NEWSPRINT INDUSTRY

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 122, 16 February 1935, Page 7

NEWSPRINT INDUSTRY

Finland a Competitor of Canada That Finland is becoming a serious competitor of Canada in paper-making was the view expressed by Sir Hugh Denison, chairman of Associated News, papers, Sydney, who arrived by the Rangitiki yesterday. Sir Hugh, who has been visiting Great Britain and the Continent, intends to spend some weeks touring in the Dominion. Finland, he said, seemed to be all water and trees, and consequently it was well suited to the pulping industry. Wonderful progress had been made there during the last ten years with the pulping of timber for paper-mak-ing and for the artificial silk industry. Large quantities of spruce and hemlock, which made a pulp of high quality, were available, and were transported to the factories by natural waterways. The principal customers were the United States of America and Australia. Probably hundreds of thousands of tons a year were exported to America. Finland had fairly good outlets to the markets of the world, and even during the Arctic winter the two Finnish ports were kept free from ice by the Gulf Stream. Although Finland did not produce artificial silk for sale, the pulping factories specialised in producing a piilp suitable for the silk mills, went on Sir Hugh. At one factory he visited there was a complete silk-making plant for experimental and demonstration purposes. In that plant artificial silk was produced and dyed and made up to show how the Finnish material would take all kinds of dyes, and to what uses it could be put. Japan took most of the pulp prepared for artificial silkmaking.