H.—36

6

56. Mill ceased working on account of low price of fibre. Would not paj if fibre less than £18 per ton f.0.b., Lyttelton. 57. Remarks as to quality of fibre turned out at his mill. Also makes twine very successfully. 58. House, engine, and machines all ready to be put together. Not inclined to move further. till news of flax paying. 59. Anderson's strippers will dress to any degree of fineness. What is wanted is a process to bleach the fibre without the labour and risk of bleaching in the paddock. 60. Has a machine of his own that will dress fibre like hand-scraped : will put through as much as Anderson's machine per day, but requires more power to drive it. Otago. 61. Improved machinery required, to lessen the cost of production and improve the quality, thereby increasing the demand. 62. Present system of washing and bleaching is tedious. 63. Any machine to make better job would probably put less through. 64. Improved machinery would probably have for its aim the manufacture of a superior fibre, and that could not be achieved and the present output maintained. 65. If the price for fair medium is below £27 per ton it will not pay to carry on with present appliances and the high charges for freight, &c. 66. The quantity would not be increased by improved machinery, but the quality would be much improved with better appliances. Has cut flax a second time that was first cut in April, 1889. 67. Improved machinery very much required. At present the waste in tow is very great. Should Government offer substantial bonus for improved machinery, millers' profits would be doubled. 68. The cut flax is ready for cutting again alter three years. 69. If means could be found to save the great loss in tow, either by finding a market for tow at a fair price or machiuery which would not make so much, it would help the trade very much. The right of ownership by Government to flax growing on runs requires to be enforced. Runholders are charging a royalty for flax on their runs. 70. Present machinery is good enough if properlj worked. A better method of bleaching and drying is required. Great of time by present plan. 71. With present, strippers in use, the cost ol' production is too great to give a fair margin of profit at present prices. 72. If some kind of machine could be got that would take off the edges it would be of great benefit; doing so by hand comes to be very expensive. Some inducement should be offered for a bag-factory to utilise the tow, which is now all waste.

Letter of Mr. William Howell, of Paraparaumu, Hutt County. Sir, — Paraparaumu, Wellington, May, 1890. With reference to machines, Fairweather's is the best I have used. The castings of Booth and McDonald's machine are very good, but the beating-bar is faulty. Crabtree's machine is the same. I may remark that I only use one of these machines at a time, the others being kept in reserve in case of accident. The whole of the good work of any of our machines depends upon the temper and metal of the beating-bar. The machines would be more perfect and reliable if submitted to tests similar to those applied to railway-carriage wheels, springs, and the like. I consider that the beating-bar of the stripper requires the very highest class of metal, and should be manufactured only from metal properly adapted to it, and would entail special casting, which, in my opinion, cannot be done in the colony. I consider that a great impetus would be given to the flax-industry if the present prohibitive import duty on machinery were abolished as far as flax-dressing machinery was concerned, and a great boon conferred upon the already overtaxed Sax-miller. With regard to the cultivation of flax, I will endeavour, as briefly as possible, to state my views upon the subject. I have been a constant resilient in this colony for the last forty-nine years, and for thirty-seven of that period have been acquainted with the Phormium tenax. I consider that it can be very largely improved by cultivation, as there are are some very superior kinds, which will grow well upon almost any class of land. I have been stripping flax from oil' some very poor land, and it is the best coloured fibre I have handled, and has the least vegetable residue in it in proportion. There are thousands upon thousands of acres in this colony which are not exactly suited lor grain or -lock raising, but which would be the best class of land to cultivate flax upon, especially for milling. It is not necessary that the land for flax-cultivation should be of first-class quality, for the richer the land the more vegetable matter, gum, &c, there is in the blade, and the fibre is more coarse and discoloured. I am of opinion that the Government of this colony would assist the flax-industry more by offering a substantial bonus for the cultivation of flax than by offering a large lump sum for the best class of machinery. The machinery is not so faulty when in the hands of skilled labour. I have, like many more, entered upon the flax-milling with a view to the ultimate cultivation of my raw material, as I deem there is no comparison between the cultivated flax and the non-cultivated kind. I will strip a bank of cultivated flax grown in a very small quantity in this locality, and forward it to you, if desired. This variety, I consider, is the best that, in my experience, I have met.