In the year 1858 we imported paper, in the form of stationery and paper-hangings, to the value of about £ 200,000.† During the same year we exported 516 tons of rags, which was probably not one half the quantity of rags that might not annually be obtained here, because, in the first place, it is not generally known that rags are purchased in the colony, and, in the second place, the price given is so trifling as compared with their market value at home that few would care to save them for sale. As long as rags are purchased for exportation the price given will be very small; were paper-mills to be established here a larger price would be offered, and we should not then be in the habit of seeing cast off wearing apparel among our numerous rubbish heaps, or in the back yards and right-of-ways of our city and towns.

Up to the commencement of the present century paper was made entirely by hand, when the labor cost about 16 shillings per cwt.; the cost is now about 1 shilling per cwt. "This great change has been chiefly effected by Donkin, who has made for himself a place along with Watt, Wedgwood, and Arkwright, in the temple of mechanical fame."‡ Independent of the great superiority of machine over hand-made paper, manufacturers are not troubled with combination of workmen forming strikes, which was one of the serious drawbacks to the manufacturer of hand-made paper, another drawback being the large amount of waste, generally about 20 per cent., whereas by machinery it is a mere nothing. "Even so far back as 1843 there were 280 machines working in Great Britain, producing together 1,600 miles of paper, from four to five feet broad, every day."‡ The great improvement in the patterns of china and earthen-ware is due chiefly to the manufacture of a superior description of tissue paper, "the hand-made paper being too coarse to trace the fair engravings required." There is also an advantage when used for this purpose in the paper being of great length, and even in 1834 tissue paper was used in the potteries 1,200 yards long; this length of paper, or in fact any great length, had never been made by hand labor. "In 1843 each machine was capable of making under the impulsion of any prime mover, unwatched by human eye, and unguided by human hands, from 20 to 50 feet in length by 5 feet broad of most equable paper in one minute."‡ Since then several patents have been taken out for improvements in paper-making machinery.

"The Chinese not only use rags in the manufacture of paper, but also the fibres of the young bamboo, of the Chinese mulberry tree, the envelope of the silkworm cocoon, cotton down, and especially the cotton tree; they also make paper from their myrtle tree."‡

In 1857 ( November 18th ) a Mr. Alexander Tolmer obtained a patent in this colony for the manufacture of paper and pasteboard from the stems and leaves of the plant known as the Lepidos sperma gladiata, and also from the root, stem, and leaves of the Hybiscus or marsh-mallow. This last plant grows luxuriously and spreads rapidly in deserted sheep stations, homesteads, and other places where it is not destroyed as a weed.

Paper Plant. - The Mineral Point "Tribune" has a description of a plant with the above name, discovered in Wisconsin by Miss A. L. Beaumont, who describes it as follows: "I discovered two tears ago a plant that yields both cotton and flax from the same root, and I believe I am the first person that ever cultivated, spun, and knit from it. I am persuaded that any article that will make as good cloth as can be made from this plant will make good paper, hence I call it the 'paper plant.' It can be planted in the spring and cut in the winter. It bleaches itself white as it stands, and will yield at least three or four tons to the acre. From a single root that I transplanted last spring there grew 20 large stalks with 305 pods containing the cotton, with at least 60 seeds in each. From this root I obtained 7 ounces of pure cotton and over half-a-pound of flax. It is a very heavy plant, and grows from six to seven feet high. The editor of the "Tribune" who has seen samples of the cotton from this plant thinks that as an article for the manufacture of paper it must be far better and chaeper than any other known. - ( "Australian Builder", October 2nd, 1856 )

As the proper cotton tree grows best within the tropics, and, therefore, not likely to be successfully cultivated in Victoria, it is interesting to know that the paper plant is indigenous to Wisconsin, which lies between 43° and 49° North latitude, and assimilates more to the climate of Victoria than that of the tropics. We may, therefore, reasonably expect to find but little difficulty in acclimatizing the paper plant in Victoria, to which it would be a most valuable acquisition.

Paper from Maize. - The "Illustrated London News" by August mail, 1860, contained an article on the "maize plant" which stated, among other important facts, the "The productiveness of this plant being so great, it is not to be wondered at that efforts have been made to cultivate it in Great Britain, and many years ago the late William Cobbett, a political celebrity, wrote a book on its virtures, recommending it to the British farmer. The "leaves and straw make good paper, and Mr. Cobbett's book was printed on paper made of this material." It has been tried in England, but as was to have been expected, the average temperature of the seasons was not high enough to ensure the ripening of the grain. It is extensively cultivated in both North and South America from the tropics to 40° North and South latitude. It also produces good crops in Victoria, 7,012 bushels being the produce of 750 acres during the year ending 31st March, 1860; this must either be a false return, or shows inferior cultivation, the average produce per acre being less than ten bushels. From the Report on the Resources of the Colony I take the following: - "We are informed by A. McMillan, Esq., the discoverer of Gipps Land, that not less than 80 bushells of maize per acre for several successive years have been obtained on that gentleman's estate on the Avon River, whilst the yield of wheat amounted to 35 bushels; oats, 50 bushels; barley, 45 bushels; and potatoes 6 tons to the acre."

In addition to the paper plant, which may be grown here, and the leaves and stalks of maize which, with proper management, produces large crops, we have the flax plant, ( a very fair crop of which was obtained in 1858, on the Experimental Farm, near Melbourne, and the fact that it will thrive well in this climate has, therefore, been fully established. - Report on the Experimental Farm ); and several trees and plants indigenous to the colony, the bark of which might be converted into the coarser, if not the finer, kinds of paper. The cotton tree might also be grown on the north side of the River Murray, and the cotton transmitted to Melbourne by the Government railway now being made between Melbourne and the River Murray. The cotton tree could also be grown in the northern parts of South Australia and New South Wales; it has been already successfully cultivated in Queensland.

We have, therefore, abundant sources of material suitable for the manufacture of all kinds of paper, and, as I have before shown, since 1843 it has been made in England with machinery so perfect as to require a very small amount of manual labour to produce miles or tons of paper. Even at the present rate of wages, with imported machinery propelled either by the Yan Yean water or the Yarra Falls, paper might yet be made in Melbourne as cheap as that imported.

Tracing Paper of the best kind is made from the refuse of flax mills and prepared by the engine without fermentation: it thus forms semi-transparent paste, and affords transparent paper."

Paper Pipes. An extract from an English paper appeared in the "Argus" of the 20th August, 1860, giving particulars of the "paper pipes" invented by a Mr. John Kennedy, which are likely to ( a considerable extent at least ) supersede the use of iron, lead, and clay pipes for "water, gas, or sewerage; they have been proved to stand a pressure of from 220 to 250 lns. per square inch," which is more than sufficient for any practical purpose they can be applied to. "Then look at the price: a 3-inch pipe can be had at the rate of 1 shilling per yard, and other sizes in proportion;" a yard of 3-inch iron pipe 3/8 of an inch thick would cost at least 3 shillings in England! "When they were referred to by Mr. Gladstone in his celebrated speech of the 10th February last, the idea of paper pipes was scouted; since then they have been largely patronised by the Government and many public bodies. In fact, the patentees for England cannot even meet the orders they receive." I have been given to understand on good authority that the patent has been extended to this colony, the patentees having no agent here, so that if they are not exchanged for our deleterious lead pipes now supplying water to the inhabitants of Melbourne and its suburbs, we may at least hope to see them used in our contemplated water and gas works throughout the colony.†† It is not at all improbable that they will yet be made in the bush partly from the bark of our numerous forest trees.

Notes:

† In 1859 we imported stationery to the value of £ 174,796, and paper-hangings to the value of £ 29,341. - ( C. Mayes, June 29, 1861 )

‡ Dr. Ure.

†† Patent bitumenised paper pipes are now made in Melbourne, samples of which have been tested by a Government Committee, from whose report dated April 29th, 1861, I learn that the pipes were "tried by hydraulic pressure, and 499 lbs. per square inch caused no leakage or breakage in a pipe 7 1/2 inches external and 6 1/4 inches internal diameter." The pipes are estimated to withstand a bursting pressure of 300 lb. per square inch; and the Committee feel that the excess named above that amount was ample as evidence of the power of internal resistance. For further particulars, see Government report, to be obtained at the Depôt, 127 Flinders lane east, Melbourne. - ( C. Mayes, July 1, 1861 )

Source:

The Victorian Government Prize Essays 1860 ( Royal Society of Victoria, Melbourne, Vic., 1861 )

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