TUNG OIL

Hokitika Guardian, 20 October 1930, Page 7

TUNG OIL

NEW ZEALAND PROSPECTS. According to Mr W. Sterling Tannock, a Dunedin native who returned by the Aorangi recently. New Zealand is a suitable country for the production of the tung oil tree. China is the home of the tree from the nuts of which the oil is extracted. This product is used in the manufacture of paints, linoleums, artificial leathers, etc. Experiments have shown that the tree will thrive in the North Auckland district, and efforts are to be made to establish the industry. English manufacturers are eager to develop the industry within the Empire. China exports tung oil to the extent of £7,0(10,000 annually, and the quality is unsatisfactory.

During the course of several years study in England, Mr Tannock was at the Reading University and Kew Gardens Botanical Museums. He afterwards visited Florida to investigate the latest methods of cultivation on experimental and commercial plantations there.

“Experiments have been conducted over several years in New Zealand, in the growing of the tree, and results have been very satisfactory, indeed,” said Mr Tannock. “The prospects of a new primary industry in this country seem very bright, and the problem of the northern waste lands, and their economic development, may be settled by the establishment of tung oij plantations. lam confident that this industry will prove a very .big factor in New Zealand prosperity.'” Florida, the only country in the world outside of China which produces tung oil in large commercial quantities, requires at the present time some 80,000 acres of trees to meet the demand. To-day there are only 30.000 acres planted, of which 10,000 are hearing. A private London company has been formed, consisting of people engaged in the paint and varnish trade, and some 5000 acres have been acquired in Burma, and tung oil trees will be planted at the rate of 1000 acres per year.

Quite recently, said Mr Tannock, a new use for tung oil had been discovered at Boston in the manufacture of artificial silk. That market alone could take the whole of the world’s supply at present.