SUPPLY FO PAPER

Horowhenua Chronicle, 10 April 1916, Page 3

SUPPLY FO PAPER

THE SWEDISH EMBARGO. Tile action ol Sweden in placing an embargo upon the export of chemical wood pulp has had the effect of demonstrating that within the British Empire there are,supplies ot raw material of paper which are more than adequate for the Empire's needs. The Imperial Institute issues the ' ollowing:—. Swedish wood-pulp is produced from the soft coniferous woods, such as die various kinds of fix - , pine, and spruce, and in Canada and Newfoundland huge areas of these woods ore still untouched, the present employment of this timber for paper-makhig put poses Icing on a scale which, compa ed with the natural resources of those Dominions For the purpose, is quite tri.'al. Many other parts ol the British pirc are, moreover, capable o! supplying paper-making materials. A groat variety of these materials have ready been investigated* at the Imperial institute, and linrdl.v a mont'i passes without fresh British sources tor the raw material lor paper-making being brought to light. , In Central and .Northern India, lor 'instance, enormous forest areas are covered with waste grasses which are at present of little or no economic value. At least half a dozen different typ.'.s of these grasses yield a pulp of first-class quality. In the^_ Mysore district the forests already explored would yieldi 60,000 tons ot' grasses per annum tor: paper material purposes. Large tracts j of bamboos are also available in various parts of our Indian Empire tor the same purpose, Lower Burma, and Southern India, being especially ncn in this rcspcct. Factories for wording bamboos for paper have, in fact, already been established in the East in Japanese 'Formosa and in .France in.loChina. Trials on a commercial scale have been carried out with success at a paper mill in India, but the development of the manufacture has been hindered by the war. British Africa offers an alternative papernmking materia! in the "elephant grass of Uganda, a perennial grass occurring in a. wide zone neross Tropical Africa, which is a source oi great annoyance and expense to agriculturists in that Protectorate. A firstrate pulp was prepared from this grass at the Imperial Institute. The commercial prospects of any scheme ior an industry would, of course, depend on the expense of manufacture and transport. The necessary chemicals and fuel for manufacture' are available in East Africa. /Hi supply of "elephant grass' is practically inexhaustible, the land on which it is grown being now regarded as "busit."