PAPER-MAKING IN AUSTRALIA.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1742, 18 October 1917, Page 1

PAPER-MAKING IN AUSTRALIA.

Commenting on the statement from the Commonwealth Advisory Council of Science and Industry published on September 10th regarding paper-making in Australia, Mr J. Campbell, managing director of Cairns Paper Pulp Syndicate, North Queensland, says:— “A very cursory examination of the available raw material for paper pulp in North Queensland shows that the supply is quite adequate for the development of the industry to a point which would render Australia self-supporting in the matter of paper for some years to come, and while these abundant supplies are being drawn upon provision can be made for the future by planting in the south spruce and poplars, as suggested in the article, available in fifteen years or so; and, what is more important, by planting in the north such trees as Ileurites, Alstonia, etc., which, by reason of their rapid growth, will furnish good pulping material with in five years. There need be no shortake of paper pulp in Australia, either at present or in the future. We should at once erect pulping mills near the abundant supplies of raw material similar to, but larger than, our Cairns Paper Pulp Syndicate mill —mills capable of turning out 10 to 20 tons of pulp weekly; and there are suitable localities for the erection of 20 to 40 of those at the present time in North Queensland; and there should also be a paper mill erected within easy reach of these pulping mills to supply news print and other Avhile paper. The pulping mills can be erected at a cost of £I,OOO to £5,000 each, according to the nature of material used. The paper mill will cost from £60,000 to £BO,OOO, but it will be money well spent, and will prove a blessing to Australia. I have been approached from the United States and England with reference to the exportation of paper pulp; and if something is not done in the States very soon our abundant supplies will be thus drawn ‘upon, and our people will be the losers. “I expect to bring some bales of paper pulp to Sydney next week, and I shall exhibit these in some conspicuous place for the information of the public. I feel very strongly on the subject, as there are millions of pounds’ worth of raw material waiting for the paper-mak-er; and some of the pulp produced is absolutely the’best in the world, but unfortunately we have not the mills to use it. The Federal Government should take the matter in hand. If not, let private enterprise come to the rescue. There is no need for shortage of paper or twine in Australia, as North Queensland can supply more than is necessary to make up the supposed existing shortage. It is what I call a poetical shortage, i.e., it exists more in imagination than reality; or, if not, it is a criminal shortage for which we are ourselves alone to blame.”