NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1011, 29 December 1910, Page 8

NOTES.

A "communication from. Vancouver states that all tjie powder companies of Canada except one liave been merged into a combine, with a capital of £2.CC0.CC0,, under the name of the British Canadian Explosives Limited. The Giant Powder Company of- San Francisco, which has a branch factorv at Telegraph Bay, near Victoria, 8.C., is reported t-) have stood aloof from the combine, which; however, includes the Dupont Powder Company of . Delaware (which has not previously operated in Canada), the Nobel Corporation, owning many mills in Europe, the Hamilton Powder, with.riants in Eastern Canada and Nanaimo, 8.C.; 'Western Explosives Limited. owning a plant at Bowon Island, ten miles from Vancouver, the Ontario Powder Co., and Standard Explosives Limited, both of tho latter being Eastern Canadian concerns.

T>e official statistics .are now available in regard to the interchange of trade between Canada, and Germany during the first six months" since the abolition by the former on March 1, 1910, of the surtax imposed on : German . imports, and the restoration by.'Germany of the treaty ratio of dutv in the case oE imports from Canada. According to a statement which has bosn furnished, on the subjcct to the "Berliner Tatcb'.att." the imports ..into Germany from Canada- in the six months in wstirin have increased ,by 15 \s nor cent.", ar. compared with the corresponding period in 1939. whilst the German exports to Canada, have advanced by <8 per rent. The principal share in the augmentation in tho'German exports relates to wrought iron, mlvanised wire, railway nxlcs and wheels, imd fine cutlery, and tho textile industry has also taken a promiuent part in the increase.

Tho British Acting Vice-Consul at Hakodate reports that preliminary experiments having proved very successful, the manufacture of turpentine by the Government in shortly to .be .begun. Machinery for the purpose to the value of 150,000 yen (about £15,300) has been ordered. It is hoped eventually to produce a very large amount of turpentine, as the sources of supply are almost- inexhaustible, and consequently .more machinery will doubtless be required'later. 'In connection with the manufacture...of turpentine at', the Government, laboratory, experiments are to be made in the manufacture of guncotton. The Actins Vice-Consul lias forwarded sample.; of raw turpentine extractEd from the tree "Lam rtahurica Turez," known in Karafuto as the "Itakuyosho" of refined turpentine oil produced at.the Government experimental laboratory,, and of the resin left after the extraction of the oil.. Seven whaling companies now occupy sites in South Georgia, Falkland Islands, where the whole carcass of the whales is converted into oil and fertilisers. Six coinpanics ilshod in tho waters of the South Shetland;, pursuing the whale through Pclgica, Strait to the icy, shores of Graham's Land. Tho 1909 season in tho Dependencies was a, good one, but was not. so remunerative round the Falkland?, and it is much to be, hoped that the enterprise of Messrs. SalvcEon and Co. will be more richly .rewarded in future. Their station at New 'Island, lilted' with the latest machinery, and lighted by .electricity, was completed during the year.