Rarotonga Fruit Troubles

From Our Own Correspondent

Rarotonga, June 10.

THE 1940 Cook Islands orange season did not have an auspicious begin ning. The first shipment of the year was made by the “Matua” on April 25, and this late date caused many growers, including scientific growers of early oranges, a loss on their early fruit which was, in accordance with the general crop this year, very plentiful.

Trouble was experienced almost imme diately with complaints against the sorting and grading. The system, as introduced under the Government Fruit Control, is that each grower brings his own fruit, into the packing shed, and, after sorting by local labour, he receives a docket crediting him with the nett number of cases accepted, for which he is paid at the standard rate of 3/9 per case. The complaints, with regard to one village, Arorangi, at least, seem to have been justified, many of the native growers receiving credits of less than 50 per cent, of the gross number of cases picked. The rejected oranges, more over, were not returned to the growers.

On the arrival of the “Matua”, bring ing Mr. L. Turner of the N.Z. Internal Marketing Department and Mr. Woods, Pacific Traffic Manager of the Union S.S. Co., a public meeting was held at which all aspects of the fruit industry were reviewed. These two gentlemen followed the steamer round the other Cook Islands interested in the industry, accompanied by the Director of Agri culture and others, and subsequently left for New Zealand by the same boat.

The new fruit prices were to have been

announced shortly after Mr. Turner’s return to New Zealand.

The shipment of oranges from Raro tonga landed in New Zealand with a high percentage of loss, this being attributed by one side to the poor qual ity of the fruit and by the other to the inefficient handling of the oranges in Rarotonga.

A letter, signed by a member of the Island Council and all the native mem bers of the Fruit Advisory Committee, was sent to the Resident Commissioner, advising that the growers wished to be allowed to sort and grade their own fruit without interference, the alterna tive being refusal to pick.

Growers’ Demands Granted

The Resident Commissioner then issued a public notice, showing that the Government had done its best to meet the growers’ demands, and would grant four out of five of these, including (a) Quick return of rejected fruit; and (b) Placement of growers’ representatives in the packing shed during sorting and grading. The notice also pointed out that the “Matua” only continued to call at Rarotonga in these troublous times under a Government guarantee and that refusal to pick would do nothing but harm. This proposal was ultimately accented and the fruit was picked “under protest”.

An impartial observer would judge that the trouble is due more to mis understanding than to anything else.

The Government department has a very fair case, without doubt, but this has not been adequately explained to the individual native grower, some of whose representatives are ant to act in rather hot-headed fashion. Government control of the Islands fruit industry appears

already to have benefited the small native grower (who might be called, in other lands, a peasant farmer) by the conduct of it on a rational basis, and it is likely still more to benefit him in the future, when preliminary difficulties have been overcome and experimental systems tried and proved.

Subsequent developments indicated that sorting and grading were more evenly and fairly accomplished under the watchful eyes of the growers’ repre sentatives in the packing sheds.