Should Copra Quality Be Improved?

Fiji Committee Has Not Found Out Yet

THE Director of Agriculture in Fiji has published a statement on the activi ties of the Committee set up last January to investigate and make recom mendations on the copra industry in the Colony, and in particular, to indicate the means by which the quality of copra pro duced might be improved.

The Committee consists of the Director of Agriculture, who is chairman, Mr. H. B.

Gibson, Mr. W. G. Johnson, Ratu Lala, Mr. Arthur Robinson, Mr. H. E. Snell, and Mr. Valen Tarte.

In order to arrive at a considered opinion as to growers’ ability to improve the quality of copra and the relative value of the copra so “improved,” a lengthy questionnaire has been sent to copra crushers and to British Trade Com missioners and Attaches in various coun tries and to the Imperial Institute in Lon

don. Replies to this questionnaire will not be available for the next two or three months, and the Committee, therefore, has decided that until these replies are available, it cannot consider either the general question of whether an effort to improve quality is worthwhile or the particular question as to how much im provement can be effected, and what capital outlay on drying equipment by individual planters or storekeepers would be justified by the greater return which they would receive.

When the replies to the questionnaire have been received and considered, the Committee will hold meetings in the pro ducing districts in Fiji in order to give members of the Committee an opportu nity to see for themselves, present condi tions of copra manufacture; and to give producers the opportunity of discussing copra matters with members.