KAURI GUM CONTROL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19779, 28 October 1927, Page 8

KAURI GUM CONTROL.

ACTIVITIES OF THE BOARD. [THE QUESTION OF BY-PRODUCTS. A meeting of the Kauri Gum Control Board was held yesterday, Mr. M. H. iWynvard presiding. A lengthy report was received from the Department of Industries and Commerce concerning the possibility of obtaining oil and resin from kauri forest swamps. It was pointed out this process was being worked successfully in Georgia, United States, where whole forests were being exploited for by-products. The question is to be investigated fully by the board. Mr. C. Davidson reported upon an experiment in producing charcoal and oil from kauri swamp timber carried out by Mr. C. Hansen, of Te Kopuru, and produced samples of both products. It was decided to refer the report and samples to the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research for an opinion, with a yiew to securing an estimated value of the products The Customs Department's monthly return showed that 417 tons of gum, of a total value of £22,616, were exported during September. Of this amount 192 tons were exported to the United Kingdom and 167 tons to the United States. The chairman remarked upon the fact that both the tonnage and value of gum exported to England were greater than that sent to the United States. Consent was given to the lifting of the reservation over a kauri gum reserve of 103 acres at Opae, near Waiharara, as the result of a report by Mr. E. McDougall. The attention of the commissioner of Crown lands is to be drawn to the danger of an overflow from Lake Waiparera. A ~ number of applications for advances pgainst consignments of gum was dealt with. Numerous letters were also received advising shipments of gum to the board for sale. Applications are to be called for an assistant storeman in view of the board's increasing business.