24 
REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE 
capitalists, in Europe and elsewhere, a desire to have our resources in 
this respect thoroughly tested and thus give an impetus here, to those 
most important branches of industry, viz. : the manufacture of textile 
fabrics and paper. The latter bids fair to become one of the most 
important of our local industries, and our enterprising fellow colonist 
Samuel Ramsden, Esq., deserves the greatest praise for the able manner 
in which he has, in the face of many difficulties, established his exten- 
sive paper factory on the banks of the river Yarra at Melbourne. This 
gentleman has of late devoted his attention to the production of paper 
from native plants, and with the most happy results, as the very excel- 
lent samples of paper forwarded to the Philadelphia Exhibition will 
amply testify. And, it has been further proved, in England, that as 
material for paper-making many of our Juncacese, and Cyperacse, are 
unsurpassed. 
There was forwarded to the same exhibition a collection of paper, 
comprising fifty-four kinds, prepared at the Melbourne Botanic Gardens 
(under my direction), in a rough state, no less than thirty-nine of 
which were the produce of Australian plants alone, mostly natives of 
the colony of Victoria. The remainder were prepared from plants 
which have been acclimatised in these gardens, New Zealand, and South 
America, furnishing the major portion. And when we come to consider 
the immensity of the Australian continent, and its as yet undeveloped 
vegetable resources, we may reasonably suppose that the present collec- 
tion represents a mere fraction only, of the native fibre yielding plants, 
and that at no very remote period Australia will not yield the palm 
even to the Indies in this respect. 
The present collection comprises many fibres prepared from plants 
which have been hitherto considered as valueless, at least for this 
purpose, although a few were approved paper plants. Those specially 
worthy of note as being new, are, Cordyline cannsefolia and C. nutans, 
Juncus maritimus and J. vaginatus, Pandanus Fosterii, and P. pedun- 
culatus, Poa australis (variety ten), Typha angustifolia, Xerotes longi- 
folia, Lepidosperma gladiatum, Cassytha melantha, Carex appressa, 
Musa Banksii, and Dianellas elegans, ccerulea, longifolia, revoluta, and 
tasmanica from Australia ; Cordyline pumilio and Astelia Banksii from 
New Zealand. From the samples of fibre shown on this occasion prac- 
tical men will see that with proper machinery and other appliances, we 
can supply fibres not only suitable for coir-matting, ropes, and brush 
making, but also for fishing-nets and lines, and even for the most 
delicate textile fabrics. Our extensive geographical range too, and 
