Australians

Grown at Garaina

Will Try

N. Guinea Tea

From a Port Moresby Correspondent Australians will get a chance to drink New Guinea-grown tea

shortly. A trial shipment is being

organised to test market reaction in Australia.

NEW Guinea tea is a new develop ment. The scheme is being sponsored by the Administration at Garaina, in the Morobe district, where a tea factory was opened last August after many years of planning and delays.

There are at present 300 acres of plucking tea at Garaina. The factory is able to process the output from only 100 acres but before making the next move the Administration wants to test the tea-growing possibilities of the Territory and see whether tea can be produced to com pete on the world market.

Australia annually imports 63 million lb of tea, worth nearly £l3 million, and a share in this and other overseas markets could mean a valu able export industry. About £117,000 a year is spent on tea imports to

Png.

Impressive Samples

The decision to test the Australian market was made by an Australian firm which received samples it regarded as impressive.

Another Australian tea importing firm which received samples said the tea compared favourably with many grades of tea from established grow ing countries. This firm made some suggestions for altering the manu facturing process.

Two samples were also sent to London. One firm said it was not interested in teas from new produc ing countries. The other gave an encouraging report.

The P-NG Acting Director of Agriculture, Mr. A. E. Charles, said in Port Moresby that these reactions to the samples were “very encourag ing” and improvements would be made in the processing techniques at Garaina to meet trade requirements. [New Guinea already exports coffee.]