pacific Commerce and Produce

Shares Fiji

,ys With TEAL

does nothing else, the

:ement on November 6 Australian Minister for viation to the effect that

ealand, through TEAL,

/ an interest in Fiji Air lould scotch the idea held t of places that Qantas nning to “take-over”

A.L correspondents in recent :hs have pointed to alleged ; that Qantas intended to the New Zealand air com ine of the clues was that I (for which read Qantas, connection) went eyes-out iheed Electras when New (so the story goes) wanted British Comets. time that it was decided i Qantas and TEAL should 3tras for intermediate range is, it was stated that there tain advantages in having of the two Government airlines interchangeable. . this was sound airways :s, the word “interchange rew sensitive Kiwis into a Santas, it was stated, was Daring the Way to take over ir more recent straw in the s supposed to be the fact Bob Allender, TEAL PRO Zealand, had left the com hy would he do this, asked r-alls, if he did not see the jn the wall for TEAL?

No Evil Intentions" ;, of course, denied any evil is and are now preparing Fiji Airways, which they ast year from the estate of Harold Gatty, with TEAL he same time are leaving a en for the United Kingdom lent to come into that pic , if a UK airline company ; at some time in the future, irways went into operation and now has a network Tji group of slightly under es. Aircraft are three and a couple of four- Herons. If Tonga decides to on the airline routes, it b a logical development for ways to run that service.

Charter service from Fiji to the air strip near Nukualofa are run fairly

frequently now by Fiji Airways—

the Herons being suitable for this route.

Pacific Is. Mines Ltd.

Goes to the Public

Through a series of advertisements in the Islands and Australian Press in October-November. Pacific Islands Mines, Ltd., formed recently to develop likely gold-bearing areas on Misima Island, Eastern Papua, offered 5,000 £5 ordinary shares to the public. Applications close November 28, and directors need sub scriptions of £15,000 to proceed to allot ment.

Nominal capital is £500,000, of which 866 £5 ordinaries were issued initially.

Mountainous, well-timbered Misima in Louisiade Archipelago was the sitfe of the first official gold discovery in the Terri tory. Up to the Pacific war, some £3,000.000 of gold was taken out, but plant and workings were destroyed in the face of the Japanese advance into Papua in 1942. After re-commencement of civil administration, efforts were made to re establish the field, but immensely increased costs forced a close-down.

PI Mines, Ltd., plan to carry out much exploratory work and go into production using mechanised open-cut mining methods.

Placer's Room to Grow

Placer Development. Ltd., is in a “strong position for development of existing promis ing ventures and has the ability for further growth, which we have reason to hope will eventuate,” said the president, Mr.

J. D. Simpson at the annual meeting in Vancouver, recently.

This mild announcement might be re garded as an understatement, in view of the fact that Placer recently received $9,000,000 from the sale of Coronet Oil, and has an additional consolidated surplus of $10,000,000—£A8,500,000 altogether.

Timor's New Well

Drilling on Timor Oil, Ltd.’s, new site (Ossulari No. lAi which is about three miles west of number 1 of the same name, is due to begin .this month.

The new site was selected in October.

New Guinea Newspapers' Profit

In the year ended June 30, 1959, South Pacific Post, Ltd., of Port Moresby—which owns and operates a group of newspapers in Papua and New Guinea, and produces commercial printing, from its Port Moresby establishment, made a net profit of £21,989.

This is an increase of more than £7,000 over 1957-58, and reflects the steady growth of this publishing and printing business in recent years. In future, of course, the company’s profits will be sub ject to income tax.

The published accounts show issued capital at £49,908, and the surplus of shareholders’ funds at over £BO,OOO. The recommended dividend is 15 per cent.

The present directors are Messrs. S. L.

M. Eskell (chairman), J. I. Cromie, B. E.

Fairfax Ross, E. P. Glover, and D. S.

Yaffa. <° ver >

Dylup's Interim Dividend

Interim half-yearly dividend of Dylup Plantations. Ltd., was payable on Novem ber 21.

The interim dividend at 7 per cent, is the same as last year, when the final was 13 per cent.

New Oil Area

For Enterprise

Enterprise of New Guinea Gold and Petroleum Development. N.L., has been granted an oil prospecting permit for an initial period of 12 months. The permit area is 3,600 square miles including Aitape to Vanimo in the north of the Sepik District.

Part of the permit area was covered by 011 Search explorations in the mid-1930’5.

Poor Patch for Sandy Creek

Last advice issued by Sandy Creek Gold Sluicing. Ltd., was to the effect that only 12 oz 15 dwt of gold had been recovered in August/September although 3,000 cubic yards of material had been treated.

Loloma Pays 2/-

Loloma (Fiji) Gold Mines, N.L., will pay an unchanged final dividend of 1/per share —making a total dividend of 2/per share (current price around 40/-), for the year.

Total dividend in 1958 was also 2/-.

Dividend will be payable on December 18, and 8d of the 2/- will be tax-free.

NGG Production

New Guinea Goldfields operating state ment for the month of September show's that Golden Ridges mill treated 3.525 tons of ore for a production of 1,094 fine oz of gold and 2,852 oz of silver; 211 oz bullion were produced from Golden Ridges over burden. Golden Ridges alluvials produced 12 oz of gold; Koranga alluvials 400 oz and tributes 89 oz. In the same period 175.171 su. ft. of timber were produced.

No Oil at Puri

The Australasian Petroleum Co. an nounced in October that as testing at Puri had yielded only minor quantities of gas with w T ater, the hole had been plugged and the drilling outfit dismantled. Seismic work was continuing south-west of Puri Well.

After a temporary hold-up due to bad flying conditions that prevented helicopters bringing in supplies, drilling was proceed ing satisfactorily at Bwata.

25c. for BGD Shareholders

Interim dividend of 25 Canadian cents per share has been declared by Bulolo Gold Dredging, Ltd., and will be paid from the Sydney office of the company on December 4.

Payment will be made in Australian currency at the rate that was ruling on November 14; and for non-Canadian resi dents, a tax of 15 per cent, will be pay able.

Papuan Apinaipi's Interests

In Old. and Papua

A new well at Cooroorah, Queensland, has been spudded in and will be drilled as part of the group programme implemented under the Joint Venture Agreement which has brought the three companies, The Papuan Apinaipi Petroleum Company Limited, As sociated Australian Oilfields N.L. and As sociated Freney Oil Fields N.L., and their

operating subsidiary, Mines Administration Pty. Limited, together into an Australian Group, with the common objective of the discovery of commercial oilfields, and the production of petroleum in Australasia.

In Permit No. 22 in Papua, the most difficult and costly of the areas, a detailed geological field survey on the Wira anti cline has been completed by Mr. G. A. V.

Stanley, Consultant Geologist of the com pany in Papua, and Mr. K. H. Morgan, Field Geologist of Mines Administration Pty., Limited. This anticline is close to the first oil discovery well at Puri, and is about four miles south of the Hou Creek junction with the Upper Purari River. A geophysical survey has also been com pleted and the results of both surveys are now being assembled for assessment.

CSR Dividend Remains

At Per Cent.

Colonial Sugar Refining Company’s final dividend brings the year’s dividend to BV2 per cent.—which the newspaper financial experts are quick to point out gives in vestors who buy CSR at the market rate of £7O. just 21/2 per cent.

The company’s declared policy is to allow shareholders to participate in its capital expansion and some shareholders are tak ing that unchanged low dividend to mean that there could be a share issue coming up.

High Copra Price Helps

The continuing high price of copra is giving planting companies a boost. Bali Plantations and Plantations Holdings, Ltd., both New Guinea companies recently floated, have got off to a flying start.

Older established plantation companies like Dylup and Choiseul are also doing very well.