Copra

No Primage on Territories Copra Why Officialdom Acted

IT was announced by proclamation from Canberra on August 8 that, as from August 9, copra produced in New Guinea and Papua would be admitted to Aus tralia free from the primary duty of 5 per cent.

Thus bureaucracy admits its short sighted stupidity, but without any ex planation or apology. We can give the explanation, however.

A good deal of copra is consumed in Australia, in a variety of ways. Austra lians are engaged in Papua and New Guinea in growing coconuts, and the product is brought to Australia by all- Australian interests. Papua and New Guinea are Australian territories. The imposition of the primage tax, in these circumstances, seemed the height of ab surdity. Protests were made at different times, but without avail. We referred to the anomaly on many occasions in this journal, but officialdom either ignored the

subject, or quoted a mass of meaningless regulations.

Then some bright mind discovered that, under some law which took precedence over the primage regulations, copra from Fiji could enter Australia tax free. It appeared to be the result of an interpre tation of the Ottawa Treaty. This caused a stir in places where such agita tions are taken notice of and within a fortnight the Commonwealth authorities did, under duress, something that should have been done for reasons of fairness and justice two years ago.

The effect of it all probably will be to give Fiji a new grievance—against Aus tralia. The sale of Fiji copra to Sydney was just promising to build up into some thing worth while, when Australia snatched away the advantage she had un intentionally given to the Crown Colony.

We may hear of those bananas again.

Colonel A. Delme Radcliffe, who ar rived in Papua recently with an English party to prospect for gold, died at Lake kamu goldfield on July 19. It is under stood that he died from the result of complications that set in after a bad fall.

His son, Mr. Peter Delme Radcliffe, is a well-known mining man in the territory.