Stopped
p. 54 · Read in the full issue
Fiji’S Trade In Peanuts
Is Growing
But Indians Would Like It Stopped
Suva, Nov. 8.
INDIANS have been complaining of the shortage of peanut and other vege table oils in Fiji, and there has been some agitation for restricting exports of peanuts to New Zealand.
In reply the Agriculture Department has stated that the New Zealand trade, besides being very profitable to the growers, is probably a flash-in-the-pan affair and will come to an end as soon as the Dominion can buy cheaper pea nuts in pre-war markets in South-east Asia.
In 1947 Fiji sent New Zealand about 560 tons, valued at £38,541, and the development of the market has resulted in increased acreage—estimated at 1,200 acres in 1946.
The Department maintains that ade quate supplies of other cooking oils are available.
At the same time, even Indians them selves are protesting against the extrava gant wastes/ of expensive ghee, which, despite appeals, was burned in large quantities at the Hindu New Year last week. Devout Hindus have declaimed against the waste, saying that coconut oil serves the purpose equally well. The Gujratis come in for most of the blame.