and Industry

Pacific Commerce and Industry

Tralasian Petroleum Co. Pty., Ltd.—

ne 11 it was announced that Barikewa ad been deepened 185 feet to 6,310 feet gas under considerable pressure was en red. Operations have been directed to controlling the gas pressure with heavy i allow a high pressure service well head fitted. It is not intended to test the st this stage of drilling. * * * 15, PHILP AND CO., LTD.—Shipping in of the company had shown a disastrous F more than £BO,OOO during the first f 1956-57 because of adverse weather, e second six months had been better, mes Burns, chairman, said at the annual I in Sydney on May 23. eplace the "Merkur", which was sold ars ago, would cost at least £1,500,000. mpany would have to earn, over the »r three years of building, about 000, as well as other revenue for Js, to provide this amount. Of this tax would take the excess £1,000,000.

Burns said it was a necessity for the y to carry on the shipping trade because ids interests. aid that most of the company's profit iwadays derived from subsidiary corn such as the Queensland Insurance Co., ic most prosperous interests held by the f were South Seas plantations, which id about 40, mostly in New Guinea, ring to the sale of Penneys, a sub to G. J. Coles and Co., Ltd., Mr. Burns lat BP's would have had to expand by developing in Victoria and South a to get sales volume. Such expansion time would prove very expensive. on the other hand, wished to in their interests in Queensland, so the of Penneys with Coles was mutually ory. enting on "extra benefits" for share- Mr. Burns said that, as a stockholder, not think "we have been badly have quite recently issued a million t par, he said. "At to-day's price of )/- this is a benefit of over £2,000 000 [holders." joint seemed to have been overlooked, urns said he estimated that the com as paying a total of 11/- in the £ 1. Of this amount 8/- in the £ was tax. The remainder was land tax, •us" payroll tax, and municipal rates, esale merchandise business is gradually •ut," Mr. Burns said. "If you are a and cannot buy direct from the manu you are not in the top class. if L no t pay to s °pply small >ers with broken lines, as costs are and further, the co-operative societies ng very competitive, nately, a large proportion of our is semi-retail/wholesale. That is why, ilia, in addition to our country stores' :d Penneys in Queensland." lurns said that there had been a e fallmg-off in sales in some parts company's country stores in the last mths. sjc

Lal Sugar Refining Co., Ltd—Net

)r the year ended March 31 was >B, an increase of £291,722, or 17 3 over the previous year. Profit is an earning rate of 14 per cent. (11 9 [• last year) on paid capital of lUO. id, unchanged at 10 per cent re- E 1.404,000, General feser.e gains makmg iIEI^OT.OO O the remainder ° fi t, £167,358, raises carry forward to 16.

The directors said that at company's Austrahan sugar mills output was 233,000 tons (2,000 tons higher), but in Fiji production fell to 134,000 tons (down 29,100 tons) because of bad weather.

Raw sugar price was higher in both countries.

The quantity of refined sugar sold in Australia and New Zealand was nearly at the level of the previous year, the report said.

Sales of the building materials division suffered in some lines from a general decline in building. Success in obtaining more overseas markets for blue asbestos brought im-

proved results to the subsidiary, Australian Blue Asbestos, Ltd.

C.S.R. Chemicals Pty., Ltd., showed improve ment in sales and general situation, This subsidiary is building a £500,000 factory at Rhodes in New South Wales to produce a special plastics material under agreement with the Dow Chemical Co., one of the biggest chemical manufacturers in the United States, and a leader in plastics pro duction.

Dow will provide designs for construction and operation of the factory, and C.S.R.

Chemicals will carry out the main fabrication

Queen for

a Day

This charming young Indian girl. Miss C. W.

Mira, was Lautoka (Fiji) Red Cross Branch's Queen For a Day and was crowned at a festival on June 1.

The competition raised £4,628 for the Society.

Miss Mira was sponsored by the Akhil Mines and polled 241,111 votes.

There were 16 entrants.

In this photograph she is presented with a bouquet by a young gentleman of Lautoka.

Photo: Prasad's Studio.

The factory is expected to be com *arly next year. the war C.S.R. has spent millions in elopment of its chemicals subsidiary in he Distillers Co., Ltd., of England, has sr cent, interest. * * *

Iprise Of New Guinea Gold And

iUM, DEVELOPMENT NL.—Further pros on the gold mining lease. Enterprise has indicated "favourable gold pros -250 ft. below the existing open cut ;. As the prospect appears to be towards the boundary of the lease, ipany has applied for and has been a new lease. Enterprise No. 13, I to the west. lions are favourable, the directors say, k is now being carried out by sluic hods to establish prospects at this The last of the petroleum survey imprising the 1957 field survey, left for the permit area on May 10 for camp at the junction of the August k rivers. ear, further gravity survey work will ed out on a closer grid, with the f investigating in greater detail the lepening to the west of the gravity jneath the sedimentary zone in the ea during the 1956 survey. * * * L GOLD, NL.—Net profit for the year ry 28 was £10,667, a drop of £23,109 reduced from 8d a share to 5d £10,416. rincipal asset of Guinea Gold is a if 61,500 shares in Bulolo, valued at in the latest accounts. Bulolo Gold in turn holds 749,999 shares in ealth-New Guinea Timbers, Ltd., and i dividend of £37,500 from this source e year. * * *

V (Fiji) Gold Mines, Nl—Three

have been declared on the issued the company. The dividends are Id, 9d a share. Dividends are exempt me tax in Australia, idends are payable on July 5 at the registered office in Melbourne. Share gistered m the books of the company 15 are entitled to participate. The cheques will be posted directly to srs. nited Uranium, NL, and King Island (1947), Ltd., Loloma has received to prospect over the Maranboy tin Ihe Northern Territory of Australia, is about 40 miles east of Katherine, oup has also arranged favourable option over all the principal leases in the area. They will begin test

ts immediately.

ectors say the field is one of the rtant tin bearing areas in Australia, ous titles by different interests had retarded development. Control of the I should result in proper exploitation.

B. Theodore has resigned as a nd chairman of Consolidated Press -td., and of Consolidated Press, Ltd., subsidiary companies of the group. ;xtensive interests in Fiji gold mining ssignation will enable him to devote is time and energy to his Fiji gold He is a son of the late Mr. E. G. who founded and developed the Fiji '9 enterprises of Emperor, Loloma n. * * *

Linea Goldfields, Ltd—The April

n the Golden Ridges Mill was 1,114 d and 1,233 oz silver. Tributes pro oz fine gold. The timber produced 3 super feet. y return from Golden Ridges was ine gold and 1,396 oz silver. From ges Alluvials production of fine gold Koranga Alluvials produced 60 oz and Tributes 145 oz fine gold. The duced was 217,846 super feet.

Norfolk Island And Byron Bay Whalimg

CO., LTD.—The directors have decided that it would be against the best interests of the com pany to pay an interim dividend, even though £42,500 is available for the purpose. They consider that because whaling is seasonal the appropriate time to consider a dividend is after the close of the season. In addition unforeseen capital expenditure makes it necessary to con serve finances.

The directors are confident that a satisfactory dividend will be paid after the accounts close in September.

The first season at Norfolk resulted in pro duction of 1,125 tons of whale oil, and 300 tons of meal. On the spot difficulties had re sulted in the company having to meet com paratively heavy and unexpected capital ex penditure in buying a tanker in Norway. This tanker had already delivered four shipments to Sydney.

A whale catcher has been completed, and is expected to effect a substantial saving in costs.

Quota for the 1957 season, which was to begin early this month, is 120 whales at Byron Bay and 120 at Norfolk Island. Whale oil has been sold forward at prices about 10 per cent, above last year.

Off-shire lobster fishing was shelved for the season when purchase of additional equipment was recommended.

Whaling at Norfolk Island was expected to start during the first week in June.

Mr. P. A. Conrad has resigned from the board, and Mr. N. G. Bell has been appointed. * * * RUBBERLANDS, LTD.—Net profit for the year ended December 31 was £24,571. This was equal to almost 25 per cent, on the then issued capital of £BO,OOO. The dividend was 15 per cent.

Dry robber output was 382,290 lb, an in crease of 85,000 lb over 1955.

Shareholders will place 100,000 5/- ordinary shares with the public at 6/-, plus charges.

The company operates a 5,513-acre rubber plantation in the Kanosia district of Papua, about 45 miles from Port Moresby. ♦ * *

Steamships Trading Co., Ltd —The Chair

man of directors (Mr. E. V. Crisp) on May 21 denied that W. R. Carpenter and Co., Ltd., had any interests in Steamships Trading. He said there had not been any negotiations for affilia tion of the two island trading companies. He was commenting on merger rumours that had been persistent both in Port Moresby and on Australian stock exchanges.

TIMOR OIL, LTD.—The directors report that equipment is expected to be on location in July so that when the first site is selected drilling can begin immediately. Dr. W. F.

Schneeberger, of the US, the company's con sulting geologist, will give full-time direction for the next six months to the company's activities in Timor and Australia.