NEW INDUSTRY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 35, 11 February 1935, Page 9

NEW INDUSTRY.

KAURI GUM OPERATIONS.

NORTH AUCKLAND SCHEME

(By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.)

WHAXGAREI, Saturday,

A new industry is to be established in Wbangarei, and it is possible that its site will be at Kioreroa. In the course of a deputation to Mr. A. J. Murdoch, M.P.. yesterday, Mr. P. H. Basley made a brief announcement in connection with the establishment of a plant in Whancarei by Kauri Industries, Ltd., a company which has been formed with the hope of regaining the kauri gum market which was lost to a large extent owing to the discovery of synthetic substitutes during the war. Mr. Basley said that up to the war period New Zealand held a monopoly in the supply of gum. Then came the synthetic aids, largely as a result of the difficulties of transport, and JScw Zealand's trade was cut out. Experiments had been carried out in New Zealand by research chemists, and it ha\ been found that from the poorest of gum the best article could be produced for use in lacquers and so on. The company would be operating under license from the Crown. The plant would cost between £30,000 and £40,000 to erect, and between 2000 and 3000 unem ployed men could be placed on the gumfields in the North to supply the base. It was hoped to get a grant from the unemployment authorities to push the project forward. About 50 tons of coal a week would be required, and one million gallons of water weekly. Twenty men would be employed on three shifts at the works, and the wage sheet would be betweo £00 and £70 a week. It was expected to produce 2000 tons of gum a year. The present New Zealand export was only about 2000 or 3000 tons annually