What Shall We Do With

Our Copra P

Letter to the Editor UNDER the title, “Crush Copra in the Islands” (“P.1.M.”, June, 1940), “Ganibulu” has suggested a hope ful solution of the copra growers’ main problem (low prices). His final words, “Grow our own copra, crush our own copra, make our own margarine,” etc., if adopted, would place the industry on a securer foundation and give the coco nut planters of the Pacific a brighter future than that which continued domination by the Copra Trust seems to offer.

While every coconut-planter would have read “Ganibulu’s” letter with re newed hope, how many of them, in their unorganised state, feel they could assist such an enterprise? There seems a danger that the idea of manufacturing margarine, to say nothing of soap and by-products, in the Islands may remain

merely recorded and not acted upon.

Yet, if anything is to be done, the initia tive must come from them.

The Trust will never voluntarily help growers to fair profits; a distant Gov ernment, like Britain, has shown that it acquiesces in the present rate of copra; home Governments have done practically nothing to relieve the coconut planter, though definite and reasonable proposals from the growers might be better re ceived than vague calls for assistance. So that the only people likely to help the coconut planters are the planters them selves.

The writer, with a complete ignorance of the exact nature of margarine and what it would cost to produce in a mar ketable form, makes the following sug gestions for furthering the scheme. The subject ought to be kept alive and bet ter informed people induced to express their opinions.

Surely, in Sydney, there are three or four retired coconut planters er men with Islands interests, who would have leisure to examine “Ganibulu’s” project.

Perhaps the editor, whom we all know to have a keen interest in the welfare of the copra industry, would hunt up such a trio and place the investigation in their hands. The next step would be for the margarine committee to obtain details of margarine production, mater ials, plant, running costs. This could be

well placed in the hands of the Commonwealth Bureau of Science and Industry, who would be in a better position to obtain the requisite data. A recent number of the “British Medical Journal” observed that the margarine supplied to Britain during the present war is far superior to that of 1914-1918, the vitamin constituents having been increased by adding certain unspecified animal fats; hence it is important to discover what ingredients, other than coconut oil, are needed for a standard

product and if such are obtainable in the Pacific.

While these facts are being collected local support must be sought from the various planters’ associations, which no doubt exist in most Islands centres— there is certainly one in Papua. These bodies should register all coconut grow ers and file production returns, so that all may benefit if the scheme can be carried through. When the details of manufacture and costs are obtained, they should be submitted to the Islands asso ciations and a decision as to whether the SC h eme i s feasible, and finance avail able, arrived at.

We wm su pp° se that at this stage margarine manufacture appears a prac tical venture. Then factory sites—one a t Rabaul and one at Suva, are sug gested—can be determined in readiness step now becomes neces sary; that of cer tainty of sale after manufacture.

The Trust, no doubt, will make strenu ous efforts to prevent imports of mar garine, on which they obtain no profits, into Britain, and they may be powerful enough to succeed. The demand in Australia and other nearby butter-pro ducing countries will be insufficient to keep the factory going, so that there remains only the local Pacific market, And how many Islands families are UP bUtt6r 10 he ' P the °° Pra A pSslble answer to the problem ot consumption is sketched below, The rations of native labourers are regulated by local governments, who can alter them if good reasons are given. In Papua, these rations consist of cereals, one pound of sugar and one pound of

peas, besides a more liberal issue of imported or native-grown vegetables— these two last-named being added to ensure sufficient vitamins in the dietary.

Armed with every fact concerning the food value of margarine and with full details of cost of production, factory sites, and financial sources to launch the scheme, the associations should then approach their governments and ask for practical help. This, apart from finan cial help, would consist in urging the governments to make one pound of margarine a compulsory issue to native labourers every week. This addition would cost about sd. or 6d. per labourer per week, no small matter in big estates, but it might be urged that the vitamin content of the margarine could replace the dried peas and part of the vegetable ration, and the sugar issue could be halved without detriment to the ration.

Hence the extra cost of this scheme could be reduced and even eradicated, while the benefit to each territory by consuming margarine would be enormous.

If the consumption of margarine is thus assured, the scheme might become practical, as some thousands of inden tured natives would require at least one pound each per week.

In searching for other markets, Japan appears a likely customer. Japanese cuisine and cooking indicate a deficiency of fats, and indeed the individuals of that spare and acid race might well be benefited by a little more oil in their make-up. Where do the masses in Japan obtain their dietary fats? Could they not be induced to buy manufactured forms of coconut oil from the Pacific?

The manufacture of soap and by products in demand in Australia and New Zealand must be taken into con sideration in estimating how far the scheme is feasible. The least one could ask of Islands residents is to use “Paci fic Soap’’ for their labourers and for themselves.

In conclusion, I repeat that one object of this letter is to draw those with more practical ideas into the discussion of a subject which is of vital importance to a community so dependent on fair copra

prices.

I am, etc..

G. H. Vernon.

Misima, Papua, 15/7/1940.