— 17 — 



business has therefore been extremely restricted in scope in all depart- 

 ments. The impending alteration in the Customs Tariff also has not been 

 without influence upon the situation; orders for such articles in particular 

 as essential oils, which are to be admitted duty-free when the new tariff 

 comes into force, being kept back as much as possible. The Government 

 has not yet definitely announced when the new tariff is to come into 

 operation, but it is generally thought that the date originally suggested, 

 17 th July, will be adhered to. Owing to the intervention of the Powers 

 it is probable that some of the duties will not be enacted in the form 

 originally proposed by Japan. The prospects for the year 1911 in China 

 and Manchuria have been sadly clouded by the plague, now fortunately 

 on the wane. The export to these countries of Japanese manufactures, 

 in the preparation of which our essential oils, §c, are employed, has been 

 increasing steadily, but it has for the moment been more or less arrested 

 owing to the seriously depressed condition of business in those markets. 

 We believe, however, that when this unfortunate period is over, trade in 

 these regions will revive again. Corea also should in time offer a con- 

 tinually expanding market, as it is to be assumed that under Japanese 

 rule the prosperity of the country will be raised. The development of 

 trade in Japan itself will depend mainly upon the coming rice- and silk- 

 crops, as to the prospects of which nothing can as yet be said. The 

 Japanese banks continue to hold large reserves, owing to the fact that 

 public confidence has not yet been sufficiently restored to invest any 

 considerable amount of capital in new industrial undertakings within the 

 country itself. 



Commercial Notes and Scientific Information 

 on Essential Oils. 



Oil of Actinostrobus pyramidalis , Miq. (Callitris adinostrobus, 



F. v. M.) 1 ). The leaves of this conifer, which occurs sporadically in Western 

 Australia, yielded, when distilled in July, 0,256% essential oil possessing the 

 following properties: di 5 o 0,8726, « D + 40,9°, n D190 1,4736, sap. v. 21,6 = 7,6% 

 ester CH 3 COOC 10 H 17 , sap. v. cold 19,81=6,93% ester CH 3 COOC 10 H 17 , 

 soluble in 4 vols 90% alcohol. 



Upon distillation this oil proved to be a terpenic oil, containing 

 almost exclusively d-«-pinene, which was identified from the usual 

 derivatives. Limonene appears to be entirely wanting in the oil. In 

 addition to d-«-pinene it contains geranyl acetate; the geraniol being 

 ascertained by oxidation into citral. 



J ) Baker and Smith, A Research on the Pines of Australia, Sydney 1910, p. 291. Also 

 comp. the present Report p. 148. 



2 



