Three New Industries.

Possibilities in Cook Is.

From Our Own Correspondent

Rarotonga, Feb. 27.

THREE new sources of income for the Cook Islands have been engaging the attention of the authorities for some time but, so far, little has come of the efforts.

Coffee grows wild on the islands and the beans, after being dried and ground, make fairly good coffee. Pure coffee in New Zealand costs about 4/- per lb., but local coffee could be sold in New Zea land at a price much lower than this.

If the industry can be got going it would rightly be regarded as a revived industry because years ago there was quite a good trade from the Cook Is lands.

Dried bananas are a choice delicacy, and it is surprising that a taste for them has not been developed in New Zealand and Australia. The fruit is split into strips, dried in the sun and tightly com pressed into oblong shaped packets made of dried banana leaf, about the size of a pound of butter.

Mauke seems to be the best island in the Group for dried bananas on account of the absence of humid conditions and the almost non-existence of fly.

Native people have developed a very fine and skilful technique for the mak ing of mats, fans, hats, hand-bags and articles of this nature. Yet there seems to be no great demand for their handi work, simply because there appears to be no means of the markets in New Zealand and elsewhere getting to know the special articles and the attractive finish to them which the native people are capable of producing.