Relief For N. G.
p. 43 · Read in the full issue
Planters
Big Firms May Remit 6 Months' Interest
A DECISION of much importance to planters in the Mandated Territory of New Guinea is announced, as we go to press, by Messrs. Burns, Philp & Co., Ltd., and Messrs. W. R. Carpenter & Co., Ltd.
It is as follows: Should copra remain at an average price of £10 per ton, or less, for the six months ended March 31 next the two companies will credit the accounts of their clients in the Mandated Territory with an amount equal to the amount charged for interest during that period of six months. This decision—assuming that copra remains at a low price—is equivaleht to a gift of at least £20,000 to the clients of the two companies referred to.
The decision was taken by the two com panies as a gesture of goodwill to the holders of New Guinea plantations who are mostly soldier-settlers and who have been trying to pay off the cost of the Expropriated plantations on which they were placed. It means that, taken in conjunction with a Moratorium which has been allowed by the Australian Govern ment, occupiers of the plantations will be living practically free of rent and interest charges, as well as of capital charges, dur ing the period of the copra slump.