KAURI-GUM : WRONGFUL APPLICATION OF THE TERM TO NEW CALEDONIAN GUM.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume II, Issue 2, 15 February 1911, Page 72

KAURI-GUM : WRONGFUL APPLICATION OF THE TERM TO NEW CALEDONIAN GUM.

At the instance of the Minister of . Agriculture and of Industries and. Commerce the High Commissioner .'has made representations to the British Board of Trade with.regard to'the official use of the word kauri when describing gum produced in New Caledonia 4 • It is pointed out to the Board that the word “ kauri ” is the Maori name of the tree, and is the name under which the New Zealand product is known on the markets of the world. It is understood that, though obtained from a tree of the same genus, the New Caledonia gum is different from, and inferior to the New Zealand kaurigum, which is peculiar to this country, there being'no trees of the same species (Agathis australis) found in other countries. The application of the term “ kauri ” to this foreign gum is therefore likely to injure the New Zealand article, and it is desired that in British official publications the Dominion should have the exclusive right to the name “ kauri.” It is suggested that, the other article could be designated “ New Caledonian gum.”

In acknowledging the receipt of the communication the Board of Trade (Commercial Department) states that a copy thereof has been forwarded to the Foreign Office, with, the request that attention , may be drawn in the proper quarter to the desirability of avoiding the use of such a description in future reports.