AUSTRALIAN EFFORTS

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 66, 19 March 1928, Page 10

AUSTRALIAN EFFORTS

EXPERTS TO SUPERVISE (From "The Post's" Representative.) SYDNEY, Bth March. The success of tobacco-growing experiments in New Zealand was received with great interest in Australia, where the importance of producing in this part of the world a good quality leaf is fully realised. Efforts which have been made in Australia to date have not been very encouraging, but a definite effort is now being made to place the industry on a Bound footing. The Commonwealth, with the co-operation of the British-Australian Tobacco Company, has now secured the services o£ an expert, Mr. 0. M. Slagg, who has been chief of the tobacco division of the Canadian Department of Agriculture since 1924. '"The committee which has charge of the experiments has had the sum . of £90,000 placed at its disposal, part of which was contributed by the tobacco company, and the experiments generally will be under the control of the Development and Migration Committee. Mr. Slagg is now carrying out preliminary inquiries, j and it will probably be some time before I he is in a position to recommend the policy to be followed. Soil and climatic conditions play an important part in the pro- I duction of tobacco, yet there is no reason why Australia should not be able to pro-i duce a leaf that will be able to compete with the best that is produced in America. In view of the enormous amount of tobacco imported annually, the value of success will be readily -realised. Without committing himself 'in any way, Mr. Slagg said that he hoped to achieve great success. There seems to be no reason why Australia and New Zealand should not do what Canada has done in recent years. According to Mr. Slagg, the industry in Canada has made remarkable progress. He said that CO per cent, of the tobacco now used in the Dominion was made from the home-grown product, whereas a few years ago it had been only 30 per cent. The Canadian Federal Government had established experimental tobacco-growing stations throughout Southern Canada, in addition to the principal stations at Ottawa, where the pathology of the tobacco plant i and the scientific field husbandry necessary j for the finer culture were closely studied. As a result o£ these studies suitable varieties of the plant had been cultivated on a large scale. The Canadian export trade of home-grown tobacco to the British Isles had increased enormously, and last year was valued at £400,000.