Pacific Commerce and Produce

Hopeful

Sugar

Outlook

Iji Crushing Begins May 1

respects for Fiji’s sugar industry year are encouraging, accord to the independent chairman of industry, Mr. Justice Marsack. said it was hoped to produce ,000 tons of sugar—the full nal crushing capacity of the four s in an extended season.

R. Justice Marsack Warned

that continuing production at above the 255,000-ton level was ect not only to future world sugar Let trends, but also to policies i at inter-government levels, re was also the definite possibility the UN International Sugar cement, which restricted exports stabilise prices and the operation vhich was temporarily suspended, ht be revived soon. [e listed four factors contributing the encouraging prospects for 3: > Production of cane was expected be higher than in 1962; > Little difficulty was expected in ing all sugar produced in Fiji ing the year; > Relations among growers, kers, tradesmen and millers were d, and all concerned seemed to ise that their own welfare and sperity were inevitably bound up i the welfare and prosperity of industry as a whole; and > A programme of renewals and acements was being carried out he mills at a cost to South Pacific ar Mills Ltd. of over £1,000,000. that should result in increased acity for 1963, and an additional )00 tons for 1964. leanwhile, SPSM Ltd. plans to duce 275,000 tons of sugar this r, after having received approval n the Sugar Board. To meet the ;et, the crushing season will be ger than usual—starting at the 5e big mills, Lautoka, Rarawai and >asa, on May 1, and at Penang May 21. SPSM expects it will take 15,000 tons of cane to make ,000 tons of sugar.

New Timber Plans For Morobe

The P-NG Administration’s first and largest timber lease will be closed down this year after 70 -million super feet of timber have been taken from it.

THE lease is in the Busu River area of Lae, and was bought by the Administration in 1953. It takes in 21,320 acres.

The area includes some of the most fertile land in the Lae sub-district.

Plans are now in hand for the sub division of cleared areas for agricul tural development and more land settlement projects.

Timber removed from the lease by the permit holder, South Pacific Tim ber Ltd., was processed at the com pany’s Lae mill for internal use and for export. The company was the first in the Territory to install log-peeling equipment to process hardwood logs.

The company sold the veneer out put to Commonwealth New Guinea Timbers Ltd., Bulolo, for use as core sheets to increase plywood produc tion.

The Administration plans to extend one of the logging roads built through the area by South Pacific Timbers Ltd. as the start of the road from Lae to Finschhafen.

Meanwhile the Administration has started a project to develop the full potential of another 350 square miles of timber land in the Lae area. The Department of Forests has acquired the timber rights over 80,000 acres of the land, which stretches 79 miles from the Comsis Creek area to the Waria River, on the Morobe coast.

The department will establish an ex perimental forestry station on 175 acres, near the Lae-Bulolo Road, about 10 miles from Lae.

The timber in the area is a hard wood, suitable for plywood and for building. It is expected that timber from the region will satisfy Lae’s future requirements.

No Decision on Nl Whaling

There has been no finality about the disposal of assets of Norfolk Island Whal ing Co. Ltd. which was put up for sale recently by tender closing March 6; and the liquidators of the company have extended the closing date for tenders to April 16.

Assets of the company are valued around £153,000 for land, buildings, tankers, chasers, and stocks and stores.

Two associate whaling companies, one in NSW, and the other in NZ, were put up for sale at the same time.

One of the two liquidators, Mr. A. D.

Bridges, left Sydney on a quick business trip to Europe, via NZ, in mid-March.

PI Mines Lode Assayed

Assay of the new lode intercepted in February during the driving of an adit to reach the main Umuna lode of Pacific Island Mines Ltd., Misima Is., Eastern Papua, showed: “Gold, 5.94 pennyweights per ton; silver, 25.68 oz per ton; zinc, 10.175 per cent.; copper, .934 per cent.; and lead, .707 per cent.”.

The company says that the discovery appears to be a parallel lode located some 600 ft west of Umuna lode and its com mercial possibilities will be fully explored at a later stage. Meanwhile, the adit is advancing at over 180 ft per month —at March 25 it was 751 ft in, with the Umuna lode expected to be first inter sected at 900 ft, sometime in May. (Over)

WRC Dividend Steady

W. R. Carpenter Holdings Ltd. interim dividend is unchanged at 7y 2 per cent, on capital increased by last year’s l-for-4 issue at a premium of 7/6. The issue raised paid capital from £4,000,000 to £5,000,000.

The company had completed its pur chase of the parcel in Woolworths’ shares formerly held by Rockmans Ltd. (a sub sidiary of Factors Ltd.).

Associate and subsidiary companies have fully maintained their activities in the Islands and in Australia, produce prices have been held at satisfactory levels, and the turnover fully maintained, the directors stated in March.

Tuna Freezing at Levuka

Pacific Fishing Co. Ltd., which plans to establish a tuna freezing plant at Levuka, Fiji, has applied for a protected in dustries licence. The Fiji Executive Council was expected to consider the application at the end of March.

The promoters of the venture plan to base 30 Japanese fishing ships of 99 tons each at Levuka in the first instance, and eventually raise the number to 105.

In addition to a fish-freezing plant, the Japanese proposal envisages the establish ment of a fish-meal plane. Fish-meal is needed in Fiji for stock, pig and poultry feed.

Total cost of the installation, apart from fishing ships, is expected to exceed £500,000, of which a substantial pro portion will be spent on local building materials and local construction costjs.

The company expects to employ some 70 local people at the start, excluding those employed on construction work.

According to a Fiji Government state ment, the project should result in £50,000 a year being spent at Levuka, and when the number of ships increased above 30, the figure would rise considerably. The Government is confident that, if the in dustry is established, it will provide a worthwhile addition to the Fiji economy, a strong stimulus to Levuka and additional revenue to the Colony.

Profits from Rubber

Three Papua rubber companies, Kerema, Mariboi and Rubberlands, have announced their latest results, Kerema and Rubber lands for the year, and Mariboi for the half-year. They are; KEREMA —Directors recommend a final of 2V 2 per cent., making 7y 2 per cent, for the year ended December 31, 1962.

Net profit was £5,179, down about 50 per cent, on £lO,BOB in 1961, and well below the 1960 figure of £24,050.

RUBBERLANDS—FinaI dividend of 2y 2 per cent, will make the year’s dividend 7y 2 per cent. Net profit was £10,535, almost steady on the 1961 return of £10,389, but well down on the 1960 net of £20,832.

MARIBOI —Directors have decided on an interim dividend of five per cent, on a net profit of £11,731 for the half-year (£10,836 and an interim of five per cent, in 1961).

Directors report that production for the six months to December 31, 1962, was 506,499 lb, compared with 508,002 lbs for the corresponding period of 1961. Average price for rubber in the latest half-year was 2/3.96d per lb, compared with 2/6.71d in the similar 1961 period; however, lower production costs enabled profits to be maintained.

Koitaki's Rate Higher

Koitaki Para Rubber Estates Ltd., Papua, has lifted the dividend rate from 22 y 2 to 25 per cent, with an interim of 12 y 2 per cent. Last year, after a 1-for-l bonus, it paid interim 10 per cent, and a final 12 V 2 per cent.

Directors say the final dividend will depend on trading conditions and the world price of rubber.

The group’s subsidiary, Koitaki Planta tions Ltd., lifted output from 525,300 lb to 632,700 lb during the year to Decem ber, but the average rubber price fell by about 2y 4 d per lb in the period, off setting much of the increased production benefits.

Kinjibi Makes a Profit

A report dated March 19 to share holders of Kinjibi Holdings Ltd. (man agers for two coffee estates, Kinjibi at Banz, and Norikori at Kainantu) by the chairman Mr. M. W. Flack, seems to indicate that the present board and man agement are meeting with some success in their efforts to rehabilitate the affairs of the company, after a period of many difficulties and much criticism of its activities in the 1958-61 period.

Mr. C. W. P. Ford, managing director, visited the NG properties last year, re porting that Kinjibi was in excellent con dition, but costs and returns at Norikori were not satisfactory.

Kinjibi showed a profit to December 31, 1962, said Mr. Flack, and the com pany is now “living within its income” while awaiting the result of substantial additional acreage of seedlings planted in 1962 and to be planted in 1963. Norikori incurred a loss for 1962, but a detailed investigation of the plantation by Mr. R.

R. Bell (who has recently retired as Kinjibi’s plantation manager and now is on the Sydney Board) has led to remedial measures.

Fiji Industries Profit

Fiji Industries Ltd., cement manufac turers at Lami, near Suva, earned a profit for the six months ended December 31, 1962, and are now trading on a profit earning basis, directors reported in March.

Sales for the period continued to in crease and showed a marked improvement on the first trading period of about two months to June 30. A small quantity of export business has already been obtained.

Native Business Advisory Service

The P-NG Trade and Industry Depart ment has established a business advisory service to advise and help natives who wish to start their own businesses. This includes Islanders who wish to undertake small-scale business activities such as building sub-contracts, transport services and selling primary produce on the home market. The first office has been opened in Maloney’s Buildings, Cuthbertson St., Port Moresby, in charge of Mr. L. A.

Edwards. Arrangements are in hand to open similar offices at other main centres.

Papuans in the last nine months have received practical assistance for small scale enterprises through loans to buy outboard motors. Loans already total about £l,BOO. In recent years, Papuans have come to realise the opportunities which exist for the development of small, but well organised fishing enterprises along the coastal areas of the Central District.

Most fishing groups have been successful and several of them have already repaid their loans.

The South Pacific Commission, in March, sent a 13-member group from other Pacific Territories (including BSI, New Hebrides, Nauru and US Trust Territory) through P-NG to study the way in which business methods have been developed by Papuans and New Guineans.

Steamships Good Trading

Steamships Trading Co. Ltd., Port Moresby, reported a half-year to Decem ber with record sales and profit for the period. Interim dividend has been raised to 4d a 5/- share, equal to 6-2/3 per

cent. This confirms the higher 13per cent, annual rate, paid last yeai an interim 3%d and final 4y 4 d (aftei years of 12 y 2 per cent, payouts), latest result was achieved without eluding any figures from the rece acquired subsidiary, Colyer Watson (] Ltd.

Robt. Gillespie's Progress

The official manager of Robert Gille Pty. Ltd., Mr. C. A. Law, who took ( last August from the receiver (appoii when the company got into difficultie! early 1962), has called a creditors’ m ing on April 8 to receive an int( report. The meeting will be asked authorise him to pay in full the ch of ex-Australian creditors of the comp (estimated at £13,176 at July 31, 19 and to authorise his continuance official manager until October 31.

Robert Gillespie Pty. Ltd., reports Law, acquired 2,140 shares in Ro Gillespie (NG) Ltd. on November 22, 1 for £22,000 (the amount required satisfy a secured charge on the shar it previously held 2,650 of the 5,347 iss shares.

Mr. Law said recent negotiations y an unnamed public company to sell Gillespie group on a take-over basis not reach the stage of an offer b( submitted.

Mr. Law advised creditors that, w the companies’ trading operations being conducted at a profit, any si that may have been contemplated place the parent company in liquida should be deferred. He could, howe give no definite estimate of likely d dends or possible dates of payment Australian unsecured creditors.