4

PROGRESS REPORT OF THE FLAX COMMISSIONERS.

industry among you, but now it does not exist, and you have allowed the flax to be burnt and to rot,
without considering what a source of wealth this plant which is growing is. You know that the Euro-
peans send flax to England to be sold, but owing to the bad quality it commands but a small price.
Dr. Featherston has visited the principal towns of England and Scotland where they use flax and
other such articles. He took with him some machine-dressed flax, but that did not find much favour.
He also took a sample of Maori-dressed flax, which, though not dressed as well as it might have been,
excited the admiration of the Europeans on account of its good quality and softness; and they said that
if all the flax from New Zealand were as good as that sample of Maori-dressed flax, it would command
a high price, and would always find a ready market in England.

Now you, the Maori people, should consider this, that the flax dressed by you is the kind pre-
ferred by purchasers, and that the machine-dressed flax is not nearly so good as yours; it therefore
seems to me that, if you will turn your attention again to that industry, it will benefit you very much.
You must not forget to cultivate flax, so as to insure obtaining a superior quality to the dressed
article.

Now, I have decided to give a prize to the best workman in each district. It will be in this way:
the person who grows the best acre of flax in his district will get £10. The person who will produce
the best ton of dressed flax in his district will get £10. The way in which a decision will be arrived
at as to the best-cultivated flax will be as follows: a European and two Maori chiefs, in each district,
will be directed to inspect the various fields of flax, and report to the Government, so that they may
know to whom they are to give the before-mentioned prize, viz., £10.

The decision as to the best-dressed flax will be arrived at as follows: the flax will be sent to
England, and there sold. The person who has dressed the ton which commands the highest price will
receive the money before mentioned, viz., £10.

By and by you will be told the districts in which prizes will be given.

In addition to the above, the Government will give to the person who cultivates the best acre of
flax, over all the districts, £50; and to the person who produces the best ton of dressed flax over all
the districts, £50.

The above sums of money are only prizes, and are given with a view to ascertaining who can pro-
duce the best article. The people must not think that these amounts are the prices which the flax will
bring. This matter is arranged in the same way as cattle shows, &c., are arranged, where the Europeans
and Maoris send their beasts, &c., to every year.

I know that you, the Maoris, are ignorant of the prices of flax, &c., in England; therefore I think
that, if you will again turn your attention to these industries, you will obtain the benefit of prosperity.
That is all.

Your friend,
DONALD MCLEAN.

No. 4.
EXTRACT from a LETTER addressed by a large Lancashire and Yorkshire Manufacturer to Major
J. A. GRAY, Kaiapoi, dated 16th September, 1870.

I will now give you the result of our numerous experiments, and all the information I can gather.
You are aware we have spent a considerable amount of money in trying to work up the New
Zealand flax, and I may at once state that the only lots we have been able to do anything with
advantageously are the Native-dressed, and even in those some are much better than others-that is, in
the openness of the fibre. In all the Colonial-dressed, even after sorting and cutting and trimming, there
is so much left that will resist any bleaching action that does not destroy the fibre, that we can make
nothing of it, and it is perfectly clear to me you must do the cleaning part at once in its green state.
Whatever means you find for smashing up the leaves and getting rid of the coating, do it if possible in
water, but certainly never let it get anything like dry before it is clean. (Would not a common Irish
wheel suit well for washing after smashing it up?) If you once let it get dry, no amount of bleaching,
scutching, and hackling does it any good, except just to break off the tips and shake out the dust.
You are no doubt aware that the fibre, as it is usually called, is in reality a bundle of very fine
fibres, enclosed in a casing. Now this casing must be well broken up, so that the water can get in and
clear out the gum, and open the fine fibres; it is only in that state we can make use of it for fine work.
You will probably find warm water clean it better than cold, but beware of having it too hot or boiling,
for in all the samples that I have seen boiled there is a quantity of the gum or some other impurity,
especially at the bottom ends, which is converted into an almost insoluble substance, and resists all the
tests I have applied for gum, and cannot well be got rid of. You will notice this in the hard feel and
discoloured appearance of the ends of boiled flax.
When you take a bundle of fibres and break it, they ought as it were to draw out, not break short
off. If you will take a thread out of a piece of good linen, and take the twist out of it, you can easily
draw it asunder. This is exactly what we want in the long fibres, as they are usually called.
With regard to colour, the real fibre is a good white; get it as near that as possible-any shade of
brown is a sign of impurity. What bits of scull there may be left on after well dressing and washing,
ought to be quite loose; and we would rather see them a green than a yellow colour,-not brown. If
you find it requisite to submit it to a retting process, the colour will not of course be so good, but we
can easily get that. When you have got it into the state I mention, I should not advise you to scutch or
hackle it, for you will lose a great deal of the finest and best fibre; and with wages at one-third
of yours, and all the advantages of machinery, we can do that a great deal cheaper than you can.
Don't be led away with the notion that you scutch and cord your flax up like you can the English,
unless you get rid of the impurities in the first stage.

I have now told you pretty well what we want for spinning purposes. Now, as to price, if
you can get it to the state I recommend, you may safely reckon on as much as the best Irish flax when
fit for carding; but my own opinion is that it will ultimately range much higher, on account of