RUBBER FROM PAPUA
VALUABLE CONTRIBUTION TO AUSTRALIA Sydney, Jan. 5. The appointment of a Director of Production armed with authority to increase the output of rubber and copra in Papua is urged by Captain A. S. Fitch, managing director of five large Papuan rubber plantations. He says:— “Despite the acute world shortage there are thousands of pounds of rubber lying idle in Papua. Unless immediate steps are taken to clear away cover crops and secondary growth the trees will be ruined.” Before the Japanese invasion Papua produced 1600 tons of rubber in a year, said Captain Fitch. This was scarcely a tenth of Australia’s annual requirements, but in the next three years the crop might be doubled. All this production would be lost if drastic action was not taken immediately to save the crops from waste and destruction. Since April all plantations and businesses in Papua had been administered by the Army, but most owners and planters had been compulsorily evacuated to the mainland. Plantations formerly employing hundreds of natives were without labour, which should be restored to them if Australia was to receive Papua’s valuable contribution to its vital rubber needs.
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Bibliographic details
Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 4, 6 January 1943, Page 3
Word Count
192RUBBER FROM PAPUA Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 4, 6 January 1943, Page 3
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