KAURI GUM INDUSTRY.

Auckland Star, Issue LVII, 1 March 1926, Page 14

KAURI GUM INDUSTRY.

(To the Editor.) • Sir, —The most unfortunate thing concerning the kauri gum control business is that the champions of the gumdiggers' cause know very little of the present position of the kauri gum business. "Spade and Spear," like many others, appears under the impression that all that is necessary is a kauri gum control board and all will be well. He also seems to be under , the impression that the Auckland merchants and brokers are at the root of the whole trouble of the kauri gum depression. I think it is about time that the public should know the real state of affairs. The kauri gum industry has severely suffered during the last three years, and is still severely suffering, from the competition of other gums, natural, artificial, and an article called "duco," a guncotton by-product, which have taken the place of kauri gum, and all those concerned, in the trade as well as the diggers are in a bad way in consequence. Brown grades of kauri gum were used in former years foF making varnishes for all motor-car bodies produced in the United States. With the exception of one or two of the very best American cars, "duco" has taken the place of kauri gum. This alone is sufflc.ent reason why the brown grades of kauri gum are so sadly neglected now. The bulk of the gums used at present are very much lower in price than kauri, and hence varnish manufacturers will not buy kauri. It is quite true that kauri gum makes very durable varnish, but unfortunately some manufacturers prefer cheapness to quality, and in varnish this seems to be uiore the rule than the exception. The accumulation of stocks in New Zealand of kauri gum is also to a very great extent due to the fact that United States manufacturers, merchants, and importers have entirely altered the system of buying and producing. In former years, producers and merchants! carried very heavy stocks, in the expectation of future demand. At the present day, importers and manufacturers in the United States buy from hand to mouth only. This system has proved very beneficial to them. Auckland merchants and brokers are the only people in New Zealand who know anything about the kauri gum business, but according to the Kauri Gum Control Act they will have no direct representation on the board. The board will consist of two diggers' representatives, and a merchants' representative appointed by the Government, but such representative must not be directly or indirectly engaged in the kauri gum industry. The Auckland brokers and merchants are really afraid of a board consisting of laymen who are not intimately acquainted with the kauri gum business, as whatever such men may do is sure to be wrong. In addition, unlimited power is given to the members of the board, who can go to the extent of taking control of any stocks held by Auckland merchants and brokers. This certainly makes business extremely unsafe, and naturally the Auckland merchants and brokers do not feel disposed to invest more money in the : kauri gum business at present. It is inconceivable to the trade in Auckland

as to how a board of control will be able to improve matters. The mgre fact that a board of control has been proposed by the Government has gone a long way towards shaking the confidence of users of kauri gum abroad, as the mere idea of control conveys the conception of higher prices, and to this, naturally, the users of kauri gum strongly object. I can support Mr. Andrae in his statement that the gum merchants and brokers in Auckland are heart and soul with the Minister of Lands in his desire to help diggers, but, in the face of the circumstances stated, they are at a loss to know how to do it. Looking at it from a selfish point of view, the merchants and brokers cannot live without the diggers, and for their own selfish motives they must have the diggers on the fields to produce kauri gum, and to keep them there they must naturally keep them alive, and why anybody should think that the merchants and brokers wish harm to the digger is beyond my understanding.—l am, etc., L. ARNOLDSON. (To the Editor.) Sir, — Evidently your correspondent "Spade and Spear" has a very meagre knowledge of the present-day conditions of the kauri gum industry. I would not like to charge him with entire ignorance, but it is apparent that he has had some slight connection- with the trade in past years, and is now out of touch with the business of grading and exporting kauri gum. He is evidently under the impression that merchants can and do impede the producer in the marketing of his gum, which is, of course, absurd, as even the Minister of Lands has admitted. As he alleges, the merchants have acquainted foreign manufacturers with the facts relating to the conditions of trade in New Zealand, but surely they are entitled to do this. They are merely endeavouring to recover lost trade in much the same way as one would seek the recovery of books, for instance, which have been lent and not returned. Let mc say in conclusion that, not being a merchant or a broker, the only axe I have to grind in connection with the kauri gum industry is the one I use at sieve and stand. —I am, etc., SIEVE AND STAND.