Substitutes For
p. 68 · Read in the full issue
Soap?
A Development of Interest
IF there is anything in the persistent rumours that a new technique for pro ducing soap (or a substitute for soap l is now being employed in Britain, the world demand for vegetable oils may be affected.
According to some observers, the pre sent world demand for copra will continue for one or two decades, because coconut oil is primarily a foodstuff. But a great part of the world’s demand is based also on soap-making; and if soapmakers can find a completely new substitute, the de mand must be affected.
A well-informed London business man, writing to the “PIM,” on March 12, said this: “I am afraid these new deturgents, which are being synthetised by the petroleum companies, etc., are going to shock the soap world very heavily. That is why Lever Bros, are now working in close touch with the ICI and the petro leum companies. I have used some of the substances, such as Shell Mex’s “Tee pol,” and others, and soap is nowhere in the picture.”
Mrs. E. Good arrived recently in Rabaul, New Guinea, from Sydney. She will visit her property, Kessa Plantation, Small Buka. She is one of the many New Guinea war-widows who are trying to carry-on despite existing difficulties — her husband was murdered by the Japs on Buka early in 1942.