The Miranui Flaxmill, near Shannon, was the largest flaxmill built in New Zealand, in 1907. The stripping machine was a cast iron drum, with beaters attached, which revolved about 2000x a minute. It removed the green outer part, to reveal the flax fibre. Miranui mill had seven stripping machines in all. The workers are feeding blades of green flax into the stripping machines. Note the Christmas message on the wall.