FLAX

Phormium tenax Forst., called harakeke by the Maori, and generally known as New Zealand flax, is a monocotyledon. It belongs to the agave family, and is native to New Zealand and Norfolk Island. It is a tall perennial “herb” with rigid leaves 3 to 9 ft long, and 2 to 5 in. wide, which grow in fans. The red or yellow flowers are borne in large panicles on stems up to 15 ft high, and yield nectar which attracts birds. The plant grows abundantly throughout New Zealand in lowland swamps and alluvial soils, from sea level to 4,500 ft. Phormium colensoi is the smaller, yellow-flowered species found on the sea coast, and in the mountains.

Captain Cook and Joseph Banks recorded the presence of flax in New Zealand in 1770, and the first published account of it is in Hawkes-worth's edition of Cook's first voyage. J. R. and G. Forster, botanists on Cook's second voyage in 1772, named the plant Phormium tenax, in allusion to baskets which the Maoris made from the leaves–phormium from the Greek phormos, a basket, and the Latin tenax, strong.

Maori Uses

When the Maoris came to New Zealand, they brought with them the paper mulberry plant from which they made bark cloth for clothing. The paper mulberry did not flourish and a substitute material was found in the native flax. As Captain Cook wrote: “Of the leaves of these plants, with very little preparation, they (the Maoris) make all their common apparel; and of these they make also their strings, lines and cordage …”. They also made baskets, mats, and fishing nets from the undressed flax.

Fibre was obtained from the leaves by stripping with the sharp edge of a mussel shell the lower surface of the leaf from the upper. The remaining upper surface was then scraped with the shell, washed, and scraped again in running water, spread out to dry, and finally worked and twisted for the purpose required. Lines, cordage, and superior garments were made from the phormium fibre.

The Maori recognised over 60 varieties of flax, and certain ones were used for definite purposes, for example:

korako: a dark green leaf with dark brown edge and flowers with pale yellow keel, was used for best garments in Taranaki.

tapoto: leaves narrow, erect, with deep purple margin; strong lustrous fibre used for sewing threads or weft of fine mats in Taranaki, East Coast, and Hawke's Bay.

mataroa: a short fibre used for borders of fine mats in the Wanganui River district.

ate: a strong fibre used for eel nets and baskets–Wanganui.

kauhangaroa: used only for baskets and matting – Hawke's Bay

ngaro: bluish green leaf, black edge – best of all kinds for all purposes (Raglan), used for rough garments (Taranaki); stiff fibre (West Coast).

The skill of the Maori flax-dressers was known to the early European traders who obtained fibre in exchange for iron nails and axes. At the request of Governor King of Norfolk Island, two Maoris were taken to the island in 1793 in order to show the Europeans how to prepare fibre from Phormium tenax growing there. In 1794, at Thames, Maoris made flax ropes to replace the running-rigging on the brig Fancy, and the same thing was done for the sailing ship Matilda which anchored in Otago Harbour in 1813.

As soon as the Maoris saw the value of muskets, firearms became the principal article of barter for flax. One ton of phormium fibre was demanded by the European traders for one or two muskets. Inland tribes, unable to barter flax at the ports, would exchange slaves for muskets with tribes already in possession of firearms; three to five slaves for a musket, the slaves being of value as flax-dressers. The need for large quantities of fibre, together with the fact that hilltop pas were unsatisfactory fortifications against muskets, resulted in the Maoris going to live on low-lying swamps where flax grew. This change of residence and the neglect of food cultivation proved detrimental to their health.

History of the Phormium Fibre Export Trade

Sydney merchants sent ships to New Zealand to collect fibre in 1810,1813, and 1814, without success; but in 1815 the Active, returning to Sydney with Samuel Marsden, had phormium fibre in the cargo. By 1828 trade with Sydney was established when 60 tons of fibre exported to Sydney were reexported to England for £2,600. In 1830, 841 tons exported to Sydney at £17 a ton, brought 45 a ton in England. Experiments in manufacturing sailcloth and paper from the fibre were carried out in England. “An Account of the Phormium tenax or New Zealand flax”, written by John Murray, was printed on paper made from flax in 1836. But most of the exported fibre was used in rope-making. Ropes from phormium were tested in Portsmouth as early as 1819, and in Sydney in 1820 with some success; but ropes made under the Harris patent at Grimsby came in for adverse criticism between 1832 and 1835. The other hard fibres, manila (from the Philippines) and sisal (from Mexico) proved of better quality. There was evidence from dockyards and sailing ships that flax rope swelled in wet weather, would not stand splicing, and wore badly. Rope-walks, where rope was twisted by hand, were established in New Zealand by the early settlers – the first at Wellington in 1843.

A set of hand machines for dressing flax according to the Donlan process was brought out to New Zealand by Luke Nattrass in 1844, but until 1860 flax was mostly hand-dressed by the Maoris. With the outbreak of the Maori war and consequent decrease in fibre output by the Maoris, there was renewed activity by the Europeans in New Zealand to produce better flax-dressing machines. In 1861 Messrs Purchas and Ninnis patented a machine which they claimed produced fibre similar in appearance to manila. Luke Nattrass invented a mechanical and chemical process, and applied for a patent in 1871.

Production (over 300 mills were in operation) and export (over 6,000 tons) reached a peak in 1873. The shortage of manila during the American Civil War and subsequent improvement in price on the American market stimulated the boom in New Zealand's output. This was followed by a depression, and in 1880 there were only 40 mills in operation. Many of the early flaxmillers, like the sawmillers and gumdiggers, worked an area until it was exhausted and then moved on to another suitable site, or, if the market was bad, closed down altogether.

Although New Zealand trade, on the whole, was still suffering from a depression in 1889, there was a sharp rise in production of phormium fibre. This was due to a temporary decrease in output of manila and sisal; also to the extensive use of automatic binders and manufacture of binder-twine, for which phormium proved suitable. In 1890, 21,000 tons of fibre were exported. The subsequent decline in export was in line with the diminishing use of sailing ships and of rope. A rise in export in 1900 was caused by a shortage of sisal during the Spanish-American War, and in 1902 a compulsory grading system improved the quality of phormium fibre. There were 240 mills in production in 1905, and by 1907 export prices and quantities rose to £31 a ton, and 28,000 tons. Once again a depression followed the boom.

Fibres were in great demand during the First World War, and phormium reached the maximum export total of 32,000 tons in 1916, and highest average price of £52 a ton in 1918. The price had dropped to £25 a ton by 1923, when only 12,000 tons went overseas, and the general depression of the 1930s brought the virtual collapse of the flax export trade. A little fibre was exported during the Second World War, and there are records of some sent abroad in 1946, 1949, and 1951. Since then all the phormium that is produced is used in New Zealand. The 14 flax mills working in 1963 produced a total of almost 5,000 tons of fibre.

Modern Production of Phormium Fibre

Until 1900 all flax used commercially came from swampy areas where the plant grew naturally. Between 1900 and 1920 many swamps where phormium already grew were drained and these areas have provided better quality leaf. After 1920 phormium was grown in plantations. It is not grown from seed. Fans are separated from existing flax-bushes and transplanted into rows from 4 to 6 ft apart. They grow to maturity in five years. The leaves are then cut about 6 in. above the ground and it is another four years before the plant can be cut again. Three varieties grown in 1961 were: ngaro and ngaire, two Maori varieties, and “S.S.”, an improved strain selected by a member of the Seifert family, well-known flax growers. The cut leaf is tied in bundles and transported to the mill where the fibre is separated from the fleshy part by a stripping machine. Then it is washed and spread on the ground or over fences for several days, to bleach. The dried fibre is next scutched, or scraped, by machine, to remove surplus vegetable matter, then pressed and baled.

Yellow leaf disease, a cause of failure in crops, was first reported in 1908. About 1920 large areas of phormium in the Manawatu district were destroyed by it. Many years of research into possible causes, viz., insects, fungi, bacteria, and virus, resulted in the discovery that “yellow leaf” was a virus spread by the phormium hopper. Prolonged flooding of plantations proved a method of exterminating the hopper and controlling the disease. There was evidence that some varieties, e.g., “S.S.” and “Tihore”, were resistant to “yellow leaf”.

At Foxton, the fibre is manufactured into woolpacks (2,700 tons of fibre for 1964), floor coverings (250–300 tons), carded hemp for the plasterers' trade, underfelt, and padding for upholsterers. A large rope manufacturing firm in New Zealand received 800 tons of phormium fibre in 1963. The phormium is mixed with imported sisal to make rope, hay-baling twine, binder-twine, and lashings. A higher percentage of phormium could be used in the manufacture of rope if the supply of good quality fibre was greater. Probably there is little likelihood of economic production of phormium fibre for export again, but there is scope for increased production for use in New Zealand.

by Jeanne Hannington Goulding, Botanist's Assistant, Auckland Museum.

• Letters and documents of L. Nattrass (1844–71) (MSS), Auckland Institute and Museum Library
• Phormium tenax as a fibrous plant, Hector, J. (1872)
• Historical Records of New Zealand, McNab, R. (1908)
• Phormium tenax, Atkinson, E. H. (1922)
• Agricultural Organisation in New Zealand, Belshaw, H., and others
• “Flax (Phormium tenax) or New Zealand Hemp,” Yeates, J. S. (1936)
• Report on a visit to New Zealand to study the Phormium industry, 1955, Moss, G. S. (Saint Helena: Solomon and Company) (1956).