On The P-NG Scrap-Heap

[?] A Good Idea, But—

[?]af Joins Other "Promising" Indudtries On The P-NG Scrap-Heap

The kenaf industry, which seemed, two years ago, to have right future in Papua-New Guinea, is doomed unless the

amonwealth Government provides assistance.

was the opinion given to A by Mr. R. A. Colyer (who ; primarily responsible for cing kenaf to P-NG), shortly he left for the Far East, nd UK on August 25. He iat it would be regrettable industry were allowed to ut failure of the latest crop to have spelled the doom of lustry in P-NG. viewing latest developments, dyer said that it was un ,te that the seed provided by ;partment of Agriculture at [oresby over the last two or rears had such a low germ point that the ensuing crop , provide the opportunity for decorticating machine to get )erational efficiency, machine was imported by , Estates Ltd., the private ly formed to promote the industry, after the company anted 15,000 acres of land at \y, Papua, in 1953. ; machine works at its best ns from a properly planted nd seed germination of 80 at.,” Mr. Colyer said. stems need to be thin, nt, and at a certain stage of ty for separating the fibre ae stem. Because of this and ar germination there was no » sell. e responsibility originally aken by me was to prove that could be grown in Papua 3-uinea which, in case of ncy, would make a suitable ack. 3 job was said to have been ery thoroughly in the way it arried from point to point, it stage we were using the nanual decorticators. operations proved that kenaf rell in the Territory, that the f dry fibre per acre was most ctory, and so also were the lacks manufactured from the :e my early work there has quite some development in overseas. New disease-resist rpes have been propagated, a longer growing season. d a process has been evolved terica which does away with corticator. This is an in-line ;al separation process, ed kenaf is fed into the ting operation, and the fibre

comes out at the other end com pletely separated from the bark.”

Mr. Colyer said he considered kenaf provided an ideal opportunity for a village industry,

editorial Note

A ND apparently, is the end \ ’ 01 Kenai - Just one of th 9 se industries that politicians on their galloping visits

b°y mafe "thfflSrt

c™penfn the lnt|-

duced to Papua at a time when the price of J ute and hence Australia s wheat bags and wool-packs had reached fantastic levels, The basic cause of this had been the partition of British India, which left India with the machinery for weaving jute and Pakistan with the facilities for growing it, and little co-operation between the two newly created and separate States, This, added to general post-war inflation, made all jute materials

scarce and expensive and the future uncertain.

It was therefore regarded as logical, far-sighted and of national importance when private enterprise was instrumental in introducing into the Territory of Papua and New Guinea a crop that could, if de veloped on a large scale, make Aus tralia independent of overseas sources for the containers in which to ship away her vital exports.

But, as was foreseen, by the time that the several seasons of experi mental work had been concluded in Papua-New Guinea, the price of jute had come down and the supply to increase: It was unlikely that

akistan or India would reactive when one of their export markets was ed. with jute again within ile price limits, Authority to have decided that that that was desired of kenaf.

Department of Agriculture told a PIM representative ee years ago: “Kenaf has erved its purpose—the price has come down.”

Australian Government—as ance that the primary prof the Commonwealth would tushranged again for woold wheat bags and to ensure ;y of supply in the event of ild have fostered the ndustry by subsidy or other out it quite obviously has that it will not. r ears ago, PIM asked the of Territories whether the idustry was to be afforded n. The Minister replied promoters had not asked and that if they desired was a “well-defined proinvolved”—i.e., approach the Tariff Board. Further, project had already been considerably by the local epartment of Agriculture. )f course, quite outside the of the Department of

Territories to decide on anything of this sort, and it is obviously no part of Australia’s trade strategy to foster Papuan kenaf at the expense of India and Pakistan jute when Aus tralia in her turn wishes to sell large quantities of her wheat and other produce to those countries.

The arguments pro and contra protection or free trade of this sort can be interminable, and most Territorians have simply accepted the fact that, in spite of bright beginnings, kenaf is one of those in dustries crushed out of existence between the nether and the upper mill-stone of what Australian trade experts consider expedient.

Nonetheless, they reserve to them selves the privilege of cynicism: The perambulating politician who is in cautious enough to “see Papua-New Guinea as Australia’s tropical garden” is regarded as a figure of fun and no prophet in the Terri tory.

P-NG may be Australia’s special international responsibility—but one needs the heart of a lion to attempt to establish any new export in dustry there. It is usually not long before it is found that it cuts across either Australia’s other trade arrangements—or is alleged to take the bread and butter out of the mouths of mainland Australians by using “cheap, sweated black labour.”