Fiji's Problems; Shipping
p. 10 · Read in the full issue
And Storage
From Our Own Correspondent SUVA, June 12.
FIJI planters read with interest the Report of the Sydney Copra Confer ence (published in May “PIM”) — but the general opinion about the Report in Fiji is that it was addled before it was hatched!
So far as Fiji is concerned, the press ing problem appears to be the shipping situation. Either vessels must be ob tained to take copra away or extra storehouses must be built to store it un til it can be lifted.
Vessels seem unlikely to be available, and neither the Fiji Government nor anyone else appears inclined to build storehouses. The old storage accommo dation is rapidly being filled, and within two or three months it seems probable that copra buying on either Government account or on merchants’ account will cease. It is understood that the Govern ment is considering the giving of a grant to push up copra buying prices, but it is
difficult to see how this can be done if copra ceases to be bought at all.
Shipping and storage are the essential difficulties, and no conference in Sydney or elsewnere can produce ships out of the ocean or make it reasonable to face the heavy expenditure of building large stores under present conditions.