PAPUAN POSSIBILITIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2915, 26 January 1910, Page 18

PAPUAN POSSIBILITIES.

PLANTATION DEVELOPMENTS. FINE OPENING FOP CAPITAL. j A Dunedin resident who lately paid a ■ visit to Papua was able yesterday to ae- | cord a Daily Times representative an in- j tercsting interview, in the course of which i he gave much information as to the man- J ner in which_ the development of this largo and important adjunct of the Common- j wealth is being proceeded with. ' The gentleman indicated visited Papua i with the special object of inquiring into . the possibilities of satisfactory investments j being- made in connection with rubber and' ■ hemp plantations. He comes back forti- i tied in the belief that " there are splendid opportunities there " in spite of the per- I 6 is tent attentions of the mosquitoes. \ As a guarantee of his faith in the new ] land of promise, he mentioned that he had acquired 2000 acres of land, half suitable I for rubber-growing, and half adapted for , a hemp plantation. To develop and utilise £hese oiDenings it is possible that a company will be formed. CONDITIONS OF TENURE. The Commonwealth is using every effort to promote settlement in Papua. Till recently the land was granted free on payment of a deposit of £5 per 1000 acres for 10 years, after which a rental charge was to be made. The maximum rental that could be claimed upon the land is j fixed at 6d per acre, but of course there will be gradations uniformly assessed up to this sum. Just recently payment of a small survey fee has been added. The conditions attaching to the taking up of areas provide that one-fifth must be brought under cultivation within the first five years, ! two years being allowed for the selector to commence operations. No limit is imposed as to the amount of land that can be taken up, and, as a matter of fact, cable news has just recently been published of one syndicate having taken up 150,000 acres of land, for rubber, hemp, and cottongrowing. This same syndicate has also J taken up some_ mineral areas ana' has secured the option of building a railway from Port Moresby to Sapphire Creek, a. distance of some 18 miles. The land suited for hemp-growing is included in a stretch of : land which extends some 60 miles on either side of Port Moresby, and inland for about five miles. This is called the dry a>rea, for in it there is experienced practically nine months of dry weather, with a wet season of some three months. The major portion of this ground is already taken up or tentatively held by residsnts with the intention of satisfactorily disposing of the rights to syndicates, etc. > The rubber-growing country is, of course, ' very much more extensive, being the bush- I clad Hinterland, but already very large I areas have been selected, especially in the more convenient places. The interior will ; be opened up as the pressure necessitates ; that course. j PROSPECTS FOR HEMP. j The Dunedin resident was fortunate in ! encountering Major Boyd, practically th© world's authority on hemp. This gentle- j man is in the service of the Queensland Agricultural Department, ooaitro'.»lng its Agricultural Journal, and has paid several visits to Papua, particularly in relation to the selection of land for the large English syndicate which eventually took up 150,000 acres. Major Boyd has travelled in all the hemp-growing countries of the world, and his testimony was that he could Iwdly , believe his eyes when ha raw the splendid quality of hemp grown in Papua. In his opinion it w;-s the best he had ever seen. ; This statement is amply born out by facts. Already there are five plantations occupied with hemp-growing. One is so far advanced as to be able to market its product, and ever since it placed its crop on the market it has secured the top price. I The hemp grown is the Sisal hemp, and the rate at which it thrives is fully shown by the fact that it arrives at maturity in the space of two years and a-h?if, as against four years in Queensland. And then" it is a better quality. To develop 1000 acres of hemp in one season would require a capital . expenditure of £16,003, but if half were . planted in succeeding years the cost could be reduced to between £6OOO and £7OOO per 500 acres. Even with this expenditure the , very rapid yield makes the growth a very , profitable one. A peculiarity about the' hemp is that it thrives bsefc on the very ! poorest land obtainable. This is explained by its being a parasite and drawing most j of its sustenance from the atmosphere. 'THE RUBBER PLANTATIONS. On© of the most successful of these is the Kamcsia Estate, belonging to Sir Rupert Clarke, and* on this the visitor was enabled to spend a fortnight investigating j the work generally. Some 500 acres are at • present under rubber and 100 acres under hemp, but the areas or both are about to be increased. This land carries 120 rubber

trees to the acre, and these have been growing for about two years and a-half, and are already upwards of 30ffc high. The plantation will bs 5 M bearing in less than four years' time, : t taking six years for rubber trees to reach sufficient maturity. To bring rubber to the remunerative stage requires an expenditure of some £25 pea- acre. On present prices rubber represents a very profitable line, but those engaged m the industry regard the present figures as fictitious, beiing due to cornering operations. Even, however, when the inevitable fall in price comes, should it fall to 3s per pound from its present figure of 9s 9d, there will still remain to the planters a handsome margin of profit. Already one plantation has paid a dividend of 100 per cent. The rubber land is heavily timbered and enjoys the necessary good rainfall for this crop. The clearing of the land is not very expensive, for the labour of the natives is very cheap, it only taking lOd per day to feed, clothe, and pay him. Again, the supply of labour is unlimited. To encourage settlement the Government has established experimental stations, and intending planters oan obtain from these either seeds or young plants to commence operations with. In fact, the whole industry is now altogether beyond the early stages, and is becoming firmly and definitely established as a remunerative occupation. PLACE AND PEOPLE. • I liked the climate well enough," remarked the informant in response to a query, " save for the mosquitoes. These were' a little troublesome, but bevond that the climate was fairly satisfactory. The natives at the time of my visit were suffering somewhat from dysentery, but the couple of hundred white men there seemed to be healthy enough. I met a couple of New Zealamders who were making a game struggle, but were slightly handicapped in the meantime from want of capital. In a few years' time, however, they will be in scad positions. In regard to the natives, they seem very much like the Maoris, but are differently treated by the Government, in that they" are not allowed either drink or firearms, and are controlled by an efficient native constabulary. All round the Port Moresby district the natives arc very quiet, and you can walk amongst them in perfect safety. On Sir Rupert Clarke's estate —where, by the way, there are 48G natives and six white men —there are 100 natives from the Fly River district. These are cannibals in their native state, and on the plantation are kept separated from the 'rest of the workers. So far, the steamer communication held with the place is a regular live-weekly service from Sydney and a monthly vis-it by a, Dutch packet en route from Melbourne to Java. li Yes." he concluded finally, "I believe thoroughly in the place. Things are bound to go ahead Just before I came away a man was going there to start the first paper!"