NEW ZEALAND FLAX. 



371 



" As this subject of cottonizing Flax may be ridiculed as a 

 Claussen delusion, inasmuch as it was then said of Claussen's 

 patent " that it was little short of turning gold into silver/' Flax 

 being then an average of 7& per lb, while cotton was then 

 only on an average of 5d. per lb. ; a few remarks on this may 

 deserve attention. Claussen's patent was for liquid only, a 

 chemical compound for what he termed "splitting and 

 bleaching ;" not only was it expensive, but dangerous in the 

 method of operating, as if great care was not taken in the 

 washing out of the alkalies used, the material was liable to 

 heat and total destruction ; ensued and added to this drawback, 

 he had no machinery to reduce the fibres of Flax to the 

 proper length ; for, being spun on cotton machinery, without 

 which, it was a matter of impossibility to spin such prepared 

 material on cotton spinning frames, besides the cost of 

 preparing brought the material up to Is. per lb., and out of 

 the reach of cotton spinners. Now matters are different: 

 it is a well ascertained fact, by calculations made by the cotton 

 supply association at Manchester, that if the American war 

 had ceased at this moment, and slavery had been so crushed, 

 that it is impossible to see for the next five years a regular 

 supply of cotton at a price below Is. per lb. in England. 



" With such a report of unexpected advantages arising 

 from the Americans not being blessed by having a similar 

 constitution as our own — a fact that has led to a savage war — 

 before the eyes of the landowners of Great Britain and Ireland, 

 who have the power, if properly exercised, to cause a supply 

 of better material than cotton to the mill-owners in 

 Lancashire, at less than half the price, where millions of their 

 gold remains locked up in machinery and buildings, all standing 

 idle, whilst their operatives starve, need I say when they are 

 all so well aware of the advantages they have already gained, 

 by the production of Flax by their tenants to supply Belfast 

 spinners, that now is the time to show such Lancashire 



