Papain.

Samoa’s Experience with Papain.

From Our Own correspondent.

APIA, April 30.

THE article by your Thursday Island correspondent on the pawpaw and its uses has interested Samoan planters who have had a lengthy ex perience with the tapping and curing of papain.

For a long period during and after the war, papain was produced on Samoan cocoa plantations and ex ported to U.S.A., Germany and England.

The tapping was done by Chinese coolies or Samoan women mostly with the help of straps and galvanised fish hooks fastened to the top end. The pawpaw is lightly scratched, and from the incisions the milk-white latex runs out and is caught in a basin held un derneath. The latex is brought to co agulation by stirring with a wooden stick. The daily quota of a worker is about 6 to 8 lbs. of latex.

The papain is then dried on glass sheets in a small artificial dryer, heated

by a small kerosene stove for about 24 hours. The heat should always be kept even and slow.

For years, Samoan papain fetched profitable prices in the American and German markets. In 1929, however, there* was a considerable drop in the market price, and it became difficult to sell papain at any figure. This stopped tapping operations in Samoa.

The cost of tapping and drying pa pain is estimated at 4/- to 5/- per lb., dried. Added to this must be the hand ling, freight, packing and commission.

Papain is packed in used gasoline tins, and airtight soldered. Two tins are packed in a gasoline case. The above mentioned charges amount to about 1/per lb., so that the total cost of one pound of papain, delivered to America or Europe, would amount to about 6/-.

A market rate of 10/- to 12/- per lb. would enable Samoan planters to start tapping again.

The price as quoted in your corres pondent’s letter, of 25/- to 30/- a pound, allegedly paid in Great Britain, seems very high, and has never been realised for first-class Samoan papain.