FOREST PRODUCTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 68, 17 September 1936, Page 12

FOREST PRODUCTS

INDEX COMPILED

NEW ZEALAND'S SHARE

(Sposial to the "Evening Post.") LONDON, August 15.

An index of the minor forest products of the Brirish Empire has been compiled by the Imperial Economic I Committee. It is the rirst index of its J kind. To obtain tlie information the committee consulted with the forest departments of the Empire. It also had the assistance of Kew and the Imperial Institute. ' * Classification is made in the following groups: Drugs and spices, dyes, essential oils, fibres, gums, and resins, i oils and oilseeds, tanning materials! and miscellaneous. These sections give for each commodity the trade name, the . botanical species, and the country of origin. It is' shown that kauri gum (Agathis australis) export trade is increasing | from New Zealand. .In 1932 the total] gum' shipped was 2068 tons, valued at £62.137. In 1933 the tonnage rose to 3089 and its value to £77,973, and in 1934 the export was 3209 tons, worth £86,917. The New Zealand trade in tanekaha bark (Phyllocladus trichomanoides) is, apparently, not so nourishing. In 1931 55 tons were exported valued at £ **90. There was no export the following year, but in 1934 18 tons, worth £01, was shipped. The Dominion also exports . edible fungus (Hirneola polytricha), but this is also declining. In 1931 the export was 1840cwt. and in the two succeed- | ing years 1330cwt and 1028cwt. The I value fell rather more sharply, indicating a fall in price; In 1931 the shipments were worth £9990, in 1932 £5900, and the following year, 1933, they were valued at £3270.