Use Of Coconut Fronds
p. 35 · Read in the full issue
For Bags
AS a further contribution to the discus sion about the destruction of coconut fronds in Tonga, Mrs. Cameron, of Nukualofa (now a resident of Sydney) says that the practice grew up because the merchants refused to supply the native villagers with sacks for their copra.
The villagers consistently used the sacks for domestic purposes—especially for the cooking-ovens—and the merchants got weary of it.
Unable to get sacks, the villagers made their own bags out of coconut fronds. ‘ PIM” correspondents say that this prac tice has weakened the palms and reduced their production of nuts. Mrs. Cameron does not agree with this—she says all coconut palms should be more or less pruned.
The Public Works Department in Fiji has made it clear that workers are free to join a labour union or otherwise as they feel inclined. In a notice it was stated that the Government’s policy was to encourage its employees to organise in order to facilitate collective bargaining and the composition of differences with employing departments. At the same time, any employee of the Government who brought pressure to bear on any other employee, or interfered with his freedom of action in the matter, was liable to disciplinary action.