Pacific Commerce and Produce

old Water On Papuan Oil Claim

om our Canberra Correspondent tie Minister for National De

pment, Senator Spooner, has

lenged a claim that the oil

s of Papua are capable of

[ucing as much oil as the die East.

E claim was put forward by Pro fessor E. A. Rudd at a meeting ie Australasian Institute of Min md Metallurgy. id the Minister’s rebuttal came st on the eve of the announce that Oil Search Ltd. would spud s latest venture, lamara No. 1, e end of October, nara is on the southern bank of rdy River, about 45 miles from mouth. ofessor Rudd, who is Professor conomic Geology at the Univer of Adelaide, told the Institute lining and Metallurgy’s meeting irfers’ Paradise that it was hard mtsiders to get reliable informa on the search for oil in Papua, istralians would have heard very about it but for the fact that s uri well had blown itself in un :tedly, he said. ofessor Rudd described Papua as sxtreme case of big companies mg a large area for a long time 3ut conducting an adequate cam i to explore the geology, nator Spooner, in a series of amentary answers, said that re in Papua, after £36 million had spent on exploration, did not ort Professor Rudd’s optimistic *apua has not yet been com ly explored for oil,” he said, •ecause of the climate and ter oil exploration there is slow and y. It is therefore not possible to ?are the oil producing capabilities 'apua and the Middle East. Oil :h operations costing £36 million failed to find oil in commercial itities.” nator Spooner said Professor I’s statement that Puri blew in pectedly was not correct, ie well first produced gas at a imum rate of three million cu. ft.

a day, then oil at a maximum rate of

1,600 barrels a day.

But after two days water appeared in production and quantities of oil and gas declined quickly.

Senator Spooner said that because of the high cost of drilling operations in Papua he exercised his discretion and the company did not receive the full 50 per cent, subsidy.* Drilling cost more than £1,100,000, but subsidy was limited to £250,000.

Answering a question from Dr. J.

Cairns (Lab., Vic.) on whether the Government had taken steps to en sure that when oil was discovered the field was not shut down, Senator Spooner said that the Petroleum

(Prospecting and Mining) Ordinance

contained full provisions to ensure that production of oil and gas was carried out in accordance with ac

cepted oilfield practice.

* The 1962-63 Budget lifted total ex penditure on oil search subsidy from £2.7 million to £5 million, but because of the increased number of applications, the maximum amount of subsidy payable for any one operation has been cut from 50 per cent, to 30 per cent.

Progress of Pacific Islands

Mines Ltd.

There has been a sharp fall in the Stock Exchange quotations for Pacific Islands Mines Ltd.—the new company which is developing the gold deposits on the island of Misima, in Eastern Papua.

The 2/6 shares have been selling at be tween 1/1 and 1/3.

There is no discernible cause for this, except a world-wide slump in share values generally. The company’s staff, working three shifts a day, has only just started driving the 1,000 feet adit to the spot where it expects to reach the main lode: and no results can be reported until at least 900 feet have been driven. The work is being done by Papuans, directed by European mine technicians.

Southern Pacific Insurance's

Profit Well Up

Southern Pacific Insurance Co. Ltd. (one of the W. R. Carpenter group) showed a rise of 28.7 per cent, in net profit for the year ended March 31 last up £26,480 to a total of £122,238.

Dividend, unchanged at 12 V 2 per cent., absorbs £30,000. Tax provision is shown at £22,715. Income from investments rose £9,914 to £89,241.

Investments of the company and its subsidiary, Southern Cross Marine In surance Co. Ltd., are shown at cost at £1,278,011. This includes Government bonds at cost £200,214, with a market value of £203,185; and shares, debentures and fixed deposits in listed companies, £980,342 (market value £1,444,748).

Net premium income dropped £84,681 lo £986,518.

Dividend Again For

Plantation Holdings

Plantation Holdings Ltd., of New Guinea, plans a return to the dividend list with a final payment of 7 per cent, for the year to June 30, according to a recent announcement by the directors.

The results for the year have not yet been made public (to late October).

In the 12 months to June, 1961, direc tors recommended a payment of 5 per cent, from a profit of £13,324 —only 6.3 per cent, earning rate on ordinary capital. However, at the annual meeting shareholders rejected the motion in order to preserve liquidity.

The last dividend paid was 12 per cent, in 1959-60 from £20,763 earnings.

Hackshall's Disclose First

Group Profits

Hackshall’s Ltd., bakers and general merchants, which has three subsidiaries in Fiji (including the thriving Pacific Biscuit Co. Ltd., Union Soaps Pty. Ltd., and Pacific Soaps Ltd., which has a copra crushing mill), has published group ac counts for the first time. They showed a group profit of £112,391 for the year ended June 30.

In addition to its Islands interests, Hackshall’s has 11 subsidiaries in NSW and one in Victoria.

For the fifth successive year the ordinary dividend is 15 per cent, (absorb ing £75,937).

The profit remained after providing £42,402 for depreciation and £54,270 for tax. Parent profit showed its 20th successive rise at £85,419 —up £BB5.

The group accounts showed a sub stantial hidden reserve in investments which at June 30 had a market value of £1,011,883, compared with a book value of £703.468.

Bulolo Delays Decision

On Take-Over Offer

A year ago, in October, 1961, Placer Development Ltd. offered to buy out Bulolo Gold Dredging Ltd., New Guinea, on the basis of a 1-Placer for 3-Bulolo shares and it was announced that BGD share holders “would meet early next year to consider the offer”, which was open until July 11, 1962. Since then, however, all efforts to find out how the plan was progressing met with silence.

But BCD’s latest quarterly report supplies the reason for the delay and announced that the offer had been ex tended to October 23—extended again, then, to May 31, 1963. (Over)

The report said that the hold-up was because one of the chief matters out standing is the obligation of the Australian Government to pay a subsidy to Common wealth-NG Timbers Ltd. if the products of that company attracted Customs duty on entry into Australia. The last pay ment by the Government as subsidy (or refund of duty) was made for the year ended June 30, 1959.

The actual amount of subsidy that will be paid in respect of duty paid since, is as yet not determined, but represents a basic factor in the value of the BGD’s shareholding in Commonwealth-NG Timbers.

As this shareholding is one of BGD’s principal assets, directors consider that it is virtually impossible to proceed with the offer for purchase of assets until this determination has been made. “The position has been made known to the Australian Government, and it is hoped that a decision will soon be made”, said the directors.

Placer Dev. Profit Down,

But Dividend Goes Up

Placer Development Ltd., which has a 20 per cent, interest in Bulolo Gold Dredging Ltd., New Guinea (and hopes to own it completely soon—see above), earned a slightly lower profit in the year ended April 30. $2,615,927 Canadian —a decline of $119,376.

Despite this, dividends for the year total 80 cents a share, compared with 70 cents the previous year. Since April the com pany has lifted its annual dividend rate to $1 a share.

The balance sheet shows a big jump in cash from $3,555,683 to $8,242,823, and a drop in Government securities from $5,326,575 to $854,083.

Investment income includes $230,000 from Pato Consolidated Gold Dredging Ltd., South America. Since the balancing date. Placer has sold its Pato holding for $3,413,523 Canadian cash, representing a profit of about $1,850,000.

Loloma (Fiji) GM Plans

Big Capital Reshuffle

Formerly one of the two big gold mining companies in Fiji, Loloma (Fiji) Gold Mines NL will seek to reconstruct and increase its capital at an extraordinary meeting of shareholders in December.

Loloma nowadays is mainly an invest ment concern and sub-underwriter, since it sold its mining interests to a sister company, Emperor Mines Ltd., for an issue of Emperor shares in 1960. paid " u P capital is £93,375 in 650.000 contributing 5/- shares paid to tV 6 , an i 180 -000 fully paid 5/- shares.

Under the new proposals, holders of both contributing and fully paid shares will transfer their holdings for 2/- fully paid shares on a 3-for-l basis. Thus, after reconstruction, capital will be £247,500 in 2/ - shares of the one class.

The proposals will not become effective Court sanc^ioned ky Victorian Supreme

Carpenter Group's Profit

Lifted by Nearly 40 Per Cent.

An increase of 38.3 per cent, in net profit for W. R. Carpenter Holdings Ltd. —from £1,032,181 to £1,427,903 —allowed it to maintain the 15 per cent, dividend rate on higher capital for the year ended September 30. During the year, capital rose by £1,126,409 to £3,933,093. mainly the result of taking over Claude Neon Industries Ltd.

Taxation provision is £234.754 higher at £735,398, while the £970,433 allowance for depreciation and amortisation com pares with £315,110 previously. Outside shareholders’ interests rose from £58.201 to £69,099. Directors’ fees were up from £23,002 to £29,499.

After allowing for dividend payment and appropriation of £28,667 to revenue reserves, a balance of £809,262 is carried forward.

Current assets rose during the year from £8,134.770 to £10,448.988 and current liabilities from £5,194,959 to £7,312,281.

Sangara, Sandy Creek

Shares Drop Lower

Sydney Stock Exchange quotations for the shares of Sandy Creek Gold Sluicing Ltd. and Sangara (Holdings) Ltd. had dropped almost to rock bottom by late October following developments in the affairs of Hamac Holdings Ltd. and P-NG Development Corporation in Port Moresby in September.

Sandy Creek’s shares were quoted at 3d, compared with 10V 2 d in late Sep tember and 1/3 to 1/8 in August; and Sangara’s shares were at 5V 2 d compared with 1/IV 2 to 1/3 in late September and 1/9 in August.

In September, a receiver for the dis senting creditors of Hamac was appointed to control certain Hamac assets, including the Wau, Goroka and Lae hotels. This followed P-NG Development’s failure to pay certain debts owing to Hamac’s creditors, which it had undertaken to pay by September 1, 1962.

Sangara became involved in the trans actions when it bought the Wau, Goroka and Lae hotels and a controlling interest in New Guinea Breweries at Lae from P-NG Development last May. These properties had previously been owned by Hamac. It is supposed that Sangara’s purchase was cancelled when P-NG Development failed to pay Hamac’s debts; but no statement has been issued by the parties concerned.

Sandy Creek’s involvement followed its acquisition of £150,000 8 per cent, registered mortgage debentures in Sangara in mid-July (“PIM”, Aug., p. 164).

A summary of the events leading up to the present situation was given in “PIM” in October, p. 165.

Best Market for Rice

Nearly 30,000 tons of rice are imported annually by Papua-New Guinea from Aus tralia, and the Territory is the industry’s best export market, said Mr. C. E. Dalton, manager of the Rice Marketing Board on his return to Sydney in October after a fortnight in various P-NG centres.