“Prosperity”

In All South Pacific Territories

IT is the irony of fate that, just when Australia’s Pacific Territories (Papua and New Guinea) should be in mili tary or enemy occupation, and their unfortunate residents are refugees in Australia, trying to live on the Common wealth Government’s reluctant dole, all other territories of the South Pacific (except the Solomons) should be enjoy ing a period of prosperity such as they have not known for 20 years.

Every territory is participating, in one form or another. The product common to all of them, copra, is in sharp demand by the United Nations (see article else where) and every coconut has attained a new value.

Every food product of Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Cook Islands and Tahiti is in demand in New Zealand, and rich prices are paid for every ton that can be ship ped. There is a lively and profitable market for the cocoa of Samoa and New Hebrides, the coffee of New Hebrides, the bananas and oranges of Samoa and Cook Islands, the vanilla of Tahiti—in fact, for everything the Islands can produce.

Th£re are considerable numbers of well-paid troops in many of the terri tories, and these men are lavish spenders.

Never in their lives have the producers and retailers of those territories seen so much real money flying about; and thev all are eagerly reaping the rich harvest, to build some sort of reserve against the uncertain years ahead.

All the French colonies, and especially New Caledonia and New Hebrides, are enjoving “prosperity.” No one will grudge them this change in their for tunes, after their economic embarrass ments and bitter experiences following the surrender of metropolitan France in 1940.

The situation in the South Pacific ter ritories generally is similar to that in Australia: The people have plenty of money; but, owing to wartime restrictions on manufacturing and shipping freights, they have only limited avenues of spend ing. With stocks of goods decreasing, and individual cash credits mounting and mounting, all the ingenuity of the United Nations will be needed to avoid serious inflation.