Price Of Copra In The

Solomons

IT transpires that several months ago the Resident Commissioner of the British Solomon Islands called the copra producers and buyers together at Honiara and outlined proposals that had been made by the British Ministry of Food for the purchase of BSI copra on guarantee over a period of years. The plan was much the same as that which was submitted to copra producers in Fiji.

The prices proposed by the British authorities under the three years’ con tract (1948-1951) would have been £5l Sterling per ton at BSI ports in the first year; and in the next two years not less than £43 Sterling. The second alterna tive, of course, was the nine years con tract similar to that adopted recently in Fiji. In 1949 the price would have been £5l Sterling, and in subsequent years there would not have been a greater drop or rise than 10% per annum.

The BSI copra growers were divided on the subject, but the majority pre ferred the day-to-day market, and did not adopt either of the proposals.

As a result, the price of copra in the

Solomons now is guided more or less by the current market rate; from which the BSI Government deducts an export tax of 15%.

Mr. & Mrs. W. Finlayson, of Lautoka, Fiji, arrived in Sydney by air on January 27, to attend the wedding of their daughter, Norma, to Mr. John Bobbie of Manly, NSW.