Tahiti Grows Its Own Food

From Our Own Correspondent

Papeete, June 10.

THE wisdom of the Administration in initiating a programme of agricul tural expansion, at the beginning of the war, in order to provide within the colony itself, an ample supply of food for the population, has been justified by sub sequent events.

The schedules of steamers have been so uncertain and the sailings so far apart, that already the islands find them selves facing a shortage of several essentials. As the future of steamer ser vice is contingent, the colony may be more and more dependent on the pro ducts of its own plantations.

Acreage has been allocated for the cultivation of the several food plants necessary for a balanced diet. Admini strators and chiefs of districts are super vising the carrying out of the programme, under direct responsibility to the Gov ernor. His Excellency recently returned from a tour of inspection of plantations in the Leeward Islands and Mcorea.

Messrs. W. M. Marks and R. S. Haynes, directors of Papuan Apinaipi Petroleum Co,. Ltd., recently arrived in the Terri tory, and in June visited their company’s drilling site at Oiapu, near Yule Island.

Monsieur Charles Vernier, head of the Protestant Mission in French Oceania, and Madame Vernier intended to leave Tahiti for Prance, in June, for a pro longed sojourn. Three of their sons are in the armies of France. Their plans may have been altered by the disasters in June. From everyone in Oceania, says our correspondent, Monsieur and Madame Vernier carry with them a deep under standing of the heartbreaking anxiety they share with the mothers and fathers of Prance, sincere gratitude for their manifold good works, and prayers for their and their sons’ safe return to our islands.