Far North Big Business

Northern Advocate, 26 September 1946, Page 7

Far North Big Business

from £5 to £8 per ton. In 1845, 1361 tons was shipped, and by ,1853 the 2000-ton mark had been reached, Brown and Campbell having secured an American market at £l4 per ton. Early shipments, after, an experiment in marine glue processing, were used for high-grade varnish and for linoleum and these are still the product’s main purposes. Firth states that the first exports were of large pieces of gum picked up by the Maoris. Pakehas of early days looked disparagingly upon gum-dig-ging as an occupation, but later themselves took advantage of the rich profits to be secured. Earliest diggings were at Riverhead, near Auckland. The year 1891 saw' the influx of the first Yugoslavs from Dalmatia and other adjacent provinces pf what was then Austria. These diggers were engaged on big private holdings and leaseholds in the Northern Wairoa district. The Dalmatian diggers were badly exploited and. in spite of the huge profits then being made, saw little of their real earnings. Nevertheless, by 1893 the influx of these men,, who today are rightly regarded as the foundation and backbone of the industry, was the cause of such concern to Brit-ish-born diggers that a measure of Government control became necessary. ‘ From this date originated the present set-up, represented by the Kauri Gum Control Board, Crown land reservations and the licence systems. This organisation is vested in the Commissioner of Crown Lands operating through the district offices of the Land and Survey Department, although Mr J. Subritzky, of Kaitaia. is senior supervisor of the industry for the Labour Department, and has often been called upon, in the light of his lifetime experience, to assess the gumbearing values of numerous Far Northern fields. SPURT LAST YEAR For the year ended March 31 last, 1138 tons of gum valued at £94,819 was exported. Mainly due to certain areas being washable owing to drought conditions, the quantity of gum was increased. The annual report on the kauri gum industry presented to Parliament said local demand for first quality gum for varnish and match manufacture was strong, chiefly owing to import restrictions and shortages of substitutes. Kauri gum as New Zealand knows it is the fossilised resin of the kauri tree, a unique species of pine growing only in the northern latitudes of the Dominion, and much of that which has been dug is regarded as being millions of years old. On one of the recognised gumfields has kauri grown within the memory of man, the recognised gumlands of Northland being in their natural, state covered with stunted scrub and shallow soil overlying the hard sandstone pan, which some authorities maintain has been a by-product of the kauri’s own growth, and others maintain was caused by an ages-old sea invasion. A prehistoric earthquake theory is supported by the fact that many Far

Northern fields are located in deep peat swamps and that kauri gum has been traced at depths of down to 90ft at Waipapakauri during well-boring operations. , Big gum has also been dug on the foreshore of Houhora Harbour several feet below the sand surface, supporting the contention that a_deep-seated seam from a primaeval forest runs under the Far Northern Peninsula.

(TO BE CONCLUDED SATURDAY)