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24 THE LEAF-FIBRE OF NEW ZEALAND FLAX.
(luction of goods from New Zealand flax was establislied at Ormisby,
Lincolnshire, though it was soon given up. In 1855, tlie value of New
Zealand flax exports was between £5000 and £6000 ; in 1865, it had
sunk so low as £75 ; while in 1866 it rose again to £996, whereof no
less than £949 went from Auckland, and only £1 wortli from Dunedin.
These exports are, of course, in addition to the quantity consumed in
home manufactures, no proper estimate whereof can be exhibited.
Tiiese extraordinary fluctuations have been deterniined by such circum-
stances as native wars ; the gradual decrease of the natives from the
diseases and other concomitants of civilization ; gold digging ; the
introduction of jute, Manilla hemp, and other abundant and cheap
fibres of a comparable kind ; the inferior preparation of New Zealand
flax by Europeans ; the varying requirements of, and consumption in,
the colony itself; and the vai'ying market demand for fibre of its class.
Between thirty and forty years ago. New Zealand flax enjoyed in the
European market a reputation which it has since apparently lost.
There was a great demand for it, which was met by a corresponding
supply, the Maoris engaging their women and slaves in the exten-
sive cultivation of the plant and the preparation of its fibre.
Successive colonial governments seem to have had visions of future
wealth and greatness springing from an extensive local manufacture of,
and export trade in. New Zealand flax. Hence they have endeavoured
to stimulate the ingenuity and perseverance of settlers by off"ering sub-
stantial premiums for success in the preparation of the fibre from the
leaf. Such rewards are, however, scarcely necessary ; for, from the
days of settlement to the present time, the anticipations of all classes
of colonists as regards the future financial importance of the native
flax have been of the most sanguine kind. Hitherto it has been popu-
larly supposed that the chief obstacle to the easy preparation of the
fibre for manufacturing purposes is the difliculty of separating the gum
of the leaf ; hence Government rewards have been virtually offered to
the " discoverer of a method^ of clearing the flax of its gum." But, even
at the present day, there is no unanimity of opinion as to whether this
is really the chief or only dilficulty of the flax-producer. Constable,
of Dunedin, a flax preparer, professes to separate the gum readily " by
strong chemical solvents;" while Spey, analyst to the geological
survey of New Zealand, reports, as the result of a series of special ex-
periments, that the ilifficulties in preparing flax-fibre for use are of a