Captain Hutton said fiax could not be made useful for sail-cloth.
Dr. Purchas said his own opinion was, that it was not good for sails, or for anything that had to be much exposed to the weather, as it was destroyed by constant wetting and drying. With regard to ropes, there was a mode of preparation that would make it take tar. The ti-tree fibre had enormous power in resisting the weather, but they could only apply the flax to its proper purpose. If they took the New Zealand flax, they might make a rope from it stronger almost than any other; but if they wanted it to retain its strength, they must coat it with material to keep it from the weather. Therefore, he freely acknowledged that New Zealand flax was not a good material for rope making, where it was to be exposed to constant changes in the weather without any protecting material. Whether, when tarred, it would last as long as a rope made from European flax, he did not know; he should say not. Probably one great reason was, that the tar penetrated more thoroughly into the inner fibres of the European rope. If they subdivided the fibre of the Phormium tenax, they gained the strength on the knot, but lost strength in the direct line of the fibre.
Mr. Wrigley said there was one point spoken of by Dr. Purchas he should like some further explanation about—namely, as to mixing the flax with other materials.
Mr. Stewart said his impression was, that the flax would take tar much better than Manilla, although not so well as hemp.
Dr. Purchas said that in one place in Yorkshire ten thousand pounds worth of machinery had been put up to work the New Zealand flax, but they could not get a supply, and the machinery had to be taken down. That was what they were constantly told in England: "There is no use sending samples; send us the material by ship-loads, and we will take it, and give a good price."
The Chairman said that he might make some remarks on the subject, having been one of the Committee of the House of Representatives, in 1860, when Dr. Purchas' patent was passed. He confessed that he was utterly against patents, and thought them wrong in principle. He, however, happened to be on the Committee on Dr. Purchas' application, and he was very much pleased when Dr. Purchas showed him the principle upon which he was manufacturing the flax. He was surprised as well as pleased at the simplicity and yet effectiveness of it; and when he went South he tried all he could to interest some of the people there in the matter, and get them to take up the patent and work it. He did all he could to push it there, because he believed it to be a right principle. He had seen it, and it seemed to him to be a right principle mechanically; and upon these grounds it seemed to him that the principle was adapted not only to flax but
