The flax mill, Lower Parihaka Road, run by James, and later by George, Rutherford, father and brother of Ernest Rutherford (1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson). Shows workmen at a swamp's edge in front of the mill buildings, to the right, with a steamer at sea behind. The soaking ponds and mills are surrounded by flax, and two poles with processed flax are in the water. The mill comprises two low wooden buildings with a separate tank in front, in which a man is standing, possibly pounding flax in water. Another man stands by a tall structure in front of the left-hand building.

On the verso is a chromolithograph signed E. Grivaz, titled 'Dont' touch', showing a servant girl in a kitchen, shaking her finger at a cat on a chair. Beyond the cat is a table with milk and cake or cheese. Eugene Grivaz (1852-1915) was a French genre painter, active from the 1880s. The young woman's clothing suggests a late nineteenth century scene.

Ernest Rutherford, in his school holidays, helped to lay out the levels for the ponds, which were used for soaking flax. They stored water from the creek, which came in from the right of the drawing.

Inscriptions: Recto - bottom right - Signed and dated in pencil

Quantity: 1 watercolour(s).

Physical Description: Pencil and watercolour ; image 224 x 317 mm on sheet 270 x 370 mm

The foxing on the picture occured between the 1950s and the 1980s, since a 1950s photograph of the work shows no foxing. (Pers. comm. from Rutherford's biographer, Dr John Campbell, 2. 11. 89). The foxing is confined to the area exposed to light, and is not under the area formerly covered by a mat. The watercolour is also faded.

Alternative form available: A laser copy showing the work without foxing is in the folder, behind the work