Pacific Commerce and Produce

"Rich" Gold Prospects

In East Papua

Official announcements made in June by Pacific Island Mines Ltd.—and more especially the chairman’s report at the annual general meeting in Sydney on June 12 —show that the company in prospecting operations extend ing over the last two years, has uncovered a goldfield of large potential value on Misima Island {Eastern Papua) and has indi cated the probability of another, on nearby Sudest Island.

THE company holds 22 square miles on Misima, and the chair man (Mr. G. W. Noe) said that it now has completed nine miles of reconnaissance costeening and two and a-half miles of detailed costeen ing. “This programme has been very rewarding,” said the chairman; and “a large potential has been firmly established.”

The company now is appealing to the public for another £50,000 of new capital (making a total issued capi tal of £100,000); and it now is pro

posed “to commence a programme of development and exploration in depth.”

The initial target will be the fam ous Umuna Lode, from which the Cuthbert interests obtained such startling returns before they were driven out of Misima by the Japanese invasion in 1942. That lode had yielded 3i tons of gold before 1942.

Pacific Mines engineers think the lode will get richer at depth. They calculate that if 50,000 tons of ore are mined per annum, the profit would be £170,000.

The company intends shortly to commence prospecting on its leases on Sudest Island, and its advisers are again very optimistic. “As an alluvial field, Sudest was very rich and was considered second only to the Klondike in output of gold per square mile,” says the official report.

Much has been written about the gold mines on Misima, but little is on record about the phenomenally rich alluvial gold found on Sudest about 1890. It is known that, when Mrs. Elizabeth Mahoney (“the Queen of Sudest”) went to the island soon after 1890, there were more than 200 miners there, living under very primitive conditions, but getting re markable rewards.

PI Mines Ltd. offered a new issue of 406,320 2/6 shares to its present shareholders on the basis of one-for one in June, but it is not known how the issue was received—the share markets at that moment were very timid. PI Mines’ 2/6 shares were being quoted on the Sydney Exchange in June, after the New York Stock Exchange collapse, at less than 2/-; but thev later recovered.

There can be no question about the value of the gold deposits on Misima and Sudest; Pacific Island Mines Ltd., in the hands of its pres ent board, with Mr. L. W. Berg strand as managing director, is con servatively managed—it has achieved wonders with its first £50,000; and this should be an attractive invest ment for anyone seeking a promis ing speculation in gold shares.

Apart from the goodwill of lands and mines officials, the company has had little practical help from the P-NG Administration in its effort to establish a valuable industry in East ern Papua. It cannot even get Port Moresby’s help in introducing a much needed air service to Misima.

Oil Search to Drill

In Papua

IAMARA, on the south-west bank of the Fly River, about 45 miles from its mouth, in the Gulf of Papua, will be the site of Oil Search Ltd’s

stratigraphic well.

The well will be drilled to base ment rock, which is expected at 6,000 ft. Site preparations were scheduled to start on July 1. It is expected that the hole will be spudded in about October and that drilling will be completed next January.

The well is being drilled in ac cordance with arrangements made with Oil Search’s partners, British Petroleum and Mobil of Australia.

Directors of Oil Search say that the surrounding area, in Permit 33 area, will be defined and excluded from the area at present under option to the Burmah-Murphy group.

CSR's £3 Million Profit: Dividend Up Profit of Colonial Sugar Refining Co.

Ltd. for the year ended March 31 rose £511,944 (almost 20 per cent.) to £3,129,679, and the dividend rate will be lifted from 9 to 9Vz per cent.

Result is after provision for taxation of £2,245,886 (up £159,683) and pro vision for replacement and depreciation of £3,865,282 (up £154,465). Earning rate to capital rose from 12.4 to 14.8 per cent. Capital was unchanged over the year at £21.17 million.

CSR intends to split its £2O shares into 20/- units after the annual meeting this month. The company plans to make a l-for-7 issue at a 10/- premium on July 31. Directors say that it is hoped to maintain the dividend at QVz per cent, in the current year.

Choiseul Plantations Felt The Copra Breeze A fall of over 10 per cent, in net profit, down £11,832 to £97,293 was suffered by Choiseul Plantations (Hold ings) Ltd., a BP subsidiary, through the lower copra prices prevailing during its year ended November 30 last. Neverthe less dividend was again 40 per cent, (in* eluding bonus 30 per cent.).

year’s loss, together with the s year’s slump in profit of £94,793, set most of the big rise of £11,953 it for 1959. :nt result was after increasing pro (including tax) to £94,747 (up ). No provision was made for ation (last year, £14,686) as rs consider the book values ate”. Reserve again received 0; and provisions no longer re £12,481, were placed to reserve luation of plantation properties an assets reserve of £161,090. i output increased by 139 tons to tons, and cocoa by 301 tons to is.

i is Still Fiji's

lustomer

visible balance of trade is still her—l96l imports cost £4,059,886 than the Colony earned through exports. However invisible earn irough the tourist trade, should be han £1,000,000. r was again the biggest earner of income, but the figure of ,757, was nearly £3,000,000 below :vious year’s figure because of the oubles in the industry. Copra and ; oil earned £2,376,876 in 1961, •arned £1,202,022 and bananas 32. in was Fiji’s best customer with ;es of nearly £6,000,000 worth of lony’s products. Canada was the ggest buyer at £1,750,000 (mainly followed by Australia at ,000 and NZ £1,250,000. in was also Fiji’s biggest supplier £4,857,215 worth of goods, i by Australia who sold products £4,577,914 to the Colony, and 5 third with £1,322,856 of sale.

East countries and territories prominently in the latest trade chiefly as sellers. •ms revenue from imports and was £377,765 higher than the estimate. The total collected was ,525, compared with an estimated ,560. Import dues accounted for >f the revenue with £2,670,930, i by port and customs service tax 32,459, excise dues £464,474 and ;ax £54,462.

i Coffee Still

I Money

gh it has survived a period of financial difficulty, Kinjibi Hold id., NG Highlands coffee planters, II not yet on a paying basis, said iirman (Mr. Sidney Baume), mak annual report in June, erly Goroka Coffee (Holdings) the company under its present ment appears to have ridden out rm that threatened to engulf the i concern a couple of years ago. iting loss for the year ended er 31 was £11,438 (£13,845 the s yean. After amounts written •,193, and bringing in tax provision sly overprovided, £2,523, the debit forward is increased to £34,914. ;nt liabilities at £7,327 (including

overdraft £1,670) compare with £26,640 a year earlier. A £16,650 12 Vfe per cent, deposit note issue in October, 1961, has since increased by £1,400.

Further plantings on Kinjibi, previously hampered by lack of funds, were made possible by the note issue and consider able increase in coffee production is expected from 1965 onward when new plantings start to bear.

Southern Pacific Insurance

Makes Bonus Issue

Southern Pacific Insurance Co. Ltd., of Sydney, an associate of the W. R.

Carpenter group, last month announced a bonus issue for shareholders at June 15.

Basis was 1-for-l 5/- ordinary share fully paid and l-for-5 contributing shares.

The later represent the 1-for-l par cash issue in April, 1960, that are paid to 1/- each, the balance to be payable as required.

The company’s first bonus issue will in effect double paid capital from £240,000 to £480,000, and is being made in the form of a tax-free dividend.

Dividend rate after the bonus was not forecast in the directors’ preliminary announcement but the rate has been 12 V 2 per cent, since 1959 and was held last year on larger capital.

BP y s See Fiji

Outlook Brighter

Burns Philp (South Sea) Co. Ltd., Suva, showed net profit of £149,133 for the year ended January, 1962, compared with £146,864. With £100,623 carried forward, a final dividend of 1/- per stock unit on 1,000,000 units was declared (interim 1/- per unit was paid last October), absorbing £50,000; £50,000 was added to reserve (making £775,000); and balance of £99,757 was carried forward.

The pattern of the year’s trading varied little from the previous 12 months, said the chairman, Mr. H. Maurice Scott.

While there was a manifest lack of buoyancy owing to continued low pro duce values, the effects of severe hurri cane damage in Tonga and to a lesser extent in Samoa, and slow recovery in the Fiji economy, results nevertheless proved quite satisfactory.

At the annual meeting, Mr. Scott said the outlook for Fiji for 1962 was con siderably brighter than for 1961, as the colony now has the prospects of a stable sugar industry for some years to come.

Because of recent difficulties in the sugar industry the six to eight million pounds distributed to growers in earlier years had last year fallen as low as three million pounds.

Union Co. Staff Changes

Mr. A. E. McPherson, who succeeded Mr. Dave Butler as manager of the Union Steam Ship Company at Suva, Fiji, about three years ago, will retire this month.

He will be succeeded by Mr. David Graham, the present manager of the company at Apia, Western Samoa.

Mr. Jack St. Julian, who has been the company’s 2 i/c at Suva for many years, will go to Apia to replace Mr. Graham.