C—l2.

1934. NEW ZEALAND.

KAURI-GUM INDUSTRY (REPORT ON THE) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st MARCH, 1934.

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly pursuant to Section 5 of the Kauri-gum Industry Amendment Act, 1914.

Sib, — Department of Lands and Survey, Wellington, Ist August, 1934. I have the honour to submit herewith the annual report under the Kauri-gum Industry Amendment Act, 1914, for the year ended 31st March, 1934. I have, &c, W. Robertson, Under-Secretary. Tae Hon. E. A. Ransom, Minister of Lands.

During the year market conditions on the whole have not been very satisfactory. For the medium grade (varnish) gums —although at times there has been an intermittent demand—prices were low and orders small. For the lower grades (linoleum) a fairly good demand existed during the year, but prices were low and buyers were in a position to dictate as to quality. As a result, large quantities of better grades had to be crushed and mixed with linoleum gums to meet the qualities demanded. Some improvement in the American demand was noted during the year, but, as hitherto, Great Britain is still the chief customer. A good proportion of the gum exported to Great Britain, however, is re-exported to the Continent, where a fair demand exists. With the return of prosperity there is no doubt some demand will exist for the better varnish grades, but there seems little doubt that the new synthetic gums have partly supplanted natural gums, including kauri, and that at least a considerable part of the former trade has been definitely lost. As anticipated in last year's report, the remaining stocks of the Department's chip gradings in the hands of the Kauri-gum Control Board were able to be disposed of during the year without depressing market prices. Export of Kauri-gum. For the year ended 31st March, 1934, the export amounted to 3,378 tons, of the value of £83,945, an average price of about £25 per ton. The tonnage, value, and average price per ton of the export for the past fourteen years are — Year ended Tonnage , T . Average 31st March, exported. • 7 f au P er £<»• 1921 6,131 524,701 85 1922 3,968 391,304 98 1923 6,080 520,409 85 1924 6,923 640,712 92 1925 5,432 446,019 82 1926 5,495 414,420 75 1927 4,529 301,335 66 1928 4,531 267,559 59 1929 4,566 241,223 53 1930 4,941 264,452 53 1931 3,145 155,602 49 1932 3,164 124,757 39 1933 2,056 57,970 28 1934 3,378 83,945 25