KAURI GUM.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 177, 28 July 1934, Page 4

KAURI GUM.

SMALL SUPPLIES TO HAND.

COMPETITION OF SUBSTITUTES.

In striking contrast with the large quantity of kauri gum exported during June, 434 tons, which amount has only been exceeded once in the last four years, the supplies arriving' in the city during the month have gone to the opposite extreme, only 148 tons coming to hand.. With the exception of three slack months during the winter of 1932, thiw is the smallest quantity that lias arrived from the gumnolds in any month since 1918, when production and export were disorganised by the temporary shortage of labour and shipping epace. It would bo necessary to go back more than half a century to trace such a small quantity coming into the market, except in these two instances. However, the whole trade during recent years has been heavily reduced from the business transacted before the war, when ii was usual to handle two to three times us much every year. Apart from the partial exhaustion of some of the fields that formerly yielded large quantities, the falling away hns been accelerated by the low prices resulting from the more extensive use of cheaper gums from other countries. The higher qualities formerly so eagerly sought by manufacturers of varnish are still admittedly the best material obtainable in any part of the world, but scientific, methods have enabled manufacturers to produce varnish to meet their requirements while containing only a very small proportion of kauri, the rest being various substitutes obtainable at a third of the price. Congo resin seems to suit them for this purpose, as they work on a formula for blending with kauri, and the cheeper article is gathered in large quantities from flood deposits! on river flats, without the trouble of digging. It is understood that the only varnish into which it has been so far impossible to blond those cheap materials is the kind m:cd for treating old picture*;, and naturally the quantity required for this purpose is extremely limited. If a demand for any extensive use wore to spring up, it is difficult to know how it would be met, for very small quantities of highclass kauri arc now being discovered.

Several substantial orders for many of the lower grades have been executed lately, these being in constant demand for the manufacture of linoleums, but the finished article is not selling at present in the quantities formerly required, andvthis has proportionately reduced the demand for kauri. Chips have been selling rather well, if 80 per cent pure, and good nuts have met a regular demand at improved prices.