TUNG PLANTATION

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

TUNG PLANTATION

NEW INDUSTRY.

PROGRESS AT TE ARAL

FARI/lAiIENTARIANS' VISIT.

At the invitation of Natural Products (N.Z.), Ltd., Messrs. W. E. Parry, M.P. for Auckland Central, A. S. Richards, M.P. for Roskill, A. Harris, M.P. for Waitemata, and A. J. Murdoch, M.P. for Marsden, made an inspection on Saturday of Tungacres, the company's plantation of tung trees at Te Arai, six miles ■ from Mangawai. They were shown over the plantation by Mr. W. V. Wilson, chairman and general manager Messrs. H. W. Crawford and J. A. Finlayson, directors, Mr. J. V. Mackay, secretary, and Mr. C. Hawley, plantation manager. During their visit to the area already nlanted, Mr. Wilson explained to the u- he lay-out of the plantation which was subdivided by rows of pine trees for permanent shelter-belts. Rows „f wattle trees between these provided shelter for the young tung trees, but , would be removed when the latter were 1 older. He pointed out trees which, he [said, had grown Oft in the past year. After watching a rotary hoe at work between the rows of trees, the party went to the nursery, where seedlings were being raised for transplanting in the plantation in June, and to the experimental section, where the effects of pruning and of different manures were noted. Mr. Wilson pointed cut trees that had shown phenomenal growth, and stated that the. data obtained from the fcxpariments on these trees Tiad enabled the company to remedy the mistakes that had been made when the plantation was started. \t luncheon Mr. Wilson gave a brief outline of the history of the tung oil industry. The oil had been used by the Chinese, he said, for thousands of years, but it was only 35 years ago that British and American scientists benn to experiment with it. Since then it had, by its superior natural properties, rapidly ousted linseed oil as a constituent of the best paints and varnishes, and the demand now exceeded the supply. The United States alone required the full product of 500,000 acres, but did not have that area of suitable land and had to import a great deal of oil from China. Not only was the supply irom China limited, but, owing to the crude methods used to extract it from tne nut, it was impure, and did not com...and nearly as high a price as that produced by modern methods, such as were employed on the American plantations in Florida and would bo followed in New Zealand. Mr. Wilson said that the tung tree throve best on we ldrained but acid soil, such as the northern gumlands, where the climate also was well suited to its growth.

Mr. Wilson appealed to the members ot Parliament, present to try to obtain for the tung oil industry a more sympatic tic hearing from the Government. In America th; growers had the cooperation of the Government, »nd were supplied with much useful information and advice from the Government laboratories and experimental plantations, but in New Zealand they had nothing but criticism and condemnation. He understood that a few tung trees had been planted in Government experimental plantations at Te Kauwhata and in North Auckland, but he had been unable to obtain any information concerning them.

All the members of Parliament present agreed that the plantation showed great promise of starting a new industry in New Zealand, Mr. Parry remarking that if it were so the promoters would be benefactors to the Dominion, as apparently the overseas markets wero already over-supplied with meat an<\ dairy produce, and it behoved New Zealand to produce other exportable commodities. Mr. Parry said tliat he had visited Tuugacres because 12 months ago he had made strong comments on another such project, and had been quite prepared to condemn this one had he felt justified in so doing. He had, however, been very favourably impressed by what he had seen, especially by the healthy growth of the trees in the nursery, and his comments of 12 months ago could not apply here. The plantation "seemed to have been developed along the right lines, and he considered that it should have the support of the Government and the assistance of the Government laboratories.

Mr. Richards remarked that he was impressed by Mr. Wilson's reasons for believing that there was no danger of disastrous competition in the tung oil industry, as there were so few places in the world where the tree would grow. If. the thousands of acres that would cost too much to bring into production for other primary industries could be used for the growing of tung trees, it would be a God-send to New Zealand.