KAURI GUM INDUSTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19742, 15 September 1927, Page 14

KAURI GUM INDUSTRY.

DECREASE IN THE EXPORTS.

LESS DEMAND IN AMERICA.

MARKET POSITION UNCHANGED.

[B2 TELEGRAPH. —SPECIAL REPORTER.] WELLINGTON. Wednesday Kauri gum exported from New Zealand during the year ended March 31 last totalled 4529 tons, of a' total value of £301,335, says the annual report of the Kauri Gum Control Board, which was presented to the House to-day. In the previous year the export was 5495 tons, valued at £414,420. The United King dom and the United States of America were again the Dominion's best customers for the gum last year, the former taking 2036 tons and the latter 1863 tons. The report comments that a very un usual feature of the year's export was the fact that both the tonnage and the value of the gum exported to the United Kingdom exceeded the tonnage and value of the gum sent to the United States. A great deal of the Kauri gum exported to the United Kingdom is re-exported to the Continent of Europe, and there appfears to be little doubt that the good showing made iri the export to the United King dom is at least in part due to the fact that the new cellulose lacquers are not so freely used in Europe as in the United States. Use of New Process, It would appear as if lacquers have permanently displaced varnishes to a very great extent in the motor-car industry in the United States and that they have also made at least some headway in another form in the furniture trade. Whether the use of lacquers in the United Kingdom and on the Continent of Europe will have the same effect on the kauri gum trade as it . has had in the United States remains to be seen. It is possible that a new process may enable the fossil kauri gum to com 9 into general use in the lacquer industry. If so, the result would probably be that very large quantities of kauri gum would be required, and that the cellulose lacquers, instead of diminishing the demand, may actually increase it and provide an outlet at payable prices for a large proportion of the kauri gum recovered. Some four or five years ago a chemist commenced an investigation of the kauri gum-bearing swamps and materials found therein. After a considerable amount of research he concentrated his work on the actual kauri gum itself, with the result that he has discovered a solvent by the use of which the resin can be recovered in block form free from all impurities. It has, of course, always been known that the pure resin could be recovered by the use of a solvent, but the difficulty was that all known solvents were too dear to use on a com- | mercial scale with any hope of financial

success Exports From Auckland. He has now, however, produced a process wheruby the use of a new solvent can be carried on commercially with every promise of success. Samples of resin produced by this process have been introduced to the varnish trade and the indications are that there is a ready market for this new process if it can be sold at prices which will meet the manufacturers views. Commenting on- market conditions, the report says there was little or no change for the better during the year from the slump ruling m the previous year. It has again been found that the quantity of kauri gun exported from the city of Auckland has' exceeded the quantity received there from the gum-producing districts. This year the excess of the quan tity exported over that received amounted to more than 60C tons, and it is expected the quantity received al Auckland during the current* year will not be much greater than that of last year, even al though a fairly good demand should develop during the year. Gradings of all kinds, with the excep tion of good range grades, have gone off fairly well Range gradings have been in poor demand, and as these are recov ered mostly by men who specialise in dig ging range gum and who are located in settled districts and can obtain other em ployment, the production has fallen off very considerably. It would require a very firm demand at better prices to stimulate any appreciable increase in the production of range gradings. Production Problems. The chief difficulty in the way of production on a large scale has been the inability to obtain labour-saving machinery, especially in the direction of enabling the companies to deliver gum bearing material into the washing machines at a cheaper rate than could be done by small parties of diggers working on their own account, and in competition with these larger concerns. This was largely ac counted for by the presence of consider able deposits of buried timber in most gum swamps. During the past year one company operating at Sweetwater, near Awanui. has made what appears to be the best attempt so far at large scale production Those connected with the operations have been carrying on investigations m regard to the digging and handling of gum bearing soil for some considerable time, and a good dea' of capital has heen ex pended in bringing the company's plant to its present state of efficiency. The process is a continuous one. the soil being earned on tram lines to the plant, where it is dumped into hoppers, and from that point jiravitv is applied and the material is washed, 'freed from impurities, dried and graded as it passes through the vari- | ous stages.