Numb. 67.
641

THE
NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
Published by Authority.

WELLINGTON, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1873.

Result of trial of New Zealand Flax Rope on
board the "Vettor Pisani."

Colonial Secretary's Office,
Wellington, 13th November, 1873.

THE following letter from Captain the Count
Lovera di Maria, of H.I.M.S. "Vettor Pisani,"
reporting the result of a trial of New Zealand flax
rope on the voyage from New Zealand to Italy, is
published for general information.

WILLIAM H. REYNOLDS,
(in the absence of the Colonial Secretary.)

H.I.M.S. "Vettor Pisani,"
Gibraltar, 29th August, 1873.

To the Hon. DANIEL POLLEN,
Agent of the Government in Auckland.

SIR,-I answer with this to your official note, dated
General Government Offices, Auckland, 2nd April,
1873, No. 254, in which, as the representative of
the Colonial Government, you request that I should
cause a trial to be made of the rope manufactured in
Auckland from the fibre of the New Zealand flax
(Phormium tenax), and offer to the Colonial Govern-
ment my opinion upon the result.

I have received on board for this purpose one coil
of four-inch rope, and one coil of two and one-half
inch rope; tried as main braces, and top-gallant main
braces, they have been in use for all our homeward
voyage, and after four months they are quite in good
order.

The experience made to test the strength of those
ropes have shown that they are equal in tenacity to
the best Russian and Italian hemp; but I did not find
so, trying one only yarn, being inferior in this kind
of experiment the Phormium tenax yarn. For this
reason, I am of opinion that the New Zealand flax is
better adapted for cable laid and head rope, than for
running ropes, which get too quickly untwisted.

What I said with respect to the Italian hemp:
comparing instead the New Zealand flax rope with
the Manila ropes, I found the first both stronger
and less liable to be injured when exposed to water.

If the flax fibre can be prepared in large quantities
at a moderate price, and sufficiently pure, there is no
doubt that the raw material must become of pre-
ference to coils, one of the chief articles of export
from New Zealand, in order of the high rate of wages
paid in New Zealand for labour.

It will be an agreeable duty for me to report to
His Majesty's Government on this subject; and I
am sure that the Italian traders will receive the com-
munication with pleasure, and will recognize the
importance and value of that special production of
New Zealand. With the hope that the friendly
and pleasant week the "Vettor Pisani" spent in
Auckland may create a lasting bond of intercourse
between both countries,

I have, &c.,
Captain G. LOVERA DI MARIA.

Justice of the Peace resigned.

Department of Justice,
Wellington, 17th November, 1873.

HIS Excellency the Governor has been pleased to
accept the resignation by

CHARLES JAMES METCALFE, Esq.,
of his appointment as a Justice of the Peace for the
Colony.

JOHN BATHGATE.

Services of Volunteer Corps accepted.

Colonial Defence Office,
Wellington, 19th November, 1873.

HIS Excellency the Governor has been pleased
to accept the services of the
Invercargill Highland Rifle Volunteers.
Date of acceptance, 16th September, 1873.

WILLIAM H. REYNOLDS,
(in the absence of Mr. McLean).

ERRATUM.-In Proclamation defining the Limits and Description of a portion of the Wanganui-Manawatu Railway. In the
New Zealand Gazette, No. 65, dated 6th November, 1873, page 616, second column, twelfth line from top, for "Supreme
Court at Christchurch," read "Supreme Court at Wellington."