Bond-selling Companies’ Coffee
p. 54 · Read in the full issue
Plantations in New Guinea
PLANTING work is proceeding steadily in the Keravat district, near the Experimental Station, New Britain, T.N.G., by Amalgamated Coffee Plantations Ltd. —which is a bond-selling concern established some five or six years ago. The company have 190 native labourers at work, and about 600 acres have been planted. Some coffee already is being produced— although the coffee plants do not come into bearing until they have been planted for two or three years. This company is still selling bonds in Australia and elsewhere. Each bond represents one acre of coffee.
Another large plantation, which is being conducted on similar lines, is established at Rugen Harbour, on the south coast of New Britain; and here, also, the planting work appears to have been carried out satisfactorily and successfully, and the coffee looks well.
We should be glad to receive opinions concerning the economic value of these plantations from any competent, independent planter in New Guinea. Everyone with the interests of New Guinea at heart hopes to see the coffee industry successfully established there, and it would be interesting to know whether that is likely to be achieved by these bond- selling companies—which, owing to the character of their organization, are frequently subjected to criticism.