Fiji’S Minor War

Competition is Good for the Sukuna Plan

From Our Special Correspondent RATHER an interesting little commer cial war is going on here, beneath the surface. The Big Boys are en joying themselves thoroughly in what appears to be an all-in fight; and it looks as if the native Fijians will be the chief beneficiaries.

That outstanding man of commonsense and long vision, Sir Lala Sukuna, has cherished, for a. long time, a plan under which he might use the abundant funds at present available from the sale of native-produced copra, bananas, etc., to build up the economic strength of the average Fijian community.

He wants the Fijians to make, volun tarily, regular deductions from their re ceipts from produce sold, so that they may have funds for trading; and, if this is done, his own Department will sponsor Fiji trading organisations, and give Fiji village storekeepers a chance to get estab lished. At present much of the profits from village trading goes to the big com panies.

Sir Lala is especially anxious to de velop, among the Fijians, a sense of com mercial values, so that they may better hold their place in competition with other races.

This matter appears to have been dis cussed, first, with the heads of Morris Hedstrom, Ltd. , We may presume that MH, like any other big trader, rather shrank from the idea of building up, against itself, competition in the distri bution field by native co-operative move ments; but it finally was agreed that MH should help in relation to goods distri bution, and especially in sea transport.

NATURALLY, this development was watched jealously by the other big companies rivals of Morris Hedstrom litd.

The heads of those concerns were no nore in love with the idea of “native m-operatives” than were Mr. H. E. Snell md his colleagues. But, like the latter, hey recognise that Time Marches On md, for better or worse, all modern gov ernments seem determined to promote ‘co-opera-tion,” especially among native ommunities. Better try to ride with the ide, rather than essay the hopeless task >f stopping it.

So the managing director of Messrs.

Burns Philp (South Seas) Co., Ltd., and V. R. Carpenter & Co. (Fiji), Ltd., came nto the picture; and the advent of Mr.

Tui” Johnson (Carpenters) especially ivened up the proceedings. Discussions entred on the production, sale and trans tort of native copra.

Carpenters now have, here, the big ;est copra-crushing mill in the Pacific slands. For this, they want as much mod copra as they can get at the lowest >racticable price. As it represents an mportant secondary industry, officialdom s friendly to the mill.

Naturally, the other big companies are tot friendly to the Carpenter mill. For •bvious reasons, they would rather see he copra gathered up in the usual way, •nd shipped directly overseeas. than that he old routine and economy should be iroken, so as to divert a lot of the copra o Suva, to be bought there on the spot, md processed.

Mr. Johnson, however, saw his big hance. By co-operating with Sir Lala lukuna in his plan for putting commer cial strength and know-how into the la.tive villages, he could not only help he cause—he might also get in return

the friendly co-operation of the Fijians, in ensuring direct supplies of copra to the Carpenter mill.

SOMEONE challenged the idea that it would pay the Fijians to market their copra in Suva. It was argued that they would get a better price through direct export.

Mr. Johnson came back fighting. He produced figures to show that in selling copra to the mills in Suva, the Copra Board saved certain handling charges, so that the return to the grower was at least as good, if not better, than if the copra went overseas.

The discussions proceed, with an ever sharpening edge to them.

The Big Boys are not friendly to each other, but all are demonstratively friendly to Sir Lala and his plans. Sir Lala, with a gleam in his shrewd old eye, is quite sure that there is much truth in our ancient saying, “Competition is good for trade.”