Papua
p. 56 · Read in the full issue
Kurukuru Grass For
Paper Pulp
Three Large Areas Reserved in Papua
From Our Own Correspondent.
Pt. Moresby, Sept. 27.
AN amendment to the Sago Ordinances was passed in July this year in the Legislative Council, providing that vari ous plants other than sago, including kurukuru grass, be brought under the enactment. On September 18, proclama tions in the Government Gazette granted exclusive rights to apply for licenses to cut kurukuru over three large areas in the Territory.
The first applicant was the Common wealth Hemp Corporation, to whom an area of approximately 1710 square miles on the coast of the Western Division, west of Daru, was granted. The second and third grants were made to Mr. W.
D. Mason —one of 1,-380 square miles, situated in the Central Division, between Port Moresby and Cape Possession, and the other of 950 square miles in the Northern Division, in the vicinity of Oro Bay.
Regulations made under the Sago Or dinance in regard to these licenses pro vide for an annual rental of £1 per square mile, and for the erection within two years, in respect of each license, of a factory or factories capable of producing at the rate of at least 100 tons of manufactured pulp per week.
This last condition may be waived by the Lieutenant-Governor should the licensee export the whole of the grass in its natural state.