Papuan Tobacco

Growers of Good Leaf Looking Towards Australian Market.

From Our Own Correspondent.

Experiments in tobacco-growing are being made in Papua by Koitaki Para Rubber Estates Ltd., at Koltakinumu, in the hills some 30 miles behind Port Moresby, under the management of Mr. T. L. Sefton.

Early in the year an area of two acres was selected in open grass and forest land at an elevation of 1,500 ft. and planted up with Warne and Hickory Pryor varieties of seed, with very promising results.

Expert advice on curing was sought from North Queensland, from Mr. L. A.

Jenkinson, a well-known authority on tobacco culture. He arrived in Papua in September to cure the leaf grown and make a general report on the venture. He spent six weeks in the Territory, and was satisfied that the grown leaf showed good colour, quality and texture, and that the climatic con ditions of the district were very suit able for the production of the best bright quality leaf. He left for Cairns on October 18, taking with him three cases of samples, which he is submit ting to the manufacturers to determine the aroma and the smoking qualities of the leaf. Before leaving he recom mended further experiments with several varieties of seed on varied

soils, to discover which variety is most suitable to the district. These experi ments are being carried out.

This satisfactory report is very en couraging. It holds out the possibility of establishing a small tobacco in dustry in Papua, just at a period when the Territory so urgently needs new industries.

But present market conditions in Australia hold out little promise for the encouragement of the Papuan industry.

For in Australia the duty to-day on unstripped leaf is 3/- a lb., and Papua would have to stand up to this tariff.

Australia’s requirements are about 20,000,000 lbs. of leaf a year, of which (in 1932) approximately 11,000,000 lbs. of Australian-grown leaf were pur chased by the manufacturers, under an agreement with the Commonwealth Government. This year, however (1933) there was no agreement, and press reports state that a large per centage of Australian leaf is being re jected by manufacturers, owing to the leaf being unsuitable for present mar ket requirements.

The difference between the purchased Australian leaf and 20,000,000 lbs. is made up principally by imported Ame rican grown leaf, which the manufac turers find necessary for blending pur poses. The climatic conditions of cer tain parts of Papua very closely re semble those of the American States where the higher grade leaf is pro duced, and which is supplied to the Australian market.

If Papua can produce a leaf equal in quality, aroma and smoking qualities to the American, she could, if given the opportunity, supply some of the needs of the Australian manufacturers by re placing a quantity now imported from America.

Papua is an Australian Territory, subsidised by the Commonwealth Gov ernment. If the Commonwealth would grant to Papua a preference tariff on Papuan-grown leaf over imported foreign leaf, it would open up the pos sibility of establishing a new industry in the Territory. There could be no possible objection to Papuan-grown leaf entering the Australian market.

The Australian tobacco industry would not suffer, as leaf grown in Papua would merely displace an equal quan tity of the American imported product.

Nearly £1,000,000 is sent out of Aus tralia each year to purchase tobacco leaf abroad.