300 Till'. r;LAcK WATTLI-: IXDISTRV. 



nianulaciurc. It is evident this must only be for local use, as 

 many other countries are exporting either pulp or ])aper, and as 

 the machinery is expensive, there is a commercial risk connected 

 with the start. 



The announcement made JDy Prof. j. .A.. Wilkinson, in his 

 Presidential Address to Section B, that synthetic tanning has 

 been successfully carried otit. will no doubt have caused some ex- 

 citement in Natal. This has been the ])ogey which pessimists have 

 kept before us for man\- years as likely to sound the death-knell 

 of wattle culture here and elsewhere, and it has in the past influ- 

 enced men and money from going into the business. 



At one time it would have sounded such a death-knell ; 

 to-day, throtigh wdiat science has done and what we know science 

 can do if promptly and methodically applied, it comes as the 

 annotincement that we are about to turn another corner and must 

 be ready for the swing. 



The parallel case of indigo was quoted by Prof. Wilkinson. 

 and its results mentioned. In that case it took 20 years after 

 discovery of the process before it became commercially a];pli- 

 cable, and after other 20 years, though indigo ctilture has waned 

 considerably, it is not dead, and has ]M"om])tly revived to some 

 extent since war shut out or shut in the German synthetic fac- 

 tories. The indigo was, and still is, a comj^aratively high-priced 

 commodity, whereas the wattle tannin is a \er\- low-i)riced one. 

 and it seems doubtful if synthetic tanning can touch a lower 

 price than tanning by bark. 



Assuming that the war and the experience gained in regard 

 to indigo, camphor, and other stibjects allow us 20 years' grace, 

 instead of 40 years enjoyed by indigo, the wattle growers need not 

 be disconcerted. 



1 have already stated that on some farms the timber is now 

 the j)roduct and the bark is the bye-prodtict, and that the ten- 

 dency, quite apart from the prospect of .synthetic tanning, is to 

 go further in that direction, on what is really good wattle ground. 



We have also the fact that on all wattle areas and especially 

 on the less satisfactory wattle areas, the crop can, if desired, 

 arrive at harvestable condition in from se\en to nine years from 

 .sowing, and that there is no need to renew if conditions then 

 appear unfavotirable. 



.\ls(» we Isuow that the land is not ruined, but rather im- 

 proved for gia/.ing and other pur])oses after the culture of wattle 

 is discontinued. 



.Also we know that the export of beef now in o])eration opens 

 the way not only for utilisation of increased and improved 

 grazing land, but also gi\-es local hides for tanning in .\atal with 

 local tannin. 



.Also we can see that tanneries ;ill uwr the world will nor 

 close down on ;i day's UDiice. and that under an\- circumstances it 



