pdf 25 MB - BSBI Archive

THE LEAF-PIBKE OF NEW ZEALAND FLAX. 27
probably the most complete and valuable were the exhibits of the Messrs.
Davis, of Otaki, Wellington ;* my friend Walter L. Buller, F.L.S., of
Eangitiki, Wellington, also, showed an excellent series of flax-fibres,
hand-prepared (scraped by mussel-shellsf) by the North Island Maoris
for the manufacture of their mats or cloaks.J These exhibits prove
that the Maoris are still the best flax-dressers in New Zealand ; no
machinery, no chemical manipulation of the skilled or educated Euro-
pean, is yet able to compete with the hand-labour and the mussel or
cockle-shell of the primitive native. It is indicative of the firm, un-
shaken faith of the colonists in its value that, notwithstanding a con-
tinuous series of failures and disappointments, experiments continue to
be made, and capital sunk, in the attempt to render New Zealand flax
applicable to the manufacture of cordage, textile fabrics, and paper.
The failures in question have mostly happened in the liorlh Island,
a circumstance that seems to inspire with hope the experimentalists of
the SoxUh Island, for several of the most recent essays have been, or
are being, made in the southern provinces of Otago and Canterbury.
Not only so, but the northern colonists appear equally undaunted. A
flax-mill was erected in November, 1866, at Whangamarua, Waikato, in
the midst of a country as yet wild and abounding in flax-swamps ;
various similar eiforts have been made from time to time in the pro-
vince of Auckland. Nay, even at home there are still enthusiasts
found to engage in the manufacture on the large scale of New Zealand
flax produce. In the ' New Zealand Examiner' of June 13th, 1863,
— -
there is an advertisement or prospectus of a "New Zealand Elax,
Hemp, and Cordage Company, Limited," to work the patent of Lieut.
Col. Nicolle, in Jersey. It does not appear whether, in this case, the
plant operated on is grown in Jersey, or is imported from New Zea-
land, for it thrives vigorously as a hardy plant in our Channel Islands.
Among the most recent local experiments, are those of Ed. M'Glashan
and W. S. Grieve, in Dunedin, Otago, in March, 1867, on the appli-
cability of New Zealand flax to paper-making. A New Zealand flax
* ' Exhibition Catalogue,' pp. 75 and 125.
t Appai'ently the Mytilus canal iculatus, Martyn (Dieffenbach, toI. ii. p. 258).
Other authorities describe the Cockle {Cardium sp. ?) as the shell used. I
found both shells abundant in all parts of New Zealand. They are common in
the numerous " shell-mounds " that are distributed on its coasts. In all pi'Obabihty,
sometimes the one shell, sometimes the other, is or was used in different
districts and by different tribes.
X ' Exhibition Catalogue,' p. 25.
and