KAURI GUM INDUSTRY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3148, 15 July 1914, Page 13

KAURI GUM INDUSTRY.

REVIVAL IN NORTHERN WAIROA. AUCKLAND, July 10. The Dargaville correspondent of the Herald says that with the price of kauri gum ranging up to £l9O per ton, the industry in the Northern Wairoa district has again assumed a phase of activity. Settlers in many localities are receiving as much as £1 oer week per man for the right to dig over their properties, and some diggers are earning as much as £5 per week, but the average winnings approximate £2. The mild winter, combined with the high market rates, has enticed largo numbers of Maoris to re-engage in the industry, and numerous settlers who possess gum territory are also exploiting their holdings. Grassed areas ere being prospected, and appearances indicate that many years must elapse before all the gum is exhausted. Blocks of land which have been subdivided for settlement are now being withdrawn from sale, and are being reserved for gumfields with the ultimate object, when the gum is exhausted, cf disposal for fruit farms. One area of 15,000 acres which a few months ago was on the market for £3 10s per acre —part of the -wellknown flaxmill lease—has been purchased for <rum purposes, and there is considerable inquiry for other large gum areas. On what were considered worked-out fields newlyarrived diggers are ablo to make satisfactory earnings in winning discarded small pieces of gum, which in the old days had no market value, and the wide swamp territories arc now being prospected in a systematic manner by parties of Croatians with implements ipeoially constructed for the work. The optimists engaged in the trade predict a long, if perhaps irregular, future for the industry.