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PAPER MANUFACTURE IN AUSTRALIA. 
Paper Manufacture in Australia. 
| Mr. I. H. Boas, officer in charge of Forest Products Investigations, 
Institute of Science and Industry, has supplied the following comment 
upon paper manufacture in Australia. | 
Australia has never made any serious effort to supply her own needs 
in the way of paper. There are a couple of mills using imported pulp 
making brown papers, and also a few making boards from straw, waste 
rags and paper, and such materials. It is necessary to stress this as 
such failures are held up by those whose interests would not be served 
by the establishment of an Australian paper-making industry, as show- 
‘ing that such an industry is not economically possible. 
So long as newsprint could be sold in Australia at about £11 a ton. 
and other papers at corresponding rates, there was considerable doubt 
as to whether the industry was possible. Australia has no large sup-, 
plies of softwoods, which are used all the world over for paper making, 
and which are undoubtedly superior for this purpose to the hardwoods. 
Softwoods can, of course, be grown here, as has been demonstrated by 
_ plantations in ‘most of the States. It would, however, take many years 
before sufficient could be grown to supply even a portion of Australia’s 
needs. It is. necessary then to demonstrate the economic possibility of 
the hardwoods which abound in the Commonwealth. Jt is a maxim 
in the paper trade, that hardwoods cannot be used. This»*is not true, 
but it really expresses the fact that where there are softwoods in plenty, 
the hardwoods cannot compete with them. Everywhere one meets with 
‘discouragement when suggesting the use of hardwoods, but for some 
years thousands of tons of poplar have been used in the States, and as 
the softwoods grow dearer and scarcer, more of the former must be 
used. Recently one of the largest paper companies in Canada has been 
experimenting with hardwoods for mechanical pulp, and with con- 
siderable snecess, and now this company is using 15 per cent of hard- 
wood in its pulp for newsprint. Canada has more pulp wood reserves 
than any other country, and yet a beginning has been made in using 
hardwoods. ‘There is little doubt that the proportion used will be 
gradually extended. 
Granted the possibility of using hardwoods, there is nothing to 
prevent the growth of paper making in Australia. The price of labour 
in Australia is lower than in America, Canada and Norway, where. 
the industry is chiefly centred. 
There are not a great many places in Australia suitable, as large 
supplies of good water are essential. There are a few places, however, 
where these can be found in reasonable proximity to wood supplies. 
The Institute of Science and Industry has begun experiments into 
the paper-making qualities of Australian woods. The work is being 
carried out in Perth, Western Australia. So far no paper machine 
has been available, and the work lras been mostly confined to pulping 
and bleaching experiments, and such papers as have been made have 
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