Coconut Planters

Plea For Direct Help

Letter to the Editor A PAT on the back for your very able leading article in the P.I.M. of July 21!

By all means plead for subsidised trans port for without the shipping firms we Islands pioneers would be helpless. But a subsidy to shipping companies is not enough to enable the present Islands com munities to carry on successfully and some thing more is required.

Australia must learn and realise that these islands cannot be treated merely as revenue-producers or dependencies to be ignored. They are more than that: they are the real outposts which will surely some, day take the first shock of peril to Australia, and who will give that continent a little breathing-time in which to collect its scattered wits. The men and women of these outposts will probably be dust and ashes, with their homes, but they will have given the alarm.

What is needed is a complete internal re-organisation for, at the present time, we are merely ‘‘taking in each other’s washing” and living on each other. There are many now who could not carry on without the generosity of the storekeepers.

It must be understood that I am not criticising the present administration, but am trying to state the case for the work ing pioneers.

There cannot be help given exclusively to one section of the community: all must be helped.

On the recent visit of the Federal Minis

ter for Customs the newly-formed Papuan Planters’ Association pleaded the cause of the rubber planters, but no plea was made on behalf of those engaged in the copra or any other industry. The industrial backbone of this and other Pacific terri tories is copra; the coconut is the most suitable plant for these localities.

From dearly bought experience I know that rubber is not generally suitable. Tea, coffee and cocoa all have their special habitats and cannot be grown profitably in any old spot.

The copra growers of Papua have gone through four harrowing years, and even the enhanced present price is not sufficient to wipe out our overdrafts. We certainly were granted some help by our Govern ment during those dark days but by the time that help arrived many of us had been overwhelmed and those Who benefited most were not the small producers who were in greatest need.

There are many, including the writer, who have spent their lives pioneering here and who have given employment to thous ands of natives during that time. These employees have been well fed and housed and have been (I hope) taught industry and hygiene, and their many ailments at tended to. It is idle to say these people have been exploited. No thoughtful em ployer ever ill-treats the labour from which he gains a livelihood, albeit a very meagre one.

Your reference to lowered transport costs is heartily endorsed by all of us. It may even apply to fares, for at the present time I understand they are going up instead of down. In many isolated spots a passenger must wander many days around the Pacific before ever he reaches Southern shores, and his fare is charged in accord ance.

It is not an easy matter for an official, sitting in his office, surrounded by all modern comforts, to get a really clear perspective of the situation as it is in these more isolated places. I hope you will plead the cause for us who have little opportunity to plead for ourselves.

I am, etc.,

Bill Copra.

Woodlark Is., Papua.