Whaling In 1932

Effect On Copra

IN a circular to members of the Fiji Coconut Planters’ Union Ltd., on 21st September, Messrs. Brown and Joske Ltd. said: The owners of the Norwegian whal ing fleets have not much further time left in which to despatch their fleets from Norway, if they are to arrive in the waters of the Antarctic in time for the coming whaling season. Roughly speaking this extends from November, 1931, to April, 1932, so that one may say that unless the whalers leave Norway by the end of October they will be too late for this season. We should judge that the last thing Uni lever want is a further deluge of whale oil, so that if possible copra and other oil seeds are likely to be held round about their present prices, at which vegetable oils can be said to be below the cost of production of whale oil. If, therefore, it were purely a question of supply and demand one could expect a change for the better if the whaling fleet remained at an chor in Norway. There are, however, so many other economic factors affecting all commodity prices that it is impossible to forecast whether any improvement will be seen early in 1932.

Mr. E. H. Gregson, of the New Guinea permanent police, who has been stationed on the New Guinea goldfields, arrived in Sydney at the end of September, on three months’ leave.