Tropicalities

Written for The Pacific Islands Monthly by “Sea-Serpent”

THROUGHOUT all the Pacific Is lands Territories a keen search is proceeding for crops which may be grown as an alternative to copra— something that will pay labour costs, give a quick return, and help the em barrassed planter to survive this lean period of low prices and depressed ex change.

Fiji, suffering both copra and sugar slumps, is active in the production of pineapples, bananas and dairy pro ducts. Samoa is shipping increased quantities of bananas to New Zealand.

Tonga, unfortunately placed, because copra is not worth while and shipping facilities are against banana exports, is turning anxiously to cocoa. Papua, suffering severely from depressed copra and rubber prices, has been given a new lease of life by Australia’s heavy duty on all non-Papuan rubber. New Hebrides and New Caledonia planters are actively investigating the cultiva tion of tobacco, with apparently excel lent prospects, though New Caledonia, with its nickel and chromium mines giving healthy signs of revival, is more fortunately placed than most copra producing countries.

Only New Guinea seems to be mak ing little effort to find an alternative staple product. Yet New Guinea had more luck than any of them. Just before the copra slump came one of the world’s richest gold fields was found in New Guinea. It seemed as if the future held no terrors for the fortunate Territory. But what has happened? All sorts of petty obstacles have been placed by officialdom in the way of the field’s development, until the corporations which have been formed to exploit the gold field are discouraged: and now the Common wealth Government, or local adminis tration, cr both, have imposed a duty of 10 per cent, ad valorem on mining machinery and aeroplanes (the only means of communication with the geld field). If it were net the act of Australian politicians, it would be in credible. As it is, one can only mar vel. Meanwhile, New Guinea, left with no alternative to copra produc tion, is exposed to the full force of the economic storm.

ALTHOUGH the advances made in tropical medicine have turned into healthy homes for European families regions which were once shunned by whits men, malaria still remains the scourge of the tropics. Much has been done to combat the fever, and some valuable specifics have been intro duced, but quinine is still the main standby of the people who cross the path of Senor Anopheles Mosquito. It is interesting to note that the system of simply swallowing the white powder has been largely supplanted by the more scientific method of injection.

Swallowing quinine frequently de ranges one’s digestive outfit, whereas injection does not affect the interior economy, while it is just as effective, if not more so.

By the way, how may people know how to distinguish the anopheles mos quito from his harmless little cousin culex? A simple way is to note the position of the beast while he stands on the wall. The body of culex is parallel with the wall, while his beak points down at an angle. Anopheles, on the other hand, sticks his stern in the air at an angle with the wall, while his beak is in a straight line with his body. * * * I NOTJCE in newspapers from other parts of the world that warm praise is being given to the Agricultural De partment of Fiji, not only for wiping out the Levuana moth and the scale both of which had made the produc tion of copra impossible in certain large districts —but also for its promise of success in dealing with the Spathe borer. It appears that Mr. Taylor, after spending nearly a year making investigations in Java, returned to Fiji a few months ago with a parasitical fly, which is expected to check the borer. When the fly wishes to deposit its eggs, it seeks out the cocoon of the borer, and when the young flies hatch cut they live on and destroy the young borer. Mr. Taylor has established col onies for the fly culture at Vanua Levu and Taveuni.

The Spathe borer is Fiji’s last coco nut pest and, if it disappears, it will mean that three great enemies of the planter (the Levuana, the scale and the borer) will have been eliminated by the introduction of other insects— surely a remarkable demonstration of the value of entomological science. Of course, there is always a chance of the new arrival itself turning into a pest —but we can only hope for the best. * * * A MYSTERIOUS outbreak of dis ease among the Solomons Islands natives is described in the Resident Commissioner’s annual report, just issued. In May, 1929, there occurred simultaneously, almost to a day, three cases of Poliomyelitis (inflammation of the grey substance of the spinal cord —practically, infantile paralysis)—one at Su’u, in Malaita; one on Savo Is land; and one in Gizo. There could be no connection between these cases, yet there was no doubt about the diagnosis.

The source of infection was never dis covered. The epidemic spread rapidly from these widely separated foci of infection, and 276 cases were reported between May and October—63 of the patients died. The percentage of deaths—nearly one in four cases —was bad, but the really alarming feature was the mystery of its origin. Does the disease start, as has been some where suggested, from a peculiar qual ity of the sunshine, creating a dis eased and infectious condition of the spinal cord? More information about this strange Solomons outbreak would be worth having.