Tropical Growth!

Romantic History of a Sydney- Tahiti Business

ANE dark day in 1931, Mr. W. M. Reid had a financial stocktaking. He had retired several years earlier, but a com bination of Depression, Mr. Lang, and World Unrest, had knocked his invest ments endways. That day he had paid out in income tax more money than he had actually received in income during the previous year.

So Mr. and Mrs. Reid docided to flee from depression, to a charming country they knew well —Tahiti. Before leaving, Mr. Reid went out among his old Sydney friends and sought agencies. “Perhaps I can make enough out of commissions to cover steamer fares,” said he.

When he arrived in Tahiti, he was authorised to sell Brunton’s flour, Kit-

chen’s soaps. F. J. Walker’s canned meats, Johnny Walker whisky, and one or two other things. Among his samples were two tons of flour.

Business dragged. Tahiti purchased mostly American foods, and was set in its ways. It looked as if Mr. Reid would have to give the flour away, or pay freight back to Sydney, or eat it himself.

There were seven Chinese bakers in Papeete, all wedded to Californian flour.

But Chinamen always are sportsmen, Mr. Reid went to each of the bakers.

“The Brunton slogan is ‘More Loaves to the Bag.’ ” said he. “Here is a bag of flour. Make it into bread. If you don’t get more loaves out of it than out of the same amount of American flour, you can have this flour for nothing. If you do get more loaves you can pay for the flour and give me an order.”

Every man accepted. Each of them got more loaves, and each did as he had pro mised. From that time on, all of those seven bakers have used Australian flour.

Tahitians ate only American canned meat. Mr. Reid would go among them, open a tin of Australian meat under their dainty noses, and persuade them to eat it. “Bon!” they said. “Tres bon!” They began to ask for Australian meat.

The 18th Amendment was still dom inating social life in the United States.

Papeete was a kind of clearing-house for

gigantic bootlegging operations. Mr. Reid, with his whisky agency, found himself in the thick of it. He secured orders for thousands of pounds worth of the Scottish brew.

When he returned to Sydney, some months later, Mr. Reid obtained a small office, and spent a profitable month buy ing and shipping foods to Tahiti. Then a mall came in from Tahiti, with many more orders, and he was kept busy for another month. That was the beginning of the business of W. M. Reid, Pacific Islands agent.

New agencies came his way. A mem ber of the Arnott family said to him one day: “There isn’t an Arnott biscuit in all Tahiti.” Mr. Reid looked into the matter. To-day, large consignments of Arnott’s biscuits go to French Oceania by every steamer.

The business has grown amazingly. In 1931 the staff comprised Mr. Reid and Mrs. Reid, who acted as his secretary.

To-day there are 21 persons on the salary list in Sydney. They ship to Tahiti

“everything from pigs to precious stones.”

They have introduced the Nyngan goats (a special strain of milkers) to Polynesia —also dogs, pigs, horses. Mr. Reid has bought many Australian racehorses for Tahiti clients —and every notable race there, in the last four years, has been won by an animal selected and shipped by W.M.R.

The firm has established active agencies in Fiji and New Guinea, but the bulk of its business is done with Tahiti. This is all new trade for Australia —practically the whole of it was taken from the Ameri cans.

Gloomy people say there are no oppor tunities left for enterprise in the Pacific and that Australian goods cannot compete with foreign products, anyway. Mr. W.

M. Reid supplies the answer. It is not a respectful answer.

Miss Mildred Hancock and Miss Ida R.

Malone have been appointed Matron and Sister respectively at the Presbyterian Mission’s Paton Memorial Hospital, Vila, New Hebrides. Sisters M. L. Neave and Jean Burnell, who have been at the Vila hospital for some years, have retired, and are returning to Victoria. This institu tion was erected as a memorial to the late Rev. Dr. John Paton, who founded the Presbyterian Mission in New Hebrides.

Mr Reid celebrated the fourth anniversary of the establishment of his Sydney-Tahiti export business by entertaining his staff at his home in Springwood, N.S.W. Mr. Reid, with Mrs. Reid beside him, is near the left of the group.