System
p. 66 · Read in the full issue
Useless " Bounty "
Canberra Officials Examine A Long-Dead Corpse In Papua
Port Moresby, June 3.
TWO officers of the Department of Trade and Customs, Messrs. J.
Fletcher and O. Wolfensberger, have ar rived in the Territory to inquire into the possible renewal of the Papua and New Guinea Bounties Act, which was adopted by the Commonwealth in 1926, and which will expire at the end of 1937.
The products concerned included Cocoa Beans, Cocoa Shells, Fibres, Sago (not packed for household use), Vanilla Beans, unmanufactured Bamboos and Rattans, Spices, and Kapok, and they were al lowed bounties of varying amounts for 10 years, from January, 1927. The follow ing products also were admitted free into the Commonwealth: Coffee, Dried Fruits, Fresh Fruits, Fungi, Ginger, Rangoon Beans, Coconuts (whole, prepared or un shelled), and Seeds, such as Sesame and Kapok.
There has been no demand for the fruits specified, which are practically un known in the Territory, such as Chico mamey, Litchi, Longan, Akee, Pulasan, etc., and apart from Coffee and Desic cated Coconut, no advantage has been taken of this offered assistance.
The bounty system is mostly notable for its omission of those products which could have been exploited profitably except in the case of Kapok and Sisal Hemp, which had already been attempted without marked success.
This “measure of assistance” has been generally regarded as simply not worth while. With the exception of Coffee and Desiccated Coconut, all the products were experimental crops, and most of them difficult to cultivate, and without prospect of a market in Australia.
If the bounties had been extended to Bananas, Pineapples, Maize, Citrus Fruits, and such other crops as naturally grow well in Papua, the measure might have been o t practical and lasting value.
Generally, it is considered that a per manent bounty scheme would have some value if it encouraged the growing of small, easily-grown crops, which might induce the planting of new areas by pro viding plantations with revenue until the main crop is established.