Agricultural Experts ii

New Guinea Grass As Substitute for Jut[?]

IF expert advice has got anythin! to it, some new agricultura industry should soon emerge ii New Guinea.

The F-NG Territory has had i procession of various experts ii recent months and two more wen reported on their way in December One was a Mr. W. Poggendorff s rice expert of the NSW Depart ment of Agriculture; and the othe was a Mr. J. M. Dempsey, of Pain Beach, Florida, USA, an expert 01 the manufacture of fibre from lonj grasses.

The rice expert will investigate upland areas in P-NG to ascertair their suitability for rice production The American will take a look a NG’s vast areas of kunai grasslands It is said that grass fibre is as goo< or better than jute as it is not s< susceptible to mould, can be dye< more rapidly, and that in Cuba the; have planted tens of thousand of acres of long grasses.

It has been announced that 1(H acres of kenaf has been sown nea: Port Moresby in addition to thi original experimental plots of thi fibre producing tree or shrub. Mr R. A. Colyer of Colyer Watson Pty, Ltd., is interested in the kenaf ex periment. It was due largely to hi efforts that kenaf was introduce< to Papua from the United States.

Whether these jute substitutes canna, kenaf and now grass—wil survive in competition with jute should it ever become freel; available again, remains to be seen This is not the first time tha there has been interest in Papua New Guinea’s extensive areas o: kunai grass. A paper-making company held leases on grass land; in Papua for years—and possibl; still does. It was said that kuna would make first grade paper. How ever, there has been no mention o this prospective industry since be fore the war—although there ha: been a desperate world shortage o: all varieties of paper in recent year; and apparently very little pros pect of overcoming the lag.

Lady Ragg, of Suva, Fiji, aftei several months of severe illness culminating in another spell in St Vincents Hospital, Sydney, is nov convalescent and making an ex cellent recovery. Sir Hugh Ragg joined her in Manly just before Christmas; and a happy familj party has been formed by the arrival of her daughter, with son-in law Tom French and a bevy oi bright children. Sir Hugh and Ladj Ragg probably will return to Fiji in April.