Pacific Commerce and Produce

A Fiji Tragedy:

Repayment of

M. Hedstrom Prefs.

The decision of the board of Morris Hedstrom Ltd., of Fiji (now a full member of the Car

penter group) to repay to prefer

ence shareholders the whole of

their investment (nominally,

219,206 £1 shares) is a measure

of the financial tragedy that is

Fiji’s.

THE directors propose to soften the blow to the preference shareholders —they got only 6 I per cent, per annum, but it was : gilt-edged—by offering a premium of 5/- per share (25/- altogether) on condition, of course, that the [ plan is approved at an extraord inary general meeting on January 8. Repayment of 219,206 preferences (therefore will call for £274,007, Fijian.

Blhe Company’s chairman, Mr. H. E. i Snell, in a circular, makes the Joints that the money is not needed in the business; and that the prefer ence shareholder, having back his fcvestment plus a 25 per cent, (premium, probably can find a much ■etter investment.

B Fiji’s tragedy lies in the fact that it badly needs the investment of more capital in private enter prise within the Colony; and that Iporris Hedstrom Ltd., for at least 25 years, has carried in its accounts an actual cash surplus of anything »om £500,000 to £1,000,000, either in Government and Municipal stocks, or in cash in the banks. The pref. ilhareholders were getting 6 per cent., while two or three times the total of the pref. shares was either (ping idle as unwanted capital, or earning a bare 4 to 6 per cent, in i bonds, stocks and fixed deposits. ■ The Company was quite prepared to put it into gainful employment m the Colony; but the Colony, under the cramped set-up created W the British Colonial Office and other factors, did not provide :|hannels for worthwhile invest ment in new enterprises, i, AH this was immediately clear to the Carpenter directors, when they ■Purchased all the Morris Hedstrom ■ordinaries (520,407 £1 shares) at the ** of 1955; and it is to be assumed wiat they since have looked Fiji over, in an attempt to use those Wig-accumulated surplus funds

Profitably.

As the funds presumably now will

go back to the shareholders, it may be assumed that no suitable avenues for large-scale investment are in sight in Fiji.

The sooner that Colony gets a dusting over, so that new oppor tunities for the use of private funds may be presented, the better for all concerned.

Calm on the

OH Search Front

ALTHOUGH, presumably most people got what they wanted, when the two big partners in Australasian Petroleum Company announced their intention of stay ing in oil search in Papua, there has been no wild cavorting on the Oil Search market in the month since. Price of shares on December 5 was around 9/9 —about a third of what they were for a brief, wild moment on November 4, but over 1/- more than the price when the boom burst, about November 12.

On November 11, the APC Co. made this announcement.

Puri: The series of flowing tests, the results of which have already been re ported, have now been completed without significant change in conditions. A further testing programme is now being under taken with a view to evaluating the depth of oil column penetrated by the well.

Kuru No. 3: The hole has been deepened 133 feet to 8,843 feet. Progress is being held up by a high pressure gas and water show encountered on present bottom.

The decision of the two major partners to stay in Papua has re quired some reorganisation of com pany affairs in the Territory. Re cently APC released some of its native apprentices, who were placed elsewhere by the Administration.

The helicopters operated by World Wide Air Services for APC were thought to be no longer required and WW had already begun to send them overseas. Many European em ployees of APC—field, technical and clerical —had been told that their services would shortly be ter minated. Most had arranged to leave the Territory. Many houses, owned by APC and occupied by staff, were expected to go on the market.

The Company has now had to go into reverse on all these measures.

It is expected that, as soon as possible, more wells will be sunk in the Puri area. In the meantime there has been no indication of how, or when, BP and Vacuum will pro

vide, as promised, opportunity

through Oil Search Ltd. for greater participation by the Australian nublic.

£500,000 For

P-NG Entertainment

A newly-formed New Guinea company—.

Pacific Entertainments, Ltd., registered in Fort Moresby—was asking the public for support in December.

Pacific Entertainments was making an issue of secured fixed deposit notes, offer ing 15 per cent, interest, and allowed to compound. Capital was £500,000.

Objects of the issue were “to undertake and expand all types of entertainment and associated industries throughout P NG on already procured and additional sites’’.

Directors of Pacific Entertainments in clude well-known Territorians—Messrs. W.

E. Wyatt, A. L. Hood, C. Sefton and D.

J. Levy. Auditors are E. A. James and Co., and solicitors, Norman White.

Enterprise Presses

Oil Search Claim

Since the Puri oil strike and renewal of interest in oil prospecting in New Guinea, Enterprise of New Guinea Gold and Petroleum Development has been pressing hard for a renewal of right to prospect in a 1,650 square mile area in the Upper Sepik River.

The company was incorporated in 1936 but always failed to get permission to prospect for oil until 1954 when this area —known as Permit 21—was granted to them. For some reason that has never been explained, when the permit came

up for renewal earlier this year, it was refused.

On the gold mining front the company reported in October that the new plant was satisfactorily installed on the com pany’s Morobe property. Five heads of stamps are now running satisfactory. In October, 18 oz of bullion were recovered from 20 tons of ore; seven ounces were recovered from alluvial workings. In November. 63 tons of development ore was treated for 27 oz retorted gold.

Eleven ounces were recorded from alluvial workings.

Papuan Apinaipi to

Prospect Near Puri

Papuan Apinaipi will now direct its activities to the north-western portion of its Permit 22 area. This area is in the Mena Basin area, and only about nine miles from APC Puri well.

Mines Administration Pty., Ltd., operat ing company for Papuan Apinaipi Petroleum Co. Pty., Ltd., Associated Aus tralian Oil Fields NL and Associated Freney Oil Fields NL will be directing the operations.

No Dividend for

Nl & Byron Bay Whaling

Although full quotas of whales were taken, and the price of whale oil has been moderately good, Norfolk Island and Byron Bay Whaling Company, Ltd., will not pay a dividend for the year ending October 13.

Last year the company paid 6-2/3 per cent.

Consolidated net profit—after £5,700 for income tax and £29,733 for deprecia tion—was £17,876. This was £13,717 down on last year.

Permit Sought for

Papuan Off-Shore Drilling

An American oil company which specialises in off-shore drilling, applied in November for a permit to search for oil in the Gulf of Papua.

The company is Camelot Nominees Pty., Ltd., which is backed by the big Murphy Corporation of Arkansas.

The area applied for, is 9,500 square miles, and extends from Daru in the

west to Oroi on the eastern end of the Gulf. Apart from a few islands, there is no solid land in the whole permit area sought.

Timor Oil's

Big Budget

Total expenditure of Timor Oil, Ltd., on prospecting and development, was £306,924 for the year ended June 30, 1958.

Administration expenses at £35,776 were more than twice the figure for the pre vious year.

The company’s issued capital is £1 million: they value their assets at £1.011,932.

BGD Reports

To Shareholders

At the present rate of progress of Bulolo Gold Dredging’s No. 5 dredge (the only one left in the field) there should be sufficient work for it for about three years. The annual report of the directors, presented at the annual general meeting in Vancouver, BC, on November 17, re vealed that there were 23,623,000 cubic yards of gravel in reserve, but that over 10.000.000 yards of this will be hydraulic ally mined.

The shareholders were also told of the failure of an effort to enter building con struction in Port Moresby: and the suc cess of the timber venture in Lae which has resulted in expanded sawmilling and veneer peeling, and has resulted in in creased profit contribution to BGD.

The Moresby venture was entered into to utilise lumber that would not otherwise have a ready market, but it was beset by difficulties and the excessive cost structure in the Port Moresby area caused its abandonment.

Commonwealth New Guinea Timbers, Ltd., in which BGD has a 49 per cent, interest earned $97,200 for BGD in the year under review.

During the year, in partnership with Placer Development, Ltd., and Clutha Development. Ltd., nickel exploration in Papua and New Guinea was undertaken.

Presence of nickel was revealed, but not in deposits of economic importance.

An interim dividend of 25 Canadian cents per fully paid share was declared and became payable on November 15.

NG Resources Co.

Registered in Melbourne

Registered In Melbourne on Novem 11, as a foreign company from Pap was the New Guinea Resources Prospu ing Co., Ltd. Nominal capital is £300,, This company was formed some ye ago with a 51 per cent, holding by Commonwealth Government, and 49 cent, by the British Aluminium Co., I The idea was to investigate and dev* hydro-electricity in Papua for the smc ing of alumina from northern Austraj bauxite deposits.

There has been some doubt la* whether Papuan hydro-electricity willl used for this purpose—there are sevn alternatives, including use of the Quee: land Blair Athol coalfield.

Recenty, the Commonwealth Govo ment agreed to sell its share of Resouj Prospecting Co. to Consolidated Zinc, I The transfer has not yet been made; registration of the company in Meblou may be a step in that direction.

The Stock Marke

The stock exchange index for ordin shares (at 220.66) on December 3 wasa about 4 points on the index for one mo earlier.

Most of the rise had been in the week in November, and, said the expat reflected the results of the PedEi election on November 22, which return the Menzies government with a biji majority in the House of Representati: and, for the first time, a majority in i Senate.

The prospect of stable government d the next three years encourages our oo seas friends to look favourably on a tralian investments. In the last weeHe November, there was increased buying! top shares from the East and fl London. The reduction in the UK tf rate of 4 per cent, is theoretically ! posed to interest UK long-term inves; in Australian stocks.

On the home front, the wool mas creaked along with low prices; but t’f is promise of bumper sugar and wlv crops.

Since the panic of early Novernn things have quietened in the oil man* but oil shares are still mostly up alfi rates quoted before November.

Sydney Sales Prices

Oil And Mining Shares

Fiji

Nov. 5 Dec. *.

Burns Philp ... 58/6 60/68 Burns Philp (SS) . . 47/- 45/68

C.S.R

£42/7/6 £43£: Dylup Plantations 14/3 15/-' Hackshalls 47/- 48/68' Kauri Timbers . . . 20/- 21/11 Kerema Rubber . . . 10/6 10/99 Koitaki 11/3 13/-' Lolorua 6/6 6/HV Mariboi 6/- 8/-\ Norfolk Is. Whaling 3/1 2/61 Queensland Insurance 65/- 65/—\ Rubberlands ... 5/- 5/63 Sthn. Pac. Insurance 18/- (s) 16/- Steamships Trading . 46/9 51/92\ W. R. Carpenter Hold. 15/3 16/6) x Timor Oil 7/2 6/7\

' '■” July 9. ’58 Nov. 5. ’58 Dec. 4,£ Emperor . b5/9 NQ b9,e t Loloma . . b30/b30C(

Papua-New

Gu1Nea

Bulolo . . . b35/b30/b32 A £i N.G.G. Ltd. bl/flVa s2/6 b2/:\£ Oil Search b2/6 bl5/l b9/i\€ Ent. of N.G. b7d sl/2 slUJtJ Papuan Apln b9d b4/ll b4/\> do. opt. . b6V 2 d b2/ll b2/:\S Placer Dev. b86/6 b91/6 b91.IG Sandy Creek b4d b3d b6c)9i