Life Of Bulolo

Timber May Have Some Effect

THE chairman of Bulolo Gold Dredging Ltd., Mr. C. A. Banks, at the recent annual meeting in Vancouver, was frank about the probable life of the BGD enterprise in New Guinea.

He said the company may close down Dredges 3 and 6 earlier than expected, un less digging conditions improve.

The estimated life of dredges Nos. 2, 3,4, 6 and 8 was between two and three years from May 31, 1950.

The deep-digging dredges Nos. 5 and 7 had a life of about 13 years and 11 years respectively.

Editorial Note.— The only thing new about this is that the life of the goldfield is being shortened somewhat by the ever-increasing costs of operation, while the value of gold remains fixed. This means that tested country, previously classified as payable, now has no profit margin.

BGD, however, expects to play a large part in the exploitation of the great pine forests of the Bulolo area, which probably will provide enough timber for opera tions extending over 10 or 20 years, A joint enterprise, in which both BGD and the Australian Government will be in terested, is being put into shape.

Suva’s telephone exchange has become so overloaded that, except in cases of ex treme urgency, no further connections will be made until the new automatic telephone exchange is opened in two years, at the earliest.