«. Tno fo 11 ow"jg has been addressed tj the editor of the Lyttelton Times ; — Sir, — I shall feel obliged if you will kindly find space for the following extracts from Mr C. Thome's, of London, letter received by last mail. Your obedient servant, J. A. BIRD, Hon. Sec, Canterbury Flax Association. July 11, 1872. " I may now safely say that if I had in my hands, at the present time, a large quantity, say, 40 or 50 tons of fibre, equal in quality to that from which the fabrics already sent you have been made, I could place it with manu facturers, and so get its market value fully established. -At first it must be sold cheap, so as to induce the manufacturers o prove to themselves its value j but within a short time it would take up its position and recoup those who kept up the regular supply for any loss they might have sustained on the first' ship ments. Even now I think there would not be any appreciable loss, for the exertions and practical experiments carried through by Mr A. R. Forbes most clearly prove the adapta bility of the New Zealand fibre for many of the textile fabrics at present manufactured ex clusively from Riga flax and Italian hemp. " I have just sent to Mr Forbes about half a ton of long fibre and half a ton of tow, which he intends xisiug for his own purposes, as he considers experiments, so far as he is con cerned at an end. He writes me it is his-intention to mix it with Italian hemp, and says, I dare say I shall send you some fine samples of cloth from the mixed yarns. "My Irish friend thought my fibre too coarse for the fabrics he makes, and asked if I could procure him something finer, as he was anxious to prove himself whether the fibre, when thoroughly cleaned, would make a yarn fine enough for a table cloth. He promised to give personal attention throughout the trial, so Dr Featheraton and Mr Buller were kind enough togivo me about 2 cwt., and this has now gone to be put to a strong test. 