Pacific Commerce and Produce

Caledonian Oil

French Experts

"he search for oil in New

edonia has been abandoned

the large French Company,

iete de Reserche en Nou e Caledonie, formed a few rs ago to carry out explora and research.

DECENT announcement from aris stated that no indica ons of oil had been found here in the group and it can ken as practically certain that il deposits will ever be dis sd in the French Colony. ) company had a capital of 50 n francs (£250,000 Aust.), >n of which was subscribed by Slew Caledonian Government, tperts conducted an extensive 1 for oil indications and made vey of the Noumea foreshores.

Ibumea businessman, Mr. Rene ;ux, has been appointed ator to wind up the company.

w Co. To Enter

i Copra-Buying

%de 'nTEW company, Uno Limited, as registered in Suva, Fiji, at le end of August, with the ts listed as “merchants and mtal”, but it is understood that nportant branch of its activ will be the purchase of copra. ? registered capital is £lOO,OOO 1 shares, and directors are as Tom Luey, of Suva, 500 s; Linda Luey, 300 shares; s Luey, of Wellington, NZ. 100 s; and Leslie R. Martin, of 100 shares. The registered is in Victoria Arcade, Suva.

Tom Luey is a director of 1 Trading Company of Well n, NZ. agents for the big Jap- Mitsui organisation, on whose f, it is believed, the new corn will be operating in the Fiji , market. Mr. Martin is a well n Suva businessman with wide lercial interests, i trade statistics for 1959 pub i in August, show that the ly produced 29,932 tons of 1,064 tons of which was ex d and the remainder processed le two Suva mills, le per cent, was graded HAD, ;r cent was FM-1, and 44 per was FM-2. The remaining 22 :ent. was graded sub-standard.

Cl Growers Want Copra Board

Cook Islands copra producers wish to revert to marketing copra on a six monthly price basis, rather than on the monthly arrangement which came into force with Abels, Ltd., the NZ crushers, at the beginning of 1960.

That appeared to be the unanimous view of speakers at the recent Cl Legislative Council.

There also appeared to be firm support for the establishment of a Copra Board, as in other Island Territories, which could fix a minimum buying price and make an adjustment with producers later, on the basis of the actual price received — if the present monthly price adjustments are to continue.

The Cl Treasurer said that at present local buyers do not know exactly what to pay and the growers are not sure what they are entitled to receive. This could have an adverse effect on the industry.

Emperor Buys Out

Loloma and Dolphin Mines

The “big three” of Tavua goldfield, Northern Viti Levu, Fiji, in 1935-36 were Emperor, Loloma and Dolphin mines. The latter two ceased production some years ago but Emperor has continued to win gold (and pay good dividends) ever since.

Now Emperor Mines, Ltd., is to buy the remaining mining interests (stores, plant, housing and mining leases) of Loloma (Fiji) Gold Mines NL and Dolphin Mines, Ltd.

The purchase is to be made through the operating subsidiary, Emperor Gold Min ing Co., Ltd.

Cost will be met by the issue of 1/shares in Emperor Mines, Ltd., at a premium of 4/- a share. On this basis, Loloma will receive 234,000 shares, and Dolphin Mines 78,000 shares. At 5/- a share the total deal is worth £78,000.

Face value of the allotments will raise Emperor paid up capital by £15,600 to £111,350.

Nl Whaling Station

Is Filling Its Quota

Of the season’s quota of 170 whales for its Nl station, 150 have already been taken, stated directors of Norfolk Is. and Byron Bay Whaling Co., Ltd., early in September.

Operations from Barrier Is., NZ, have been “disappointing and below expecta tions”, though 135 whales were captured.

Byron Bay station, NSW, has accounted for 101, with 49 of the quota still to be taken.

Steamships Trading Co.

Maintains 12i Per Cent. Dividend

Steamships Trading Co., Ltd., old established merchants and shipowners of Port Moresby and Samarai, Papua, made a net profit of £197,405 to June 30, 1960 —a rise of £16,218 over 1959 results.

Profit was reached after providing for income tax for the first time (£45,000) and for £61,500 depreciation (up £ 1,2781.

Ordinary dividend, held at 12V2 per cent, on capital increased by bonus and cash issues, requires £117,973. Preference charge, 10 per cent., is £5,000.

Reserve gains £64,365, making a total of £1,100,000.

Of the two directors due to retire, Messrs. D. M. Spence and L. A. Willis, Mr.

Spence will not seek re-election at the annual meeting on October 10. Nomina tion has been received for the appointment of Mr. N. V. Johnson to the Board.

Enterprise of NG Refused

Oil Prospecting Permit

Enterprise of New Guinea Gold and Petroleum Development NL has been re fused a petroleum prospecting permit for an area covering about 3,600 sq. miles in Northern New Guinea (adjacent to the Dutch border).

Directors say that the Administrator refused the permit because the company was unable to satisfy him that it had the necessary financial resources.

They added that reference to the financial resources was apparently based on the limited support by shareholders to the last capital issue.

The company applied for the permit on May 8, 1959, and was then required to comply to a number of conditions —one of which was adequate finance for the tasks involved. The company had previously abandoned its Permit Area 21 on the Sepik River because of the difficulty of access and the large amount of capital required for thorough exploration.

Grounded Helicopters Hold

Up APCs Oil Drilling

Australasian Petroleum Co.’s lehi well has been deepened from 2,432 ft. to 4,612 ft. and has entered cretaceous mudstones.

13% in. casing has been cemented at 2,428 Drilling operations were temporarily shut down in early August due to bad weather and because the helicopters which supply the drilling rig’s requirements of bits, mud chemicals, fuel and casing were grounded until new rotor blades were air freighted from USA.

Netherlands NG Trade

Gap Narrowed

The excess trade balance of imports over exports from Netherlands New Guinea was tightened from 26 million guilders (£ A 3,058,820) in 1958 to 7 million guilders (£ A 823.530) in 1959. The 1959 trade figures were released in Hollandia in August.

Major outlets for NNG products were- Australia, mostly crude oil, valued at 6 million guilders (£A705,880), Japan 5 million guilders (£A588,250), Holland 4 million guilders (£A470.590). Chief pro ducts exported were crude oil, 13 million guilders (£A1,529.410), copra 3 million guilders (£ A 352.940), and nutmegs 2 million guilders (£A235,290).

Naturally, Holland was the main sup plier of goods, worth 39 million guilders (£ A 4,588,240), with Singapore next at 11 million guilders (£A1,294,120), then Aus tralia with 7 million guilders (£AB23 530) Principal imports were foodstuffs, grains' cereals, petrol and lubricants.

Plantation Holdings Acquire

Two More Valuable Estates

Plantation Holdings, Ltd., Rabaul, last month paid Rowe Bros. (NG) Ltd £40.000 cash and 85.000 fully pkid 5/- PH shares for Matanatar and Ravalien copra plantations at Kokopo. Par value for the sale was over £60.000 but, with Plantation Holdings shares at a market value of 7/6 on Sydney Stock Exchange, the deal was then worth over £70,000.

To finance the cash portion of the pur icnLprice’ Plantation Holdings will issue 160.000 new 5/- shares to existing share holders in proportion of one for one.

The new plantations have an excellent potential for copra production. The com pany already has Tobera and Matala plan tations. New Britain, and Mageh estate, New Ireland. It also owns a large general store in Rabaul.

Fiji Exports, imports

Down Last Year

Fiji’s exports in 1959 totalled £13,822 232 according to figures just released. This was £729,725 less than in 1958 (£1,892 167 less than the record year, 1957).

Imports were valued at £16,856,088, second highest figure ever recorded. Value was £746.639 less than the record figure of 1958, but exceeded 1957 by £1,640.082 Increase in imports is an indication of the considerable development work carried out in the Colony during 1959.

The Colony’s unfavourable balance of visible trade was £3,033,856 compared with £3,050,770 in 1958, and a favourable trade balance of £498,393 in 1957.

The Colony’s total trade for the year amounted to £30,678,320—£ 1,476,364 less than in 1958.

UK, Canada, NZ, Australia and Western Samoa, in that order, remained the principal customers, with Japan next. The latter country more than doubled its im ports from Fiji—£3B7,344 as compared with £172,353 in 1958. Next in order in 1959 came Tonga, USA, G.&E. Colony, Western Germany, and Hongkong with many other lesser destinations follow ing.

Vacuum Co. Extends Its

Oil Terminal Services

A vigorous programme of oil terminal building in the Pacific has been undertaken by Vacuum Oil Co. to tie in with its in auguration of a tanker service, based on Lae. New Guinea, carried on by the “Pacific Enterprise” (see Shipping Section, page 109).

Wewak’s new installation in northern New Guinea will cost £70,000 and work has started on a six-acres site (formerly swamp land), iy 4 miles south of Wewak township. It will be completed early next year.

On New Ireland, Kavieng terminal, with two bulk storage tanks, will be built on the southern outskirts of the town at a cost of £29,000.

A Fiji building firm, Bish Ltd., has the contract to erect a terminal and ancillary facilities at Tarawa, Gilbert and Ellice Is.

It will be situated on Tarawa atoll, along the eastern foreshore of Betio Harbour, and will cost £15,750.

Other terminals will be located at Vila and Santo, New Hebrides.

No Export Duty On

BSI Cocoa Until 1968

Introduced commercially to BSI in 1952, cocoa-growing is an industry that the Pro tectorate Government is putting a lot of faith and effort into. As a measure of assistance, the Colonial Office in 1956 agreed that no export duty would be levied on cocoa for a minimum of eight years from January, 1957.

Although the duty-free period does not end until December, 1964, the matter of an extension was raised and discussed in BSI Advisory Council last November. The Government agreed to take up the question with the Secretary of State.

At the end of August, the Western Pacific High Commission announced that no export duty will be levied on BSI cocoa for a further three years—until December, 1967. After that, export duty will be on a sliding scale for six years. Minimum and maximum percentages and the f.o.b. price range to which they will apply will then be fixed on the basis that there should be a fair margin of profit to producers before duty becomes effective.

Gold Exploration on Misima

Active exploration operations on Misima Island, Eastern Papua, by Pacific Island Mines, Ltd., are still going on satis factorily. The chairman, Mr. G. W. Noe, in the third report to shareholders, says: “The operations, since the last report to shareholders on May 20, have been con centrated in the East Imgubinaina area, and have located further extensions to the three lode structures mentioned in the re port.

“Since the commencement of the com pany’s current operations on Misima in December, 1959, some 15,500 ft. of costean ing have been completed. This entailed the excavation of approximately 7,000 tons of ground at the very favourable direct labour cost of 2/3 per ton.

“Continued testing in the oxidised zone has shown that the combined surface length of the three lodes is at least 2,700 ft., with exposed widths ranging from 5 to 45 ft. Most of this work has been con centrated on the No. 1 lode —a well defined structure which has now been traced over a horizontal distance of some 2,200 ft. and vertical range of 300 ft.

“The results of these operations have indicated that the three lodes together contain prospective reserves of 200,000 to 300,000 tons above creek level, all of which could be cheaply developed by adits. The bulk of the gold content of the lodes

occurs free as fine gold, whilst thi mainder as inclusions in small amoui residual base metal sulphides in qi The grade of these reserves will be t mined under operating conditions pilot plant. Given reasonably favou weather conditions, sections of the plant should be operating towards thi of the year.