COMPANY NEWS FOREST PRODUCTS’ EXPORTS

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28249, 10 April 1957, Page 17

COMPANY NEWS FOREST PRODUCTS’ EXPORTS

New Zealand Forest Products, Ltd., contributed over £6 million to the New Zealand balance of payments during the 1956-57 financial year, according to an announcement made by Sir David Henry, chairman and managing director of the company, on the eve of his departure overseas. ' Exports, he said, had reached nearly £2 million, while local sales of pulp and paper products had saved the country over £4 million for imports. Most of the exports were made to Australia, but pulp was also sold to Britain, South Africa, India, . and Japan. Apart 1 from wood pulp, the company also ■ exported timber, and had sold a small quantity of wallboard and paper overseas. Company plans for the year 1957-58 include the production of some 65,000 tons of pulp, the installing of a bleaching plant to increase the variety of pulps and papers produced, and an extension of the capacity of the kraft paper machine. Sir David Henry is going overseas to study the latest forest management techniques and to examine modern types of forest utilisation equipment. N.Z. Investment, . Mortgage (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, April 8. Net profit of the New Zealand Investment, Mortgage and Deposit Company, Ltd., for the year to March 31, 1957, was £3062, against £3289 the previous year. Profit is reached after providing £2217 for taxation (£2670 in 1956). Dividend of 61 per cent, (final 31 per cent.) takes £2308. In 1956, dividend was 6 per cent., and a jubilee bonus of 4d a share made the total distribution 9 1-3 per cent\, requiring £3313. Transfer to reserve is £lOOO, compared with nil last year, and carryforward is reduced to £4207. Interest received was £13,805 (£13,677). Reserves total £32,207, compared with paid capital of £35,500. Kalgoorlie Goldfields.—Kalgoorlie Goldfields Petroleum, N.L., plans to develop a rutile area on the south coast of New South Wales, directors state in a special report to shareholders. “However, being very conscious of the fact that the company was incorporated primarily for the purpose of oil exploration, the board does not wish to commit the company to a different venture if the shareholders are against such a proposal,” they state. The matter will therefore be deferred until shareholders discuss it at the annual meeting on April 12. Lustre Hosiery, Sydney.—Lustre Hosiery, Ltd., will show a total loss of about £193,000 for the year ended December 31, directors report. This compares with a loss of £58,529 shown last year. (The company had previously traded profitably for each of its previous 36 years.) The latest loss includes about £95,000 writedown “of stocks of fabrics, yarns, trimming, etc.’’, directors state, in a preliminary report. “Our business consultants have been, and are, reorganising the business, and production costs are being reduced. The management and consultants have budgeted for a return to successful trading, but this will take further time,” the directors add. No dividend has been paid since 5 per cent, for 1954. Lignin To Be Made In Australia Australian Paper Manufacturers, r Ltd., will soon put into produc- , tion Australia’s first lignin ex- . traction pilot plant at its mill at t Maryvale, Gippsland. t Lignin is a chemical about E which little has been known until 5 now. It is actually the mortar . which holds the celluar structure , of a tree together. It has <a wide , range of possibe uses in industry. The plant will produce about a ton of powdered lignin a day. , It is the outcome of years of over- ■ seas and local research into the • possible uses of lignin, as a by--1 product of pulp manufacture. » Lignin is already used in • Canada and America for a wide r variety of purposes. Nearly all the vanilla esence used by Ameri- ) cans and Canadians in the past . few years has been extracted from lignin. Dr. John Merewether, of the company’s research ’ laboratory at Fairfield, said that lignin was in very much the same position as coal tar was 100 years ago. The laboratories of New Zealand ; Forest Products were “looking at f every angle” as far as the proJ duction of by-products was con- , cerned, said a company spokes- • man in Auckland when this report • was referred to him by the “New Zealand Herald.” The company r had no immediate plans, however, for their production. L Tcmuka Stock Sale "The Press’* Special Service TIMARU, April 9. Ninety head of fat cattle met a ; very firm demand with values hold- , ing extra firm at Temuka sale today. A capacity yarding of fat lambs, J fat sheep and store sheep, rhet a . very buoyant demand with values ; in all sections appreciating on recent > sales. Prices were:— Fat Cattle.—Fat steers, good £32 1 2s 6d to £35 12s 6d; light to medium, ; £l6 2s 6d to £24 7s 6d; fat heifers, r good, £lB 2s 6d to £23 2s 6d; light, to medium, £l2 2s 6d to £l4 J7s 6d; , fat cows, good £l6 2s 6d to £2O 7s ’ 6d; light to medium, £8 to £l2 7s • 6d. , Fat Sheep.—Fat wethers: good, 97s Id to £5 14s Id; light to medium, 85s Id to 92s Id; fat ewes, good, 55s lOd to 62s Id; light to medium, 39s Id to 46s lOd; fat lambs, medium to good, 55s Id to 73s Id. Store Sheep.—Two-tooth wethers, 65s to 745; full-mouth ewes, 54s to 68s; failing-mouth ewes, 40s to 535; rape ewes, 15s to 38s; lambs, 50s to 595; shorn ewe lambs, 50s to 655; two-tooth ewes, 85s to 97s 6d. I Store Cattle.—Calves, £7 to £9; 18 months steers to £l5.