Phormium tenax in New Zealand history

Abstract

At the outset of my research on this subject, I was given the opportunity of interviewing an old flax-miller at Foxton, Mr. E. W. Sutton, who, while giving me considerable valuable material, told how many men, during their attempts to utilise Phormium tenax, had become so fascinated with this plant and its fibre that they could not stop their experimentation; such was the enthusiasm aroused in them. In the course of reading, I must confess I have been imbued with some of that insatiable interest. Consequently, having followed the connection of Phormium with New Zealand history to the year 1872, I now feel obliged to add that I fully realize how modest a beginning to this study this thesis is.

In response to all those who have persistently enquired, “How important (if important at all) was Phormium texax To New Zealand history, to those who first visited New Zealand and to those who settled in it, to those who traded with New Zealand and to those who helped to civilize it?” – to all such enquirers I can only say I trust that they will agree with the conclusions I have drawn from the facts here presented. That this plant with its fibre was important I have not the slightest doubt; the writings of so many capable men from Captain James Cook to Doctor James Hector bear witness to that fact. It has therefore been my task to present a disinterested (though necessarily highly selected) picture of the opinions and reactions, of the experiments, successes and failures of those who were vitally interested in the welfare of Great Britain and New Zealand, to which, they believed, Phormium tenax could profitably contribute. (…) [Extract from Preface]