NEW ZEALAND FLAX, 73 



the remainder into cordage for the use of the 

 colonial vessels. He has also a powerful hy- 

 draulic press, for the purpose of compressing the 

 flax into bales for exportation. He manufac- 

 tures from this material a large quantity of whale 

 lines for the colonial whalers, who speak in high 

 terms of the quality of the rope, for that purpose. 

 The rope manufactured from this flax, takes the 

 tar readily, and the small lines are passed 

 through it previous to their being made into 

 rope of larger size.* 



* Captain George Harris, R. N., C. B., and member for 

 Grimsby, in the present parliament, has recently been manu- 

 facturing rope and cables of the phormium tenax, or New 

 Zealand flax ; and instead of tar, substitutes a solution of 

 gum, or some such substance, (principally, we suspect, the 

 caoutchouc or Indian rubber,) by which, it is contended, 

 the rope is rendered stronger, more pliant, and less liable to 

 part in short bends, turns, or clinches, and being stronger, 

 smaller ropes than those now in use will answer for ships' 

 rigging ; the consumption of hemp, of course, diminishes in 

 proportion — we say hemp, because the solution will also im- 

 part to the hemp the qualities we have named. If, however, 

 a substitute is to be found for hemp and tar, we are rendered 

 independent of the Russian trade in these articles ; — a most 

 desirable object, should the state of Europe at any time in- 

 volve us in a diiference with that nation. The bogs and 

 rough ground of Ireland, all our African possessions and 

 West Indian islands, and New South Wales, are particularly 

 adapted to tlie culture of the phormium tenax. Captain 



