6o TiMEHRI. 
Letters from the Imperial Institute in reference to 
fibres were read, and a sample of Crowa laid on the 
table. 
The President said that the Dire6lors had made the 
information that there was a market for these fibres 
as widely known as possible, and they had also taken 
steps to ascertain if they could obtain a few tons of the 
fibre, but he was afraid that there would be difficulties, 
as the preparation was tedious and therefore costly. 
Mr Quelch said that the Crowa fibre was well-known 
among the Indians, who used it for hammock ropes, 
fishing lines and cordage generally. It seemed likely, as 
appeared from specimens on the table, that the Crowa 
plant and the wild pine-apple were sometimes confused 
with each other; there was also some confusion in the 
native names, but the plant sent by Mr. Seon as the 
true Crowa had leaves something like those of a spineless 
pine-apple. Pine-apple fibre was also well-known and 
valuable, but the Crowa appeared to be something 
diperent. It grew widely in the Colony but not in very 
large quantities in one place, and he doubted whether the 
price offered would induce the natives to prepare it in 
quantity. 
In reply to a question of Mr. Gilzean, Mr. Quelch 
said he had no personal knowledge of the time it took 
to grow plants which produced fibre of the length of that 
lying on the table, 
Mr. Luke M. Hill said that the sample upon the table 
measured 64 inches in length as against the 36 inches of 
that sent to the Imperial Institute. Mr. Howell Jones 
had informed him that Crowa grown by him at P\n. Hope 
grow so slowly that it hardly lengthened an inch in a 
