Criticised

LACK OF COCONUT CULTURE IN ISLANDS IS

From Our Suva Correspondent.

THERE is no proper coconut culture in the Pacific islands, said Mr. W. D. Pieris, an expert from Ceylon who has been surveying the coconut-growing and copra in iustries for the South Pacific Com mission, when he addressed the Fiji Society at Suva in November, [ The result of this lack, even on plantations, was reflected in yields, in the Pacific Islands, the yields of plantation copra were about a (uarter of a ton to the acre, only >ne-third of the yield in Ceylon. [ Mr. Pieris said that in the islands Host of the palms were old, and in 5 or 20 years the plantations would 10 longer pay. [ “Replacement of plantations is difficult and costly, and so owners end to leave the old palms because B uncertainty about the future,” he aid: and added: “Replanting and panagement of plantations is a lational problem, not a problem for he individual, and it should be bated as such.”

I These comments referred mainly 0 European-owned plantations. In

Fijian holdings—which produce be tween half and two-thirds of Fiji’s copra—palms of all ages are found crowded together. In this case, said Mr. Pieris, although the yield was low, production was steady.

He urged soil-rehabilitation by artificial fertilisers or by feeding coconut meal to cattle in the plantations.

For many years, said Mr. Pieris, Ceylon had produced the best copra in the world and the Pacific Islands the worst. But Tonga, whose copra had previously been of the lowest quality, had now achieved second place to Ceylon by the introduction of scientific methods, and there was

no reason why Fiji and other terri tories should not follow suit.

In an open discussion which followed the address, Mr. C. Harvey (Director of Agriculture, Fiji) said that South Seas copra was of com paratively poor quality because over seas prices were the same for all grades of copra, and clean copra was costly to produce. He asked Mr.

Pieris if the greater expense in pro ducing higher grade copra in Ceylon was repaid by the higher yields and better market prices.

Mr. Pieris pointed out that the uniform price paid to Fiji and other British Islands territories applied only so long as the United* Kingdom Ministry of Food bought the total output for export. On the open market good copra, which gave a white, almost odourless oil, was of higher value. South Seas copra gave a dark, acrid oil which in London

was used only for soap-making. Even so, soap manufacturers preferred white oil. It was important that copra should be clean and dry, to prevent the growth of moulds, while the water content should not be above 10 per cent.

With regard to the rhinoceros beetle pest in Samoa, which has now

appeared at Vavau, Tonga, and has caused official palpitations in Fiji, Mr. Pieris said that in Ceylon the beetle seemed to have reached a balance with its natural enemies.

In reply to another question he said that in Ceylon the nuts were cut from the palms and not gathered from the ground. Picking the nuts

allowed labour problems to be solv» and prevented sprouting, as frequent occurred in the Islands. It is not question of lower labour costs Ceylon; it was simply that in Ceyl« the industry was large and efficiei not haphazard as in the Pacific.