MINISTER'S REPLY

Evening Star, Issue 24483, 19 April 1943, Page 6

MINISTER'S REPLY

GOVERNMENT CONSERVING NATION'S INTERESTS Replying to Mr Bowden, Mr Sullivan said to-night that Mr Bowden had not helped the ease of Forest Products in the least degree. In taking the line he did he was astray on all the issues and ignored another. Mr Sullivan explained that an officer of the Forestry Department visited Australia in 1927 to study the developments of pulping there, and) as a result quantities of timber were ' shipped to North America for testing; These tests demonstrated the of manufacturing a wide range of satisfactory papers, including kraft and newsprint, from New materials. It was apparent that until the resources were considerably expanded there would not be enough pulp wood available to maintain an economicalsized mill in operation. It was only recently that the forests had reached the required growth. The State Forests had 400 000 acres, compared with Forest Products' 170,000. Mr Sulilvan said that at the moment Cabinet had an open mind on the issue and would make its decision on the facts revealed by the survey that had been made, unmoved by the company's propaganda, and with the sole object of doing what, in its judgment, would serve the best interests of the nation.