Enclosure
594
PROV "FRS AUSTRALIAN RECORD"
July, 1991.
PRIZE PACKET
C. O.
15112
REOF (Per 27 0034)
The success of this fibre industry depends mainly on the manufacture of a machine, not yet in existence, that will at the least possible cost, and with the least possible waste, separate the fibre from the leaf. There can be little doubt that hand-cleaned fibres, although they do not pay, are, as a rule, superior to any fibre that can be made by salting 1st class.
In New Zealand, where the Phormium fibre is an article of great importance, yielding cloaks, bags, cordage, and fishing lines for the use of the natives. For generations, the fibre was manufactured in the most primitive way. The leaves were collected, placed in water, and scraped by the natives with shells to free them from adhering cellular tissue and epidermis, and then the fibre was washed over and over again in running water until the desired purity was attained. This process was, however, so tedious and expensive that it prevented the article from coming into general use.
A great demand for all available fibres was created by the Civil War in America, and the colonists in New Zealand immediately turned their attention to further developing the industry. Machinery was therefore invented for integrating the leaves and extracting the fibres.