192 CORDAGE FIBRES 



CHARACTERS, PROPERTIES AND USES OF THE FIBRE 



New Zealand hemp is a lustrous, soft, flexible fibre 

 and varies in colour from nearly white to pale reddish- 

 brown. 



The bundles of ultimate fibres form filaments of 

 unequal thickness, but these filaments can be separated 

 into finer strands by friction. It is for this reason 

 that the hand-prepared fibre is so much finer than that 

 prepared by machinery. The former is said to be as 

 soft as fine flax, and suitable for the manufacture of 

 fine textiles. The machine-prepared fibre, however, 

 being coarser, is chiefly used for the manufacture of 

 rope, twine, and floor-matting. 



Microscopical examination shows that the ultimate 

 fibres vary from 0*12 to 0*75 inch in length, and from 

 0*0004 to 0*0008 inch in diameter, and are regular 

 and uniformly thickened. The surface is smooth and 

 free from markings or striations. The fibre substance 

 is strongly lignified. 



PRODUCTION AND EXPORT 



When the colonists first arrived in New Zealand, 

 the valuable qualities of the Phormium fibre were well 

 known, as it was in constant use by the natives, and 

 constituted the first article of barter in the trade 

 carried on by the Maoris with Europeans. A very 

 considerable trade in the fibre existed as early as 1828 

 (see p. 190), when the Islands were only visited by 

 whalers and Sydney traders, 50,000 worth being sold 

 in Sydney between 1828 and 1832. A factory for the 

 manufacture of articles from New Zealand hemp was 

 established at Grimsby in Lincolnshire in 1832, but 

 failed for some unexplained cause, notwithstanding 

 that the results at the time were regarded as satis- 

 factory. From 1853 to 1860 the average annual 

 value of the fibre exported was 2,500 reaching as 

 much as 5,000 in 1855 ; but up to that time the only 

 fibre exported was that prepared by native labour, no 

 machinery of any kind being used. In 1860, there- 

 fore, when the native disturbances affected the 



