew what was good for themselves and for the community, they would be at work in the fields producing something, if it were only an onion, a cabbage or a potato.

Any active tradesman or brisk shopkeeper, how-

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BREWERIES AND MANUFACTORIES.

ever, emigrating from this country to New Zealand, would succeed in creating his little landed estate just as well as the professional man; and it might happen that, if he chose to settle in some new or rising neighbourhood, he could keep both shop and farm--wife and daughter looking to the one, son and self to the other.

MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY, &c. &c.--Various small Breweries have been established with considerable success. Every man can afford to drink good ale; and it is a drink well suited to the climate, and to the active out-door pursuits of the people. Indeed, it is not improbable that pale ale may eventually become an export to Australia, where, as in every hot English-peopled country, there is an immense consumption of malt liquor, and where both climate and soil are unfavourable to home-brewing. New Zealand is both a barley and a hop country; the climate, with its sharp cold nights, is admirably adapted both to the malting and the brewing process; and there is a profusion of the finest and softest water, with an abundance of water power for cheap machinery.

The Provision trade and curing-business have already been alluded to under the head of "Exports." Soap and candles are made on a small scale; and this business, like Tanning, will probably be much extended, as tallow and hides become more plentiful. 1 Rope and cordage

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MANUFACTURES.

making for the supply of the coasting and colonial shipping, and the manufacture of wool lashing from the Phormium tenax or wild flax, is even now a small but increasing business in New Zealand; and should the bad properties of this peculiar plant (described at page 430) be ever eradicated by some ingenious Arkwright, the preparation, the manufacture, and export, of the fibre will unquestionably become important industrial pursuits, profitably employing a considerable number of growers, dressers, and manufacturers.

No cloth manufactory has yet been established. I should, however, imagine that the colonial manufacture of coarse woollen clothing, like the Australian Paramatta tweeds, might now be successfully commenced. There is now plenty of wool, and water and water power are abundant; some dyes could be grown, others are found in the native barks; 2 and colonists and natives are large consumers of coarse clothing and strong woollen fabrics. Indeed, though New Zealand's manufacturing epoch has not yet arrived, and though the legitimate business of these her early days may be to reclaim

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TIMBER AND CORN TRADES, ETC.

her millions of wild acres, and to produce wheat, wool, flax, and raw materials for man's food and clothing; yet the very abundance and variety of her raw materials for manufactures, and her profuse supply of water and cheap water-driving power for machinery, all tend to show that she is likely to become a (partly) self-supplying, manufacturing, colony somewhat sooner than has been usual with British dependencies.

The Timber-trade, in connection with saw mills; and the Corn-trade, in connection with flour mills, would now be profitable businesses; and there are various localities where "building speculations" would now return large and certain profits.

WHALING. -- That branch of whaling called "shore-whaling," which consisted in the killing of the black, cow-whale, by coast-boat parties, when she came in-shore with the calf--a business which once employed some hundreds of men--is now almost abandoned in New Zealand. Indeed, it was a wasteful, exterminative practice; and coast "whaling-stations" were rude embruted little communities, which New Zealand, becoming an emigration field, could well dispense with.

New Zealand, however, is still on the edge of the finest Sperm whale grounds; numbers of American whaling vessels visit her harbours to refit and exchange oil for provisions; as many as a dozen sail at a time are occasionally seen in the favourite harbour of Monganui (Doubtless

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SPERM-WHALING.

Bay, in the extreme north), and there appears to be no reason why New Zealand should not, by degrees, equip a little fleet of clipper-schooners, and catch the Sperm-whale at her very doors. Auckland and Wellington would even now be quite equal to the work of building and equipping small whaling craft; there are plenty of old whaling hands cruising about the coasts; the natives make fine whaling-seamen; and New Zealand schooners would have this advantage over American ships, that they would be sailed at less expense; and living, if we may so express it, in the whaling seas, would always be close to their work, and home fishing within a week's run of their port.

If the Messrs. Enderby, letting alone that desolate wilderness the Auckland Islands, and allying themselves with the whaling forces of New Zealand, had commenced the new fishery on a small scale from a civilised port like Wellington, and had gradually nursed up their national enterprise in New Zealand, it would probably have proved a fortunate one; and if the New Zealand colonists, with the many advantages they possess, do not in a few years retake a portion of the lost British sperm whale fishery from Brother Jonathan, they will unquestionably deserve, as an old American whaling skipper once hinted to me, to attain the distinction of being a maritime people "fit only to navigate a bumboat across a duck-pond."

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MECHANICS AND LABOURERS.

MECHANICAL TRADES AND HANDICRAFTS. -- Carpenters, cabinet-makers, painters, glaziers, masons, blacksmiths, wheelwrights, shipwrights, millwrights, coopers, sawyers, thatchers, gardeners, saddlers, tailors, shoemakers, all sorts of farm labourers, and handy jack-of-all-trade fellows, all men who minister to first wants, are certain to succeed in New Zealand--certain if only sober and industrious, to make what, to them, would be a fortune. It is literally true that hundreds of mechanics and labourers who landed in Nero Zealand a few years ago, are now substantial freeholders, cultivating their own little estates. Two substantial New Plymouth farmers, elected to the "vestry parliament," and addressed there as "honourable member," came to New Plymouth, the one a journeyman carpenter, the other a most industrious agricultural labourer, and excellent M.P. Vestrymen they make. Indeed, every colonist could name a score instances of the gratifying rise of sober working-men; and any benevolent person knowing some industrious family of this class and inclined to help them to New Zealand, might rest perfectly satisfied that such family would prosper there; and would soon be able to repay to their benefactor every penny of the money which he might have advanced to help them out.

PREPARATION AND MANUFACTURE OF THE " PHORMIUM TENAX." (NEW ZEALAND FLAX.) In combined length and strength of raw-fibre,

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THE NEW ZEALAND FLAX.

there is probably no textile plant in the whole vegetable kingdom equal to the Phormium tenax of New Zealand; but textile manufacturers might well add, that there is no plant which exhibits such perverse and exasperating features. In profusion of growth, and in possession of certain good qualities, Phormium tenax might become a New Zealand export worth two millions a year -- but unfreed as it yet is from certain parasitical bad properties, it is a New Zealand export scarcely worth two thousand a year. The fibre is said to be stronger than Russian hemp; 3 but the fibre is clogged with a resinous or gummy bark which virtually destroys its commercial value; and from which, no experimental efforts, yet made, can be said, practically, to have decorticated it.

The botanical character, mode of growth, and general abundance of the plant, are described in the article in Chapter VI., and in some following notes by a Mr. Moore.

In its live, growing, state, Phormium tenax forms the New Zealand farmer's green tying-stuff; and a plant or two is generally preserved near the door or about the barn. Indeed, independently of its useful-

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USES OF THE PLANT.

ness, its vigorous beauty, as an ornamental plant, should give it a place in every shrubbery or garden. The leaf (just nicked with the nail) splits up into regular smooth-edged strips of any breadth. If string be wanted, a single three-inch leaf split into a dozen strips and knotted, gives fifty feet of flat green cord, which no light strain will break; whilst if pig or sheep has to be tied, a couple of leaves, split or whole, form a cord which no pig can break. In this green state, the leaf is frequently used for make-shift girths, halters, tethers, garden-lines, measuring-tapes, thatching-cord, boot-laces, and common string; and the Natives plait it into excellent kits (large baskets) and into various straps, and tethers for their pigs and cattle. When dressed, it once formed the material for all the clothing of the native population; in this state the Natives still use it for making their fine hand-rolled cord, and fishing lines; and in this state, it has been experimentally converted into linen, canvass, and paper; 4 and now forms the flax or hemp from which a large portion of the colonial-used rope and rigging is manufactured. 5

Twenty years ago, when flax mats were the garments of the country, the Natives had to dress large quantities of the plant for their own uses; and

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PHORMIUM TENAX.

the Sydney adventurers, who then conducted the rude trade of the islands, becoming acquainted with the manufacturing quality of the article, stimulated them to produce it further, as an article of trade and barter. Thus, in earlier times, every New Zealand village was occasionally busied in flax-dressing; and Phormium tenax became one of the chief exports to Sydney, and occasionally found its way, in small quantities, to the English market.

In late years, however, this trade has entirely ceased. The Native, clothed in European fabrics, no longer needs the Phormium tenax for domestic use; and the fine markets which the colonisation of the country has opened for all his garden produce, relieves him from the necessity of drudging at flax-dressing as the only mode of procuring the white man's imported luxuries. Indeed, the natives never seem to have liked the work; and I do not think that (as a people) they could now be induced to resume the preparation of the Phormium tenax, save by the offer of such a price as would make Phormium tenax almost as dear as Silk. Moreover, they are a far less numerous people than they were: many of the old flax-dressers have leapt the Reinga, the young people have not acquired that quick and dextrous manipulation which the old process demanded, the art is becoming partly a lost art--and we may rest assured, that if ever Phormium tenax be made a leading article of export or manufacture in New Zealand,

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THE FLAX DIFFICULTY.

it will not again be the Natives who will supply the material.

If New Zealand is ever to have any permanent flax or hemp trade worthy of the name, it will, I think, only be, when the finest varieties of the Phormium tenax are cultivated by the farmer; and when the flax-dresser receives the green sheaves of leaves from the grower, and by machinery converts them into the textile of commerce--ready for the export-merchant or the home-manufacturer.

The farmer's work would be mere agricultural A. B. C work. Any quantity of the long or the silky varieties could be grown with as little trouble as cabbages; and could be periodically cut and carried to market with a tythe of the expense entailed by wheat or potatoes; whilst as to quality, the Natives tell us that cultivation not only much improves the fibre, but renders it much easier to dress.

Whether the flax-dresser will ever succeed in accomplishing his portion of the task; or whether, if we may so express it, he will remain stuck fast, hands and feet, in the gluey-gum of the plant, is a question which time alone can determine.

The reader will understand that the flax-dresser's "difficulty," is the cleansing of the fibre, by some cheap and wholesale process, from that resinous "barky" substance which grows with it in the leaf. Various attempts have been made to overcome this difficulty--but hitherto, with no full, or practically proved, success.

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THE FLAX ARKWRIGHT.

A Mr. Robinson, an ingenious rope-manufacturer of Auckland, who exhibited a splendid coil of New Zealand rope at the "Great Exhibition" of 1851--a Mr. Whytlaw, whose letter appears in the following page--and a Mr. Ward Trent, 6 whose twenty years' experience, and perfect acquaintance with his subject, appear to me to entitle him to be heard with great attention on the point, may be distinguished as the three practical experimentalists who have done the most to elucidate the question. But I think we are still, virtually, only on the threshold of the inquiry--and our New Zealand Arkwright is unquestionably so far the "coming man," that he has not yet come.

It seems, to me, that the subject is worthy of serious consideration. Flax or Hemp is no mere luxury which the world could do without--it is a textile staple ranking with cotton, wool, and silk-- a staple which Great Britain annually imports to the amount of some £3,000,000 sterling. The Phormium tenax flax (the raw material) flourishes in the greatest luxuriance in every district of New Zealand from north to south; and, by selection and easy cultivation, could not only be inimitably increased in

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IMPORTANCE OF THE QUESTION.

quantity, but considerably improved in quality. The fibre of the plant is admitted to possess intrinsic manufacturing properties of the highest value; and to be an article which, if economically freed from the one destructive peculiarity which it possesses, would at once command an extensive and lucrative sale in the British market.

Indeed, looking at New Zealand flax as a possible export which might eventually prove worth a million a year to the colony, I think the General Assembly would do well to stimulate the experimental efforts of private enterprise in the matter, by the offer of some substantial pecuniary reward. If the New Zealand government were to advertise in the "Times," a reward of £5000 to any one who would produce in New Zealand, some wholesale, commercially-workable, process which should thoroughly dress New Zealand flax up to a certain value per ton, at a certain price per ton, I fancy that many ingenious practical men might be tempted to commence experiments; and that ere long we might hope to see Phormium tenax effectually decorticated, and New Zealand in possession of a second staple export equal to the "Golden Fleece."

REMARKS ON THE FLAX PLANT BY MR. MOORE, AN OLD NEW ZEALAND COLONIST.

"Throughout New Zealand the Phormium tenax, or native flax, is indigenous and abundant. The plant is totally different from the European flax, both in appearance and texture. It grows separately, like a giant flax plant; and throws out, from a cluster of gnarled tuber-like

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MODE OF GROWTH.

roots, its leaves, which spring up to an average height of five or six feet. Each full-grown plant occupies about two square yards of ground. The leaves contain the fibre: they are slightly fleshy, and are flag-shaped, of a beautiful bright green colour, with narrow dark or red edges, and are about three inches in width. There are from forty to one hundred leaves on each plant; and these are constantly renewed when cut. The graceful and regular shape, and the healthy luxuriance of the plant, make it, at all times, a most pleasing object to the gardener or botanist. The leaves are very strong and flexible, and contain about twenty-five per cent. of fibre. Each leaf will give about three-quarters of an ounce, and the whole plant five or six pounds of fibre; which, for its silk-like beauty, length, and strength, cannot, I think, be excelled.

"The plant grows in almost every part of New Zealand -- on tops and sides of hills, or beside woods; but it delights most in valleys, moistened by the drainage of surrounding hills. Many hundred acres are to be seen growing in favourable districts, where the plant stands so closely and grows so high that it is with much difficulty a rider can force his horse through; while a foot passenger has to thread his way by parting the long leaves with his arms in a sort of swimming motion, or by creeping under on hands and knees.

"The best sorts of flax are the following: 7--First in quality is the Tihori: in its wild state it grows in ground subject to the overflowing of a river, or mountain drainage. When cultivated in good soil, it is transplanted

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VARIETIES OF THE PLANT.

and set in rows about four feet apart. The Natives formerly had large plantations near their villages. The fibre is much improved by cultivation, and is easier to dress. The Tihori is of moderate height, and is known by the thickness of its leaf and a red tinge on the edges. Next in quality is the Atiraukawa; next the Kuhiora; fourth, the Parakoritawa (remarkable for its length of fibre; it grows upon high land and tolerably dry soil, and was

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NATIVE DRESSING.

much used by the Natives); fifth, Tuao; and sixth, Warariki. The two last are the largest, but least useful for dressing. They attain a great size, and grow by the banks of rivers or in swamps, and are mostly used by the natives and settlers as a substitute for rope, from the great length of the leaves. The fibre is neither so strong nor fine as the other four sorts, all of which are used for dressing; but the Tihori (or easy-skinned) is the best and finest variety.

"NATIVE MODE OF DRESSING FLAX.--After cutting as much as they intended dressing in a day, it was carried home bound in bundles of about thirty pounds' weight; and the leaves were divided amongst the family, every member of which formerly understood the process of cleaning it. This was done by scraping or peeling off the vegetable side from the fibre, with a mussel shell, broken at the edge to make it sharp for cutting if necessary. Before commencing to scrape the leaf, it was stripped of its outer edge, which is narrow and nearly black. This was done between the nails of the fore-finger and thumb: the flax is easily split into shreds in this manner. The bottom of the leaf was always cut off, if any of the stem had been cut with it. The shell was then applied to the top end of the leaf, about eight or ten inches from the tip, and a slight incision made across the outside of the leaf. The shell was held in the right hand; and the opposite side of the leaf to that where the incision was made across, was held lengthways over the shell, in the same manner as we hold a narrow slip of paper over the edge of a knife for the purpose of curling it. Beginning at the incision, the flax was drawn sharply through down the leaf, and this process left the fibre bare: the thick coating of vegetable matter that came off was thrown aside as useless, although this was still strong enough to tie up small articles. The leaf was then reversed, and the top part taken off in the same manner. Each leaf yielded from half an ounce to three-quarters of an ounce of fibre: what little vegetable adhered after scraping rubbed off easily when dry.

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MR. WHYTLAW'S TESTIMONY.

The scraped or peeled fibre (generally tied up in little bundles) was then put into a running stream for the night; and the following day it was well shaken, and hung on a scaffolding of small poles to dry: by this process the husk easily came off. It was not exposed to the sun or rain; for the sun made it too brittle, and the latter discoloured it. It was hung under a rough cover; and three or four days were necessary for drying it. It was then fit for use, and was twisted or woven into any article required."

"The native flax of New Zealand (Phormium tenax), of which there are several varieties, has always attracted much attention from those who have visited the country, as an article which ought to form a valuable colonial export. The beautiful samples which have frequently been prepared by the manipulation of the Natives, show the great degree of fineness to which the fibre can be reduced; and its strength has been long considered as much greater than that of European flax.

"The chief, if not the only reason why it has not been more extensively used in British manufactures is, that the supplies of the raw material, as prepared by the Natives, have been extremely limited and uncertain; affording no encouragement to the parties at home disposed to use it, to alter and adapt their machinery to the peculiar character of the article.

"The mode of preparing the flax by the Natives, which has been often described, was very tedious; an expert hand not being able to produce, on an average, more than 10 lbs. weight per day: the work was chiefly done by the women. A simple and efficient method of dressing the flax by machinery has, therefore, been long felt to be a desideratum, and numerous have been the efforts to supply this. Hitherto, none of these attempts has been productive of more than mere samples. With the stronger inducements of mercantile and agricultural pursuits to realize speedier returns for capital, few have had the courage to

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MR. WHYTLAW'S EVIDENCE.

persevere in their attempts to accomplish the important object. Of late, however, as the war in Europe has raised the value of flax so much, there is now greater encouragement to establish a trade in this article; and I am glad to say that one gentleman who has for some years devoted his attention to the subject, has recently brought out from England the materiel of a factory, now in process of erection at a short distance from me; and that his method of preparing the flax by machinery of his own invention (on an entirely novel principle) appears to be of the simplest and most efficient description. He expects to have his produce in the market in about a year from this date; 8 a short time, therefore, will prove whether his anticipations will be realized. If this establishment succeeds, doubtless many will follow the same course; and I do not despair of seeing this beautiful country possessing, in a short time, an export that may ultimately rival some of the most valuable of those of the neighbouring colonies.

"M. WHYTLAW.
"Auckland, I4th November, 1855."

-----------------

"Sir,--In your wishing to have my opinion of the New Zealand flax, I can only speak of it as a manufacturer. My first acquaintance with it was in 1828. It came over then in a much cleaner state than it does now. At that time a ton could be purchased in New Zealand for a mere trifle; and great expectations were raised, that we should get a sufficient supply to compete with the Russian hemp. But as the demand increased, and the Natives became more civilized, the price not only rose much higher, but less pains were taken in its preparation. A much larger

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MR. TRENT'S TESTIMONY.

portion of the gummy resinous matter was left in it, which vastly increased the difficulty of manufacturing it. Rope made from this, was found to wear out much more quickly. The reason was this--the yellow-looking bark (the resinous matter) added nothing to the strength of the rope, but increased the bulk by fifty per cent. Thus, a three-inch rope made with the flax, hackled without this bark being carefully removed, would be spongy and light-- the resinous matter occupying a large space, and by constant friction soon working out, the fibres would become loose; and the rope would become soft and spongy, when wet, and dirt, alternately filling the interstices of the strands, would complete its destruction. The same quantity of flax, properly cleansed, would only make a two-inch rope; but such rope would be quite solid, and wear well to the last.

"I am convinced that New Zealand Phormium tenax, properly prepared, is equal to the best Russian hemp.

"Some while since, at a scientific meeting at the Botanical Gardens, Regent's Park, a gentleman present gave a botanical description of the Phormium tenax; and I was then invited to give some account of its value as a manufacturing article. When I sat down, a gentleman (a F.R.S.) asserted that Phormium tenax was commercially valueless, inasmuch as it broke when a knot was tied. Now I had provided myself with fibres of various textile plants, in order to illustrate any remarks I might be called on to make; and I showed that many valuable fibres broke in the same way. One specimen that I had, a very beautiful sample of plantain fibre (worth nearly £100 per ton), broke far more readily than the Phormium tenax--much to the amusement of the company and the discomfiture of my learned opponent.

"My first attempt at cleaning the New Zealand flax, from its resinous, "barky," matter, was by chemical means, such as are used in bleaching. I also tried boiling in a high pressure boiler for seventy hours, at a pressure of 60 lbs. to the inch, without producing the least effect upon it.

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NEW ZEALAND FLAX.

At last I gave it up in despair; until some time after a friend, to whom I was showing some of my useless work, said, 'Why do you not attempt to clean the New Zealand flax by mechanical means?' 9 --I took the hint, and set to work. I found that experimenting with models, only, was very unsatisfactory; and that nothing could be fairly tested, without the aid of steam power. I erected an eight-horse engine; and after surmounting many difficulties, at last produced a machine that would cleanse from two to three tons per week--with the attendance of six boys, about fifteen years of age.

"I submitted samples of my prepared flax to some of the leading hemp and flax brokers of London; and received most cheering testimonials as to the value of my invention. I then procured introductions to some members of the New Zealand Company: they appeared fully alive to the importance of my invention, and desired me to prepare estimates for machinery, &c.; but unfortunately the New Zealand Company was then getting into difficulties, and the matter was suffered to drop. I offered to let Mr. J. Wakefield see a ton cleansed, and to take notes of every expense; but he honourably declined seeing the process--as the New Zealand Company could not entertain it in their then position.

"Some time after this (I think in the early part of 1854) an offer appeared in the Society of Arts Journal of the magnificent sum of £50 to any one who would invent a machine to clean the New Zealand flax, in a marketable state; and several hundredweights of the raw material were sent me to be experimented upon: one could

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MR. Trent's invention.

scarcely avoid laughing at the simplicity of the offer. In our manufacturing districts, it is no uncommon thing for a private firm to give £30,000 for a patent or to spend £10,000 in merely improving a machine.

"As yet, I have obtained very little by my invention, for it is far more adapted to be worked ia New Zealand than here. After my case of 'flax specimens' was seen at the Great Exhibition, I was involved in no end of correspondence, and applications were made to me for small samples--which I think I have given away to the extent of nearly two hundredweight. This case is now at Kensington Palace (No. 41), and can be seen by any one applying; but it will be removed to the new building when the new building is finished.

"Several parcels of New Zealand flax have appeared in the London market, of late, prepared in New Zealand from the whole leaf by some newly-invented process. These parcels, however, are really rubbish; and no practical man would have sent them over. The stuff was more like split cane or rushes, than the old native prepared flax. The price it sold at, did not, I fancy, do more than clear the freight.

"The only valuable part of the leaf is the bright side: and the sagacity of the Natives led them to discover that making an incision across the leaf, and peeling this off, as it were, was the only means of getting a really good fine fibre--throwing the rest away. My machine is designed to get rid of the bark-like substance (left on by the Natives) and to hackle at the same time--thus effecting a double operation (cleaning and hackling); and effecting a saving of £5 per ton (English wages) for hackling alone. The Government of New Zealand should do as the British Government has done for years for the Irish Flax Society: allow £1000 per annum for the encouragement of the growth and improvement of flax.

"The great importance of a regular supply of hemp and flax for this country may be gathered from the fact of our having imported into the United Kingdom, in 1858,

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PHORMIUM TENAX.

upwards of three millions of hundredweights of the above articles (worth more than as many pounds sterling); the greater portion of which came from Russia.

"I am, dear Sir,
"Yours truly,
"E. WARD TRENT. 10
"Park Hemp Works, Old Ford,
"Bow, near London."
"Mr. CHARLES HURSTHOUSE,
"Ramsgate."

1   The bark of the Rimu (Red Pine) one of the commonest trees, possesses good tanning properties.
2   The following are the principal dye-woods:--
1. Tanekaha,--a black dye from the wood and bark.
2. Hinau,--a black dye do.
3. Tupakihi,--a black dye do.
4. Tuhuhi,--a blue-black dye do.
5. Mako,--a blue-black dye do.
6. Whakou,--a blue dye do.
N.B.--The two best dyes for domestic purposes are the Mako and the Whakou.
3   Mons. Labillar, a gentleman who has instituted many-careful experiments on the comparative strength of various vegetable fibres, gives the following results:--
Agane Americana .... 7
Flax....... 12
Russian Hemp..... 17
Phormium Tenax..... 23
Silk....... 24
4   The late Dr. Murray, the chemical lecturer, published an interesting pamphlet on the remarkable adaptability of the Phormium tenax, for the manufacture of paper.
5   "New Zealand cordage is competing with the European, on our home markets; and for running rigging it is now greatly preferred."--Late Auckland Price Current.
6   Mr. Ward Trent (a Member of the Society of Arts) has been a rope and line manufacturer for upwards Of twenty years-- both by the old system of hand-spinning, and by the new machinery, in which latter he has made various improvements. He is, I think, too, the inventor of some simple machinery for utilising the long fibre of the cocoa husk; and has been despatched to Russia, France, Germany and even to America, on the subject of improvements in flax and hemp-dressing!
7   Some confusion exists as to the actual number of the distinct varieties or sub-varieties of the Phormium tenax, owing to the difference of local names. One variety of apple in England may have three or four names in different counties; and the same confusion exists as to New Zealand flax. In the following list "Tihori" is used as a name indicating five varieties of fine flax, and not as the name of a distinct variety.

I am inclined to think that there are not more than four varieties which would be found to possess any great manufacturing differences.

NEW ZEALAND FLAX.
{Species arranged in order of fineness)
I. FLAX.--Scraped with the nail only.--(TIHORI.)
1. Paritanewha, found chiefly at Maungatautari.
2. Ratawa, found chiefly at Hauraki.
3. Kohunga, found chiefly at Maungatautari.
4. Rerehape, found chiefly at Maungatautari.
5. One, found chiefly at Maungatautari.

II. FLAX.--Scraped with the shell.--(Haro.)
6. Raumoa, found chiefly at Taranaki.
7. Ate, found chiefly at Hauraki.
8. Common swamp flax found in all parts.

III. Coarser kinds, used only for rough garments and floor mats.
9. Aoanga. Variegated flax.
10. Wharariki.

All the varieties of flax of the first class must be planted.

They require rich, moist, and flat land, but not swampy, and should be planted in rows five feet apart, with spaces of five feet between the plants. The ground must be kept clear of weeds. The best season for planting is April or May. The plants will be fit to cut in two years, and will yield a crop every year afterwards.
8   I have seen no notice in the colonial papers as to the result of this experiment: a process which, I think, Mr. Whytlaw himself invented, was not, I believe, found to answer, commercially.
9   The reader will remark that the old native mode of dressing described by Mr. Moore (and no process yet tried has produced fibre at all equal to the native best dressed) is chiefly a mechanical mode. It should be remarked, however, that Mr. Moore speaks of steeping in water only for the night (page 439), whereas in some parts of the island it was steeped for 3 days or 4 days.
10   I believe Mr. Trent is prepared to receive communications respecting the sale or disposal of his invention.

Since this article went to press, New Zealand Journals have reached the author giving an account of some enquiries which certain French manufacturers have addressed to the Baron de Thierry (an old French colonist in New Zealand) on the subject of the Phormium tenax.

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