E. Indies Plan

Is £10/5/- Per Ton For Stored Copra Practicable?

ON page 23 of this issue, the plan of the Netherlands East Indies Gov ernment to form a copra pool, to assist planters there, is set out in detail.

It is hoped, eventually, to bring the price of Java copra to 6 florins per 100 kilo grams—equal to about £lO/5/- Australian, or £9/2/6 Fijian at port of shipment.

Commenting on this plan recently, Sir Maynard Hedstrom, head of Messrs.

Morris, Hedstrom, Ltd., said:— “If the war should continue for an other two years and their anticipations are realised, the Netherlands Govern ment will have bought something like one million tons of copra at a total cost of rather more than £9,000,000 (Fijian) and, in addition, will have spent about £506,000 in providing storage space. We may hazard a guess, however, that the Peoples Council will not readily approve of a buying price of £9 (F’ijian) per ton.

“In one paragraph they say: ‘The fix ing of the buying price can only be by the measuring stick that more cannot be paid than sufficient to keep the copra production going in its most simple form’.

As the Government is considering mainly the native population which is accustomed to a very low scale of wages, we may guess that the price ultimately fixed will be nearer to 30 florins than to 60 florins per metric ton, i.e., nearer to £4/10/- than to £9 per ton.”