N.G. Plantations.

Mr. Murray Gains Useful Informa tion in Other Countries.

From Our Own Correspondent

Rabaul, June 30.

THE Director of Agriculture, Mr.

George Murray, spent long leave recently in visiting, at his own ex pense, other Pacific Islands, the West Indies, Central and South America, the United States, Britain, various Con tinental countries, Egypt, Ceylon, Malaya, and the Dutch East Indies.

He closely investigated the conditions of tropical agriculture in every one of these many countries, and has re turned, in consequence, with a mass of information of much value to primary producers in this Territory.

Coffee Planting.

The possibility of large scale coffee production in New Guinea, under present world economic conditions, was investigated by Mr. Murray, during his visit to London. The ques tion was discussed at some length with one of the world’s recognised author ities, who said that there was abso lutely no market for poor quality coffee, which is a drug on the market, as can be seen by recent and present market quotations. Growers, however, need not be afraid of going in for coffee production, provided they produce quality coffee, for which there is always a good demand at remunerative prices.

Quite apart, however, from the over seas market, growers in New Guinea Territory have a reasonably large potential market for their output in Australia.

Ceylon Production.

The Director of Agriculture in Ceylon and his staff rendered every assistance in their power, and Mr.

Murray secured much useful informa tion.

Kunai Grass, or Illuk, as it is known in Ceylon, is indigenous in that country. But plantations have received such continuous care for scores of years that the weed is not the curse it is in New Guinea.

The old Ceylon practice of grazing cattle on limited areas still prevails on many estates, but quite a number of properties are now growing cover plants, as in Malaya and in the East Indies.

High Quality Copra.

As is well known, Ceylon produces copra of high quality, but expensive driers are not used for its prepar ation. The design of the average drier is very like that of the ordinary smoke drier, as used in this Territory, but it is built of substantial material—brick or cement walls, with sufficient air holes for ventilation.

The only fuel used is coconut shells, which must be bone dry, consequently there is no smoke.

In the cutting of copra generally, the method followed is to cut the half shell and often, when dry, into quarters, in the manner which the Melanesia Com

pany used to do on their plantations, and not to cut into “fingers”, as is now done in New Guinea. The latter method encourages the development of free fatty acids, which, in addition to meaning a lower value for the copra, makes extra labour.

Coir Fibre.

As the manufacture of coir fibre has been receiving the attention of planters in New Guinea, Mr. Murray made some investigations in Ceylon in this respect.

He formed the opinion that this is purely and primarily a native industry, and one of the most intelligent and progressive planters in Ceylon informed him that the husks were of greater value as manure on his plantation than they would be if he sold them to a mill for manufacture into coir fibre.

At one factory which Mr. Murrav inspected, 40,000 husks were handled daily, and the nett profit was only £300 per annum, and the highest paid labourer only cost 6sd. per day, and fed himself.

Although the labourers in Ceylon are much more intelligent and efficient than most of our natives, the planter and his assistants, like their brothers in the East generally, give constant supervision to the work, and that, with their readiness to try new methods, is why they are able to keep down costs.

In Malaya.

At Kuala Lumpur, capital of the Federated Malay States, Mr. Murray inspected the Serang Government Ex perimental Station and the Carey Island Estate. This station has a very fine dairy herd of Fresian cattle, crossed with Zebu, similar to the cross in Trinidad, and pasteurised milk is sold in sealed bottles to the public in Kuala Lumpur—a great blessing in a tropical country.

From this visit to Malaya, Mr.

Murray learned that the King coconut does not thrive on ideal coconut land, but does much better on a clay soil with a high water table.

A visit was made to investigate the preparation and manufacture of coir fibre at the Pekalongan Prison, in Java. The machinery used was of Eng lish manufacture, and seven machines, each requiring a 30 h.p. engine, manu factured by Larmuth Bullmer & Co., were used.

A quantity of fibre was also pre pared by hand labour, one prisoner producing about two kilogrammes per day of 10 hours’ work. Supervision was good, discipline strict, and prisoners had to work hard.