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SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. i 
received by the Advisory Council of tests carried out by the Australian — 
Paper Mills Co. Ltd., South Melbourne, on the pulping qualities of — 
the aerial roots of the pandanus tree, which is reported to be plentiful — 
in the Northern Territory. The results are not encouraging. At q_ 
very high chemical cost, the roots can be treated to yield a pulp of q_ 
grade sufficiently good to be used in the proportion of, say, 25 per cent, 
with rag and wood pulp, to produce printing paper of fairly good © 
quality. The yield of air-dry bleached pulp calculated on the air-dry 
original root is only 29 per cent., which is so low that it is at once — 
apparent that the cost of production per ton of pulp is much too high, — 
The freight over long distances of a bulky material is also against its | 
commercial use. 
FLAMMENWERFERN AND PRICKLY PEAR. 
A proposal has been made for the destruction of prickly pear by the 
use of “flammenwerfern.” As, however, the water content of the pear 
is about 90 per cent., and as the weight per acre on heavily infested land 
is as much as 700 or 800 tons, it would be necessary to evaporate from 
630 to 720 tons of water in order to completely destroy the pest. It is 
not economically practicable to do this with an expensive fuel such as is 
used in flammenwerfern. ; 
TANKS TO ROLL DOWN PEAR. © 
Another proposal is to use tanks for destroying the prickly pear on 
land which is practically impenetrable, but otherwise of relatively high 
value for agricultural purposes. The authorities in Queensland, who 
have investigated a large number of proposals for the eradication of the 
pest, do not favour mechanical methods, compared with chemical or 
biological treatment. One of the objects in designing tanks is to dis- 
tribute the load, but to crush and eradicate prickly pear it would rather 
be desirable to concentrate the load. Moreover, the fuel consumption in 
tanks runs up to 10 gallons per mile, which means great expense. Steam 
rollers would be cheaper and more effective than tanks, but these have 
been tried, and have been proved unsuitable. 
MANGROVE TANNING. 
These experiments, which are being carried out at Brisbane, are 
practically completed, a successful method having been evolved for 
producing a good-quality leather. The Special Committee is now 
carrying out a series of tests, using tannery methods, and is preparing 
specimens of finished leather suitable for commercial exhibition. The 
Committee is drafting its final report, giving detailed methods of 
working, and this will be published as one of the Institute’s Bulletins. 
NEW ADDRESS. 
Within the last few ‘weeks the Institute hag removed its head- 
quarters, which from the first have been at the Inter-State Commis- 
sion’s Office, Albert-street, to Danks’ Buildings, Bourke-street, Mel- 
bourne. It now shares with the Bureau of Commerce and Industry 
the floor formerly occupied by the Directorate of Munitions. 
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