Desiccated Coconut

London Interests Buy In At Samarai

From Our Own Correspondent.

Pt. Moresby, Oct. 4.

ANEW company was registered in Port Moresby in August as Vavas seur’s Ahioma Ltd., with a nominal capi tal of £15,000, in shares of £1 each, to take over the desiccated coconut factory owned by Ahioma Desiccating Co. Ltd. at Ahioma, near Samarai. The first direc tors are Messrs. C. E. Aumuller and W.

H. Wright (Samarai), R. D. Bertie (Port Moresby), and Percy Vavasseur Appleby and G. R. H. Buxton (London). It is provided that so long as Vavasseur and Co. Ltd., of London, hold more than half of the issued capital, they shall have the sole right of appointing and removing the directors of the company.

The manufacture of desiccated coconut became an established industry in 1926, as the result of special encouragement given by the Australian tariff. Three companies erected plants and commenced operations—namely, Commonwealth Copra Company, of Milne Bay (Gili Gili); Coco nut Products Ltd., at Aroa, in Redscar Bay (west of Port Moresby); and Ahioma Desiccating Co. Ltd., at Ahioma, near Samarai.

The export of desiccated coconut jumped from 40 to 108 tons in 1927-28 to 1,467 tons in 1930-31, valued at £79,264.

Since then, the export has shown a de crease, owing to the manufacturers being compelled, with the New Guinea manu facturers, to restrict their output in order not to flood their only market, Australia.

The export in 1933-34 was 1,274 tons, valued at £48,000.