French Tax On Copra

How New System May Be Operated.

From Our Own Correspondent.

Papeete, Sept. 7.

IT has been officially announced that the bonus scheme for the benefit of coconut planters in French Territories, which has been under consideration for some time past, and previously com mented upon in these notes, has now received the sanction of the French Government, and has come into imme diate operation.

France imports annually something like 200,000 tons of copra, of which approximately one-sixth is produced in the various French Possessions. The basis of the present scheme is the im position of an import duty of 175 francs per ton on the foreign grown article, the funds so obtained to be distributed among the French producers.

It is estimated that the sum avail able for distribution in this Colony will work out at round about 300 francs per ton of copra—a very welcome addition, indeed, to the inadequate price at pre sent paid.

Already, in Marseilles, there is a dif ference in price of about 30/- per ton in favour of French copra, so that it appears evident that the importers there do not intend to carry the burden of this new import duty, but wili penalise the foreign producer to that extent.

NOTE.—On the basis of the present exchange, £1 Australian is equal to about 60 francs.

Perhaps, sufficient foreign copra to provide a bonus fund will be sent to Marseilles, even under the disadvant age of a heavy import duty, so long as the market continues to be so re markably sluggish in America and else where. But it appears reasonable to presume that, if there were only a slight improvement in the general out look, the buyers in Marseilles would

find it difficult, if not impossible, to obtain foreign cargoes at anything less than the market rates prevailing else where. The duty would then have to be paid by the importer, or be removed entirely to enable him to compete successfully abroad with soap and other manufactured articles. However, it is hoped that some solution of this diffi culty will be worked out when the time comes.

The scheme is intended to benefit the actual producers of copra, and not the merchant who buys it for shipment, but the practical details of distribu tion have not yet been worked out.

Obviously, there will be many diffi culties to be overcome in the applica tion of this idea over the widely scat tered archipelagoes of French Oceania, where copra is produced in very small lots by innumerable small landowners, and collected by Chinese traders or occasional schooners. Efficient control under such conditions appears to be impossible without an unjustifiably large expenditure.

Perhaps, the only solution of this problem—if the bonus is to be paid direct to the producer—is a system of co-operative marketing. But, un fortunately, efforts along this line in the past have generally met with fail ure, chiefly on account of the average Polynesian native’s inability to with stand temptation when entrusted with the handling of funds belonging to others.

Several prominent men, whose views are worthy of consideration, believe that the only feasible method of deal ing with the proposition is to pay the bonus to the exporter. They claim that competition between buyers—which is always particularly fierce in Tahiti — would raise the local price of copra to the extent of the bonus, and thus achieve the Government’s object of benefiting the producer, without a ruinous administrative expense. No doubt, there is a good deal to be said for this view.

In the meantime, the local Chamber of Agriculture and the Chamber of Commerce are working with the Administration with the object of ar riving at a suitable plan of action.