Page:Notes on New Zealand (1892).pdf/207

Rh The flax when dressed produces a strong, coarse fibre, which is used for the manufacture of mats, carpets, ropes, etc.

There are flax mills all over the colony, but since the fall in prices a number have stopped working. Some millers combine this trade with flour milling.

The supply of flax is plentiful, although it is being gradually cleared from the land by the settlers, but it would undoubtedly pay to cultivate, dress, and manufacture it into the various articles before mentioned. On account of this flax New Zealand is independent of Manilla or Russian hemp, but it will not make fine fabrics, such as