Use Coconut Products in
pp. 47-48 · Read in the full issue
the Islands!
Letter to the Editor IN the Australian press, we frequently see protests by dairying organisa tions to the Governments concern ing the increased sales of margarine throughout Great Britain and Austra lia. These organisations submit requests for drastic restrictions in the manufac ture and sale of butter substitutes. In deed, at times, these requests aim at the virtual prohibition of such economical vegetable fats.
We can understand the viewpoint of those interested in the dairying indus try; but theirs is only one in the world of primary products and competitive industries.
On behalf of coconut-growers in Brit ish and Australian tropical colonies, I would like to remind the general pub lic that margarine and copha are ex cellent substitutes for butter. They are nutritious and, for most cooking require ments, are preferable to butter. Further, the price of copha is considerably less than that of butter.
As the residents of nearly all the Pacific Islands are directly, or indir ectly, dependent on the sale of, and rea
sonable price for copra, I strongly urge everyone in the Islands to use mar garine or copha wherever practicable, even to the extent of its almost exclu sive use for cooking.
Of course, a prerequisite to the popu larity of any product is that it shall be regularly stocked and made available to the public by the storekeepers. I have not yet seen margarine in New Guinea, and copha is frequently unobtainable. It is hoped that this position is not due to any irremovable obstructions.
I am, etc.,
Victor Pratt.
Rabaul, 8/5/40.
EDITORIAL NOTE; Everyone would applaud Mr. Pratt’s suggestion if increased margarine consumption and a greater demand for coconut oil meant a higher price for copra. But it doesn’t work out that way. Margarine now is in greater demand in Europe than ever before; but copra prices do not move. The profits are being pocketed, in toto, by Unilever Ltd.—a monstrous, parasitical, international growth that is beyond the control of governments.
Mr. G. B. Piper, of the Vacuum Oil Company, Suva, Fiji, recently arrived in Australia to take un a position in the Melbourne office.
Mr. Henry John Mansell, formerly of Fiji, died in Auckland recently, aged 68.
Going to Fiji in 1893, he joined the staff of the Colonial Sugar Refining Co. and spent 40 years in their employ at Ba and Lautoka. Three years ago he retired to live in N.Z.