Do You Remember ?

From PIM of 20 Years ago.

IT was calamity, calamity all the

way for South Pacific copra pro ducers—and products of most

tropical products—in March, 1933.

Copra had hit a new low in London —£ll/12/6 per ton; and rubber was 4id for para and 2ld for plantation smoked. But hang on, we advised producers. Shrewd advisers saw signs of a recovery late in 1933, and, maybe

by way of helping out poverty

stricken planters, we gave a whole page of recipes for cooking paw paw in various ways. In 1933, too, mining was the thing. The NG goldfields were booming and pros

pectors were busy in Guadalcanal,

New Caledonia and Fiji. Here are some other extracts from our issue of March, 1933: A ballot had been held for nine claims at Edie Creek, NG (the area had been the former Administration Reserve); 1,473 (about half the European population) had entered for it 'and the lucky nine were: Lot 1 (“the jewel-box”), W. A. Mac- Gregor; Lot 2, S. W. Marshall; Lot 3, R. F. C. Struben; Lot 4, J. A. Symes; Lot 5, Mrs. V. M. Giblin; Lot 6, Mrs. H. M.

Rex; Lot 7, J. C. Wauchope; Lot 8, N. B.

Spence; Lot 9, A. R. Rankin. Some of the lucky winners are now dead; some are still in NG; what of the others? * * ♦ We pleaded for a revision of the hours of work for Europeans and natives in the Islands, saying, “A matter that should receive serious consideration is the long hours during which white people work.

In some Islands, stores open at 7 a.m. and close at 4 p.m. ... it is pitiful to see natives work in the sup in the shops during these hours”. We suggested that it would be better to work from 5 30 a.m. to 10 30 a.m. and from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. However, no one seems to have taken notice of us—in the islands they are still working “long” hours. * * * The following men, most of them from Rabaul district, no doubt to the chagrin of outpost dwellers, had been appointed to New Guinea’s first Legislative Council: J. C. Mullaly, planter of Rabaul; V. C.

Pratt, planter of Kokopo; W. E. Grose,

planter of Kavieng; N. P. Neal, mine manager of Edie Creek; Alan McLennan solicitor of Rabaul; B. B. Perriman, companj manager of Rabaul; and R. L. Clark, company manager of Rabaul. * * * Papuan rubber planters had been go! out of their difficulties by the imposttioi of an Australian Customs duty of 4d pel pound on their rubber, the monej collected (about £37,(100 per annum) t< be returned to the growers as a grant' in-aid. Formerly only foreign rubber hac been subject to Australian import due; and this, in its day, had been designed to assist the Papuan planters. Australiai manufacturers had wanted all imporl taxes removed but the Australian ment stood to lose £500,000 in revenue il this were done. By putting 4d per pounc duty on Papuan rubber the Government retained its half million, the planters got what they wanted, and the theory wai that the manufacturers would be ni worse off, as the taxpayer, in the ultimati analysis, would be the goat who wouli have to pay the 4d. Editorially wi called it “political trickery”. * * * Another import duty of 4d per pound this time on butter afid in Fiji, wai assisting that Colony, from its 8,000 acre of dairy land, to produce from threi butter factories sufficient butter to suppl; the entire wants of Fiji and have, h 1933, an exportable surplus of 350,0« pounds valued at £ll,OOO. * * * To the indignation of BSI Europeai residents, District Officer Filose, of Ysabe Island, had been prosecuted on 19 charge: of “procuring his police boys to atta'cl natives” and had been fined £5 oi one charge and 10/- on each of th( others. It was said that the District Officer was a most respected officer ani that even the natives of the district, witl the exception of a few rogues, weri petitioning in his favour. * * * “The native coffee plantation and rio< fields at Sangara and on the mainland behind Yule Island, Papua, are showing great promise . . The rice harvest (behind Yule) this year has exceeded previous years and the natives whfl previously saw work on the plantation! in the light of forced labour, recognise ai last the great advantages they may gain from the industry.”