TUNG OIL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 237, 7 October 1930, Page 4

TUNG OIL.

NEW ZEALAND PROSPECTS.

NORTH AUCKLAND EXPERIMENTS

According to Mr. W. Sterling Tannock, a Dunedin native who returned by the Aorangi yesterday, New Zealand is a suitable country for the production of the tung oil tree. China is the home of the tree from the nuts of which the _ oil is extracted. This product is. used m the manufacture of paints, Qinoleums, artificial leathers, etc. Experiments haye shown that the tree will thrive in the North Auckland district, and efforts are to be made to' establish the industry. English manufacturers are eager to develop the industry within the Empire. China exports tung oil to the extent of £7,000,000 annually, and the quality is unsatisfactory. During the course of several years study in England, Mr. Tannock was at the Reading University and Kew Gardens Botanical Museums. He afterwards visited Florida to investigate the latest methods of cultivation on experimental and commercial plantations there. "Experiments have been conducted over several years in New Zealand, in the growing of the tree, and results have been very satisfactory, indeed," said Mr. Tannock. "The prospects of a new primary industry in this country seem very bright, and the problem of the northern waste lands, and their economic development, may be settled by the establishment of tung oil plantations. I am confident that this industry will prove a very big factor in New' Zealand prosperity." Florida, the only country in the world outside of China which produces tung oil in krge commercial quantities, requires at the present time some 80,000 acres of treea to meet the demand. To-day there are only 30,000 acres planted, of which 10,000 are bearing. , A private London company has been formed, consisting of people engaged in the paint and varnish trade, and some 5000 acres have been acquired in Burma, and tung oil trees will be planted at the rate of 1000 acres per year. Quite recently, said Mr. Tannock, a new use for tung oil had been discovered at Boston in the manufacture of artificial silk. That market alone could take the whole of the world's supply at present. COMPANY FORMED. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) WHANGAREI. this day. A new company, Natural Products (N.Z.), Ltd., has been formed ; for the purpose of growing the tung oil tree in North Auckland. A large area of land in the Mangawai district has been secured, and tenders are to be called for ploughing 200 acres, ready for planting trees next season. Some months ago a supply of seed was sown in a nursery in the New Lynn district, and next spring the seedlings will be transplanted at Mangawai.