Native Foods Still Short
p. 39 · Read in the full issue
In W. Samoa
From Our Own Correspondent
Apia, May 14.
rOUGH we should be well into our dry season now, heavy rains fell re cently and adversely affected the cocoa crop. , There is still a shortage of native food stuffs such as taros, yams, and even bananas, which fetch high prices locally.
Banana shipments to New Zealand continue to be very small. This is partly owing to the Samoans’ neglect of their banana plantations, and partly to their refusal to ship bananas at the present price of 6/6 per case, which they con sider wholly insufficient and inadequate.
A very large shipment of copra, total ling 3,300 tons, and about 150Jtons of cocoa beans left Samoa in April.
Savaii now has a very prolific crop of oranges. It is regrettable that these oranges cannot be made available and shipped to New Zealand, where they would probably find a good market. Savaii oranges are very sweet and aromatic.