TRADE AND FINANCE

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 78, 2 April 1935, Page 12

TRADE AND FINANCE

PRODUCE & MARKET REPORTS FROM DAY TO DAY

TUNG GIL

A SCIENTIFIC REVIEW

"THE MARKET IS WAITING"

"Evening Post," April 2,

Dr. L. A. Jordan, director of the Kesearc'h Association o£ British Plaint, Colour, and Varnish Manufacturers, recently addressed the Royal Society of Arts on "lung Oil," a subject of interest to New Zealand investors as well as to manufacturers /of varnishes. In a nummary of Dr. Jordan's address, "The Post's" London correspondent reports tlu't he referred to tjie stirring of the enterprise at the beginning of the eclipse of the.kauri gum industry. He first explained that Jus tune oil, or Chinese wood oil as.it ;s a.so termed, is obtained from the kernels ot the fruit of the species Aleuritis iordii ami Aleuritis montaria, of the family tuphorbiaceae. The tree'is peculiar, to China, and the oil extracted from its seeds had been used for centuries; it was also burnt to produce a famous black ink. ...,-, . Tung oil had been successfully used in conjunction with synthetic resins and the production of lacquers especially suitable for motor-car bodies. Tracing the history of the cultivation ot the tung oil tree in the United States as a result of dissatisfaction with the quality, of the Chinese oil and the prospect of failure of supplies due to the civil war in China, Dr. Jordan give's credit to American enterprise in planting the tree in Florida. He stated that the Florida scheme was started in 1923 mainly by the American Tung Oil Corporation, and under the technical guidance of the Florida Slate Agricultural College at Gainesville, Florida. The corporation was largely financed _by members of tho National Paint, Varnish, and Lacquer Association of America. It was organised as an experimental and educational enterprise to demonstrate the possibilities of growing tung oil in the southern United States where the farming community had suffered severely through repeated failure of the citrus crops. DISTRIBUTION OF SEED. The corporation has widely disseminated information as to the best methods of ' growing tung oil trees and supplied selected seed in order to encourage others, to undertake plantings of the: tree.' Today some 40.000 acres of trees'have been planted by private interests in the Gulf Coast region of the U.S.A.. It was during the winter of 1927-28 that the. first distribution of seed was made to British Empire countries. In all, 7171b of the fruit of A. fordii were sent to 27 areas in the Empire as follows: Africa —Tanganyika, Caipe Province, Transvaal, Rhodesia, Natal; Nyasaland, Kenya, Nigeria; Australia—New South Wales, Queensland; Ber-mudas-Burma; Ceylon;' Cyprus; IndiaAssam, Central India; Jamaica; Leeward Isles;' New Zealand; Palestine. The lecturer quoted a lengthy report from the Queensland Forest Corporation, which has been very active in cultivating the-tree., Mr. Macintosh Ellis, who at one time was in the New Zealand Forest Service, writes: "I can say ; unquestionably that-tung orcharding,, from the cultural angle at least, has been proved to our satisfaction in this latitude, and I feel that this very versatile tree has wonderful economic possibilities through a' wide diffusion in Australia.- I believe that there are sections in every State which would lend themselves to tung culture. We have distributed seed to all parts of Australasia and to every State in the Commonwealth, and positive reports are being received periodically dealing with success-ful-propagation over this wide territory." WARNING TO NEW ZEALAND. In regard to New Zealand,-Dr. Jordan said there has been considerable activity, and the technical results achieved would justify the establishment, of plantations in this Dominion. Unfortunately, this legitimate development, he said, had been mixed up .with land speculation and the sale of bonds or debentures, a condition which had given the joint committee under the Imperial Institute some anxiety. By the end of 1933 nine public companies had been formed, operating between North Auckland and the extreme north-west corner of the^ North Island. During the depression of the last few years, some of these concerns were finding it extremely difficult to maintain the sale of bonds in order to finance further plant-ing-up of their estates. The committee, said Dr. Jordan, had given a warning to the responsible officers of the Department of Agriculture of New Zealand. "Unfortunately, the people who subscribe their money do not always seek advice until it is too late," Dr. Jordan added. There are undoubtedly reasonable indications that in particular locations in the North Island of . New, Zealand, soil and climatic conditions are■favourable to.the development of this tree, he continued, and it was to be hoped that that development would be allowed-to proceed without the enactment of, the tragedy usually associated with questionable methods of finance. In the northern Shan. States at Hsuni Haai a company known as Tung Oil Estates; Ltd., financed by members of the paint and varnish industry in England, have up to the present time planted some 2500 acres with both A. fordii and A. Montana, and the prospects of successful plantation in this region are quite good. The latter species is indigenous to the locality. Dr. Jordan gave details of what had been done in Great Britain to find the best method of expressing the oil. The problem was approaching a satisfactory solution, he said. "The only thing certain," said Dr. Jordan, "is*that the Chinese in a very casual manner seem to make a very good business out of tung oil. All the rest is presumption, but one is undoubtedly justified in saying that, if one can only find the right place and the job is done properly, the market is waiting and the business should be profitable."

CLOGGED CHANNELS

ECONOMIC NATIONALISM

Special reference is made in the halfyearly report of the directors of the Commonwealth Bank-of Australia to the eftects of economic nationalism on trade in (Tgnci'ftl ° "At the moment (they sajO international channels of trade are clogged, and it may be that conditions will become still worse before united international action will he taken to clear the channels. The economic position in several of the European countries seems to indicate that a greater reconciliation and reasonable stability between costs and prices and a better relationship between international debts anil national incomes must be brought about in order to make possible reasonable international exchange stability and thereby greater freedom for international trade. When this happens better prices for our exports should result." "Economic nationalism in most European countries and U.S.A. has become more pronounced, whilst in, Great Britain restrictions of a temporary nature have been placed on meat exports from Australia. "This, taken in' conjunction with the severe restrictions on our exports by certain European countries, makes the position as a whole one which cannot be regarded with equanimity—especially when the present low price of wool is borne in mind. This latter commodity in itself was largely responsible for the favourable balance of payments' for the twelve months ended June 30, 1934, and, in the absence of a substantial rise in price, an unfavourable balance for the current twelve months to June 30, 1935,' seems inevitable."