Pacific islands monthly : PIM

Call Number
N 919 PAC
Created/Published
[Sydney : Pacific Publications, 1931-2000
Issue
Vol. 1 No. 11 (Jun. 19, 1931)
Images
16
View Catalogue

Contents

THE Pacific Islands Monthly 1
N. CALEDONIA TRADE Driven From Australia Possibilities of Developing N.Z. Market 1
FIJI’S EXPORTS Trade Holds Well 1
NIUAFOOU’S MAIL “Tin-Can” Delivery Suspended 1
TUNG OIL CULTURE Climatic Dangers Warning From Auckland 1
Papuan Sugar New Industry Planned Satisfactory Results At Sangara 1
Sir Hubert Murray Invited to Science Congress 1
NEW GUINEA’S AERIAL TRANSPORT 1
RECOVERY OF COCONUT OIL American Chemist Introduces a New Bacterial Process CLAIMED TO BE MUCH CHEAPER AND BETTER THAN CRUSHING 1 , 2
Advertising 2
COST OF SOUTH SEA TRADING What “Small Man” Has To Meet INTERESTING ITEMS FROM SOLOMONS 2
Advertising 2
THURSDAY IS. NOTES Trochus Shell Price Improves—Opportunity for Local Industries 3
UNIQUE TRANSPORT SERVICE How Aeroplanes Supply N. G. Goldfields SENIOR COMPANY MAKES £22,000 3
Advertising 3 , 4
THE COOK ISLANDS Further Changes in Administration Staff—Fruit Season In Full Swing 4
RADIO IN THE ISLANDS 4
CONDITION OF COOK ISLANDS Statements Challenged 4
THURSDAY ISLAND SHELL For Australian-Made Buttons 4
Advertising 4
CREDIT FACILITIES IN NEW HEBRIDES Difficult Situation COMPLEXITIES OF EXCHANGE 5
Advertising 5
RABAUL EN FETE During Macdhui’s Visit 5
Company’s Position No Restriction or Limit 5
Advertising 5 , 6
Sickness at Pt. Moresby Severe North-West Season 6
Advertising 6
THE LAST OF THE SOUTH SEAS PIRATES Mortelmans Completes His “Penal Servitude for Life” 6
DEATH OF LADY HEDSTROM Well Known Fiji Resident 6
Advertising 6
PAPUAN NEWS Trade Outlook Unfavourable—Success of New Industries—Disappointing Results from Tauri Goldfield. 7
Advertising 7
AERIAL TRANSPORT Salamoa to Wau 7
Advertising 7
Anti-Mosquito War Need for Extensive Campaign BRISBANE DOCTOR’S VALUABLE WORK 7
Advertising 7
Growing Tragedy of Australia's Pacific Trade 8
TROPIC A LITIES 8
Drought Affects Haapai Crops Tongan Government Votes £1,000 For Relief 8
EMPTY TINS POPULAR IN PAPUA 8
Personal Notes from Rabaul 8
NEW GUINEA MASSACRE Well-Known Prospector Killed OTHER PARTIES ATTACKED 8
HINDU PUNDITS 8
LUCK OF THE MACDHUI Mr. Snellgrove’s Gat 9
COPRA SLUMP Relief For Planters MORATORIUM CONTINUES Other Measures Under Consideration 9
M.V. MAUI POMARE May Revert to Private Enterprise 9
Crushing Started On New Guinea Goldfields Second Stage of Development Is Opened 9
Sixteen Pages Growth of The Pacific Islands Monthly 9
N. GUINEA STAMPS New Commemorative Issue 9
Caterpillars Trouble Fiji Introduction of Starlings Proposed 9
’PLANE MISSING On N. Guinea Goldfields 9
ISLANDS SERVICES IMPROVED New Guinea Gets Two Steamers a Month MORINDA TO ESTABLISH SYDNEY – NORFOLK ISLAND-AUCKLAND SERVICE 9
LEAD MINING Possibilities in Papua 9
Advertising 10
Gerbault Leaving France On Second Pacific Cruise 10
Advertising 10
DISTRACTED SAMOA Recent Comment In This Journal Hon. O. F. NELSON’S REPLY 10
COPRA INSPECTION Good Work In New Guinea GRADING AND BRANDING HAVE IMPROVED PRICE 10
Advertising 10
Rev. James Chalmers—Missionary and Explorer Tribute to the Work Of A Great Man 11 , 12
Advertising 11 , 12
FIJI'S KICK Australian Goods Pay Bigger Duty PREFERENCE FOR BRITAIN, N. Z., AND CANADA 12
NEW GUINEA NEWS Much Building Activity Round of Social Functions 12
NORFOLK IS. TRADE Figures For April 12
Advertising 12 , 13
NOTES FROM FIJI Well-known Priest’s Tragic Death 13
GLOOMY VIEW OF COPRA POSITION 13
Cocoa Seeds Wanted For Trial on Thursday Island 13
Advertising 13 , 14
News from Norfolk Island Improved Shipping Service—Influx of Settlers and Tourists Expected—Hopeful Future 14
MAOPA MISSING Believed Wrecked Near Labasa ’PLANE SEARCH FAILS 14
IN EASTERN POLYNESIA Tahiti Feels the Copra Slump 14
Morris Hedstrom Ltd. Last Year’s Profit Company’s Internal Strength 14
Advertising 14
PRODUCTS OF THE SOUTH SEAS Why Copra Has Fallen to £lO-5-0 Per Ton 15
NEW GUINEA AND PAPUAN GOLD SHAREMARKET Activities of the Companies 15
Market Quotations Range of Prices 15
OTHER ISLANDS PRODUCE. 15
PASSION FRUIT Canada’s Interest Inquiries About Norfolk Is. 15
LUCKY MOTHER Wins £l000 Prize £25 FOR FIJI 15
FRIENDS WANTED 15
Advertising 15
Shipping Services in The Pacific 16
Advertising 16
“Head-He-Go-Round” N. G. Natives See Visions Vailala Madness Recalled 16
Advertising 16

Text

THE  

Pacific Islands  

Monthly  

THE ONLY JOURNAL CIRCULATING THROUGHOUT THE ISLAND TERRITORIES AND GROUPS  

OF THE CENTRAL AND SOUTH PACIFIC.  

Vol. 1—No. 11.  

Registered at G.P.O., Sydney, for  

transmission by Post as Newspaper  

SYDNEY: FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 1931.  

Single Copy, Bd.  

Per Annum, posted, 8/-.  

N. CALEDONIA  

TRADE  

Driven From Australia  

Possibilities of Developing N.Z.  

Market  

BLOCKED out of Australia by re  

cent developments and by tariff  

wall, New Caledonia is looking to  

New Zealand to see if there are possi  

bilities for trade in the Dominion, ac  

cording to Miss D. Miller, of the  

Auckland University College, who has  

just returned from holiday there.  

The island must have flour, butter,  

sugar and cheese, and New Zealand  

could supply at least two of these  

commodities. Hitherto, New Caledonia  

had dealt with the Commonwealth,  

said Miss Miller, in newspaper inter  

view, but they were being blocked by  

hostile tariff and by the depression  

in Australia.  

When Miss Miller went to New Cale  

donia she changed her Australian  

money for francs and in return for  

£1 she received 109 francs. That was  

in December. When she came away  

just recently the rate had fallen to  

93 francs per £1.  

The island was rich in minerals of  

many kinds and produced fruit of  

descriptions. Recently, its market for  

the latter in Australia was blocked,  

owing to the stipulation from the Com  

monwealth that each fruit must bear  

stem and two leaves.  

In France, Miss Miller said, New  

Caledonian coffee was supposed to be  

the best obtainable.  

The difficulty at present was to ob  

tain finance to develop the island. Un  

der the French colonial system all  

officials were appointed from France.  

Consequently, they did not look upon  

the island as their home and spent  

as little money there as possible. The  

result was obvious.  

Members of the New Caledonia  

House of Representatives had asked  

Miss Miller whether it was possible for  

better trade relations to exist between  

New Zealand and New Caledonia. On  

their part, they were very anxious  

that it 'Should be so, as it might  

mean their salvation. They were  

struggling hard against overwhelming  

odds and were prepared to do anything  

which might ameliorate the position.  

They would send boat to New Zea  

land via Norfolk Island, with produce  

from New Caledonia, if given any  

prospects of being able to dispose of  

their produce.  

FIJI’S EXPORTS  

Trade Holds Well  

From Our Own Correspondent.  

SUVA, May 28.  

THE returns for revenue from out  

side trade for the three months  

ending Marfth were considerably  

below the estimates, according to the  

report cf Mr. Wilson, Comptroller of  

Customs. The figures are as follow;  

March Qr. March Qr.  

1931 1930  

Exports £250,644 £366,186  

Imports £222,644 £354,308  

Details of the exports, compared with  

the exports in the same quarter of 1930,  

are as follow;  

Sugar, 1931, 19,407 tons, £148,239; 1930,  

15,154 tons, £181,683.  

Copra, 1931, 5,350 tons, £64,419; 1930,  

7,385 tons. £122,381.  

Bananas, 1931, 21,339 cases, £11,541.  

Other products, 1931, £25,677; 1930,  

£40,871.  

The position, however, does not leave  

the Comptroller very pessimistic. As  

he points out, the revenue generally  

picks up after the first quarter, and by  

the third quarter quite third of the  

year’s revenue has come in.  

The trade generally is showing signs  

of holding its own fairly well. The one  

thing needed to make things recover  

quickly is strong, upward tendency  

in the copra market, as copra, after all,  

affects more of our white population  

than any other of our exported com  

modities.  

NIUAFOOU’S MAIL  

“Tin-Can” Delivery Suspended  

THE “tin-can” mail at Niuafoou has  

been suspended. On the last trip  

of the Tofua, the mail was  

brought out to the steamer in cata  

maran. It is not known whether this  

new method of transporting His Ma  

jesty’s mails will be adopted perman  

ently.  

letter from resident of the is  

land to the purser of the Tofua ex  

plained the reason for the departure  

from the famous old custom of receiv  

ing and delivering the mail by sealed  

kerosene tin, pushed by swimming na  

tives. man-eating shark was hold  

ing sway around the island, and two  

days prior to the Tofua’s visit, it had  

attacked native fisherman, who was  

so badly gashed that he died later  

from shock and loss of blood. This  

monster was still around and evident  

ly it was considered too much of  

risk to subject the natives, who take  

the “tin-can,” to the danger of an at  

tack.  

TUNG OIL CULTURE  

Climatic Dangers  

Warning From Auckland  

IN forwarding certain pamphlets to  

The Pacific Islands Monthly, the  

the Secretary of the New Zealand  

Tung Oil Corporation Ltd., of Auck  

land, N.Z., very courteously provides  

the following in  

formation about  

tung oil tree cul  

ture, gathered as  

the result of prac  

tical experience:  

“The tung oil  

tree will grow in  

many places. But  

your readers  

should note that  

where there is no  

drought or late  

frosts, and the  

difference in tem  

perature is not  

very marked, this  

tree becomes an  

evergreen, and  

then it will not  

bear nuts.  

spread-over rain  

fall seems to be  

essential from  

30 to 50 inches  

per annum is sat  

isfactory, if well  

distributed.  

“These points  

should be con  

sidered before one  

commits himself  

to planting in  

large way. The  

people up Pen  

nant Hills way  

(New South  

Wales) are very  

wisely going slow  

ly at first.”  

Papuan Sugar  

New Industry Planned  

Satisfactory Results At  

Sangara  

THE cultivation of sugar cane in  

Papua is at present receiving  

great deal of attention.  

Planting has been already carried  

out in the Sangara District, and our  

Port Moresby correspondent states that  

there are rumours that the Sangara  

Sugar Syndicate is negotiating in Aus  

tralia for the formation of company  

on fairly large scale.  

The initial operations of this syn  

dicate, it is claimed, have proved  

entirely satisfactory.  

Besides the Sangara Company, new  

enterprise—Papuan Rural Products  

Ltd. has been formed, with head  

quarters in Melbourne, to exploit the  

natural advantages of the Territory  

for growing sugar cane and manufac  

turing sugar and its various by-pro  

ducts. This company, which has  

nominal capital of £25,000, is now  

making public issue of 40,000 bonds  

of £30 each.  

It has selected 20,000 acres of land  

short distance Inland from the shores  

of Colling woca Bay, in the North-  

Eastern division of the Territory. The  

land was chosen by Queensland  

sugar expert.  

In connection with sugar cultivation  

in Papua, Sir Hubert Murray, the Lieu  

tenant-Governor, in his last report,  

said: “There is ground for confident  

hope that our advantages of climate,  

soil, rainfall and labour will enable  

Papuan sugar planters to compete suc  

cessfully on the world’s markets against  

producers in any other country.”  

Sir Hubert Murray Invited  

to Science Congress  

From Our Own Correspondent  

PORT MORESBY, May 28.  

HIS Excellency, Sir Hubert Murray,  

has received an invitation from  

the Australasian Association for  

the Advancement of Science, to be one  

of its representatives at the Centenary  

Meeting of the British Association, to  

be held in London on September 23 to  

30 of this year.  

It is not yet certain whether His  

Excellency will be able to leave the  

Territory, but if so, Sir Hubert will be  

accompanied by Lady Murray and will  

leave Papua in July. He expects to  

be away for four or five months.  

NEW GUINEA’S AERIAL TRANSPORT  

RECOVERY OF COCONUT OIL  

American Chemist Introduces New  

Bacterial Process  

CLAIMED TO BE MUCH CHEAPER AND BETTER  

THAN CRUSHING  

DISCOVERY of first-rate importance to the copra industry was made  

in 1929 by an American chemist, Mr. John W. Beckman, of California.  

It is described in the following article, which is taken from paper  

written by Mr. Beckman and entitled “Recovery of Vegetable Oils and Fats by  

Bacterial Process.”  

“The process,” says Mr. Beckman, in letter to The Pacific Islands  

Monthly, “works perfectly on coconuts; and one of the largest coconut-oil  

producers in the world is at present (April, 1931) carrying on extensive  

experiments and investigation of the process, with the idea of installing same  

at various points. It may interest you to know that plant, using the same  

principle, is going to be installed in India for the manufacture of ground-nut  

oil.”  

Mr. Beckman’s paper, presented to learned body in America, follows:  

FATS have from time immemorial  

been food essential to the  

human race, as well as an acces  

sory in the arts and in the toilette.  

The recovery of this essential article  

has from the very first been by means  

of pressure after the fat-carrying mat  

erial had received suitable preliminary  

treatment. As technical skill has ad  

vanced, the methods of applying pres  

sure have been improved and the  

pressure has been increased, until at  

present it seems as if the ultimate in  

pressure has been attained. There  

remains, so far as the pressure meth  

ods are concerned, only the improving  

of the accessory treatment of the  

materials crushed.  

The vegetable-oil industry is justly  

rated as chemical industry, since the  

ultimate product is chemical and the  

material in which the oil is contained  

is of chemical nature, though the  

method of recovery as practiced to date  

is mechanical only. Some late devel  

opments have been made of extracting  

the oil with solvent, but the use of  

this process is so limited that no  

reference has been made to it here.  

And it has seemed as though there  

were no other possible approach for  

the recovery of the oil considering the  

nature of the raw material and the  

delicacy of the oil.  

Take, for example, the coconut,  

which contains in its dried condition  

as copra about 64 per cent, of oil. The  

oil-containing cells are so small that  

even by passing the dried nut through  

grinding mill only limited amount  

of oil is freed and the cell walls are  

so tough that added troubles are en  

countered when the oil is expelled by  

mechanical means. Therefore, various  

high-temperature treatments of the  

nut are necessary before the cell walls  

become brittle enough to crush under  

the high pressure and so release the  

oil.  

Theoretical Basis of Process  

The cell walls are composed of cellu  

lose, other carbohydrates like sugars,  

and proteins. It would appear that  

these facts might suggest chemical  

means of liberating oil from vegetable  

oilbearing materials. If so, the prob  

lem then evolves around how to find  

some solvent for the cell walls that  

will liberate the oil, so that it may be  

recovered without any high pressure  

other than that used on filter press.  

It seems unlikely that any inorganic  

substance could be found that would  

attack at least two of these substances  

and make them water-soluble, and in  

so doing would not affect either the  

oil or the residue, which is very valu  

able as cattle feed. The other alter  

native would be to find some organic  

means in the shape of enzymes or  

similar substances that might attack  

the cell walls, making them in whole  

or part water-soluble, and in such  

fashion break down the cells and re  

lease the oil. Such process should  

not involve many steps and should be  

simple both in principle and in actual  

operation. Preferably also should the  

enzymes be formed directly through  

some action upon the substances con  

tained in the cell walls themselves.  

There is very prevalent hardy and  

vigorous anaerobic and thermophilic  

bacterium, Bacillus delbruecki, that is  

easy to obtain from brewer’s malt,  

which will attack sugars, changing  

them into lactic acid, and produce in  

so doing an enzyme which vigorously  

attacks proteins, changing them into  

water-soluble amino acids. This bac  

terium has been pressed into service  

in new oil-recovery process not based  

upon the old principle of pressure.  

The temperature at which these or  

ganisms prefer to work is 50 deg. C.,  

and this fact makes it possible to  

operate under conditions that are self  

sterilising, since most organisms are  

either killed at that heat or inhibited  

in their activities. If culture of this  

organism made from brewer’s malt is  

mixed with disintegrated nuts, such as  

copra, together with weighed amount  

of ground limestone and sufficient  

water to form mush, and the result  

ing mixture is placed in an incubator  

at the desired temperature, with exclu  

(CONTINUED ON PAGE 2)  

Swimming out with the mail at Niuafoou.  

Unloading boiler weighing 5,9001b. from one of the new Junker 'planes at Bulolo  

aerodrome, New Guinea Goldfields. In the right background can be seen the main camp  

of Bulolo Gold Dredging Limited.  

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(1931). Pacific islands monthly : PIM Retrieved February 16, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-333566605

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{{Citation
  |
  | title=Pacific islands monthly : PIM.
  | year=1931
  | section=v. : illustrations ; 28-42 cm.
  | issn=0030-8722
  | issue=Vol. 1 No. 11 (Jun. 19, 1931)
  | location=[Sydney
  | publisher=Pacific Publications
  | url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-333566605
  | id=nla.obj-333566605
  | access-date=16 February 2025
  | via=Trove
}}

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