Notes Made Here and There

in the Cooks

By James P.

Shortall

Here —from the outside looking in—are a few practical sug gestions as to how the Cook Islanders can improve their lot and beat what they imagine are the “wicked traders”: —

r HAVE been told that the Cook I Islanders are sadly lacking in r Maori leadership; and that raders in the outer islands are pay ng only £32 per ton for copra, Ithough the MOF price in Auck and is over £7O and getting it there ertainly costs less than £2O per ton.

The statements are correct—but it 5 also correct to say that nothing whatever is standing in the way f the people forming co-operatives, nd shipping their copra directly to Luckland whenever direct - ship aent space is available in the Maui *omare; or to operate their own titer-island shipping if they feel hat they would benefit.

If there were dependable men at he helm who could be trusted, the eople must benefit by such co peratives, although their history in he past has not been impressive.

Recently the Administration ad ertised for co-operative officers in nother attempt to help the people o help themselves —and see that he local leaders of such movements

do not help themselves to the profits.

Apart from copra, there are two other items that could be profitably handled by co-operatives: One is the Mangaian coffee for which the traders there are currently offering only 1/- to 2/- per pound, shelled but not hulled. Sent to New Zea land by parcel post that would be worth at least 5/- per pound. But no one has the gumption to send it.

Then, at Aitutaki, the mango trees are loaded with fruit in season.

Mango chutney sells in New Zea land at fantastic prices and is even imported from England. What is to stop such chutney, made under proper supervision, being manufac tured with the simplest of equip ment and shipped in large con tainers, for repacking in Auckland?

When an outsider comes along with an idea like that, the local price operators bump up the price of raw materials and the new enterprise is quickly killed —but the people could exploit these and other things

themselves with very little capital outlay.

There is every reason to believe that a profitable sun-d ri e d or smoked fish industry could be de veloped by the Aitutaki or Palmers ton people, for export to other islands, especially to Rarotonga, where there is a keen demand and an acute shortage of fish.

But at the moment no one cares.

Leadership in this direction is totally lacking.

Ra Shows How

It Is Done

RESIDENT Agent Thorby, out on Atiu Island, is demonstrating just what these islands are capable of producing. To step ashore at Atiu is to step into a new world of hope and enthusiasm and this must have its good effect in the long run. (Photos pages 91 and 93).

There, every kind of tropical pro duce is being given a trial on an

experimental farm which is a credit to the RA and his very small staff of Maoris who have been infected with some of Thorby’s own en thusiasm.

Not all the crops have an export value. Some, like the various varieties of yams, are intended to determine the best types or to de monstrate to the people that, at little effort, many alternative food stuffs could be developed for local use. But some, like ginger, coffee and peanuts, all of which are thriv ing, may have a considerable ex

port or inter-island trade vali Thorby has also introduced pedigi ducks, fowls and turkeys and suppling settings of eggs at co: price to people throughout t Group whom he knows will use the m improving the local poult strains.

Bee-keeping is being develop! with introduced bees kept in prop hives. A nice little export trade Rarotonga has also been esta lished in axe handles, which, unc Thorby’s supervision, the local be can turn out profitably at 7/- (cor

The Ngatangiia Community Centre, Rarotonga, where an effort is being made to preserve the best of the old Maori culture and to educate to-day’s Cook Islanders to fit themselves into the world of to-day.

L r ed with the imported handle. )hich lasts no longer and costs any hing up to 18/6). is one of the four Fruit Icheme islands and, at present, has 68 1-acre, 45-tree orange plots at arious stages of development, the ranges being, as on all Scheme lots, the two standard varieties — ate Valencia and Rarotonga Seed

-Sss.

But the main interest to the out ide world is the now rapidly de el opi n g case-wood plantations, hich are ultimately to provide inber for fruit cases.

At present these, imported in shocks”, cost 6/8 each for the 11ushel orange case, and 5/- for the ■bushel lemon, mandarin or tang fine case, landed in Rarotonga, and re thus a major factor in the fruit jonomics—as well as taking up aluable shipping space in vessels ound from New Zealand to the ooks.

The upper slopes of Atiu and [auke are bare, fern-covered, in- Dspitable, with sour soils which will ot readily support citrus planta ons. But it has been found that Ibizza Falcata and Albizza Leb >k, two, fast-growing softwood •ees, will thrive on this land. The ETorestation scheme began in 1951 id up to May of this year some \ 000 trees had been planted—at rst 6 feet apart, but in the light of cperience gradually increased in ,ter plantings to 10 feet.

Following tests with Cedrola dorata, it is probable that this fast rower will also be established, ome trees are already 25 feet high, onsiderable work is involved m ansferring each seedling from the arsery seed-bed to an individual >conut shell, in which it is eventu ly planted out, bursting the shell ; it grows. . .

Every encouragement is being ven to individual land owners to ant these trees. Father Floribert id 14 Catholic school boys have .anted 3,800 trees on mission land, id the Government school has also me much planting. With freedom om forest fires, and blights, a iriving industry appears to be as ired within a few years.

And Of Perpetual

Fews Blackout

T is doubtful whether any South Pacific community is as badly informed on local events as the 3ople of the Cook Islands.

This lack of correct information id consequent spate of mis-infor lation and conjecture, though :ten a lot of fun, is undoubtedly le cause of a great deal of dis mtent amongst the people.

No statements are issued coyer ig the proceedings of the various jlands’ Council meetings, or even a proceedings of the annual Legis itive Council meetings in Raro )nga —except perhaps a half-dozen

(Continued on Page 91)

lines in the inadequate daily press

[sheet.

r There is no newspaper in the Group but at last some broadcast ing tests are taking place. Initially they are in the form of ordinary educational broadcasts but, later, talks of general public interest will also be broadcast. An Information Officer —possibly the officer in charge of Further Education (or Adult Education) —is to be appointed, in line with the practice in some other South Pacific areas.

The Further Education Depart ment, already very active in pro moting interest in local historical and world affairs and in re-estab lishing a sadly-lacking community spirit, would seem to be the obvious instrument for the job, especially

™der head, Mr.

Nothing would more stimulate local interest than actual broad casts of Island Council and especi

gly Council meetings

weSero Samol

Western Samoa. a t? v

Bult Vjpnjuaky

Industry

A FTER a period of slump, Messrs, Watson and Scott’s Rarotonga clothing factory came to life again in May and was fully staffed and very busily engaged in turning out a big order of clothing for a New Zealand firm. Several dozen girls and women are employed, Upstairs, the shoe factory, with a staff of only half-a-dozen at present, is manufacturing women’s shoes for the Apia market.

Island's

Biggest

Industry

THERE is evid ence that in toxicating liquor was con sumed in the Cook Islands prior to the arrival of Europeans. Any way, they have been in training for a long time and the bush-beer school is now a part (a very big part) of Cook Islands life. Un

doubtedly it is also the cause of a good deal of crime.

Last year consumption of legal liquor purchased through the Treasury on a permit system, totalled 1 gallon per head of popula tion. But most of that 16,000 gallons was drunk by the 300-odd Europeans and a few of the higher-salaried Maoris. The “man in the bush” brewed his own.

A Customs officer estimated that the illegal liquor probably ran to 4 or 5 gallons per head of total popu altion—say, 70,000 gallons. Some consider this a considerable under estimation.

One cause of this high consump tion, as recently pointed out in Court by Judge Kay, is the LMS Church ban on all forms of Sunday recrea tion —the ban extending even to Europeans as far as public sport is concerned.

Judge Kay said that it is a great pity that these people are not doing something better, on Saturdays and Sundays than drinking liquor. As a result most criminal offences were occurring on those days.

The matter was hotly debated at an Island Council meeting in Raro tonga but the majority of Coun cillors flatly rejected any easing of the Sunday ban on sports. Sunday is bush-beer day. (In the period April-June this year there were 149 convictions for offences connected with liquor.

Thirteen were committed on Satur days, 61 on week-days, and 75 on Sundays).

And Death Is So

Permanent!

THOUGH Rarotonga has over eleven motor vehicles per mile of 21-mile encircling coastal road, the people appear to be un aware of road rules. Cyclists, especially, use either side of the road at will. Cars pass them left or right—the drivers hoping that

Left: Resident Agent Ron Thorby of Atiu.

Above: Part of his meticu lously tended experimental farm.

Below: Part of the exten sive citrus and case-wood nurseries.

Below:

Rarotonga’s small shoe factory which currently employs about eight men.

These men were working on a con tract for a Western Samoa retailer.

hey will hold that side until passed, load education in the schools seems p be nil. iOne of the sights of Rarotonga is he extraordinary method of double- Bnking on bicycles—the passenger akes his or her place squarely on he handle-bars, facing, and com jetely blocking the view of the

pilot, who pushes ahead quite un perturbed. Occasionally there is an additional passenger on the rear.

All Modern

Conveniences

“ A MODERN telephone system jCTL giving continuous service operates in Rarotonga,” says

the 1953 Annual Report. Who ever wrote that had never seen or used the hand-cranked old blunderbusses that form the system.

I rang Mr. J. D. Campbell from Avarua one day and his voice, weak and wavering as though it had travelled ten thousand instead of ten miles, broke through the sound

From wasteland to thriving forest: Young Albizzia trees growing on the sour, [?]id fernlands of Atiu Island’s upper slopes.

barrier of wet tree-limbs and dry joints after some delay.

He was obviously very excited.

“Great Heavens, you’ve got through!”

I could just hear him shouting.

There was a note of keen urgency in his voice. This was the first time it had been done in four days. I caught on, and talked fast. A con nection with Titikaveka was clearly a major event.

We barely made it, before the great silence again closed down — and continued the conversation over a cup of tea at his home later in the day.

One of the old-timers of Raro tonga and one of the few remaining European plantation owners. “J.D.”, as everyone calls him, in addition to being intensely interested in world affairs, is also a keen contributor to various scientific journals. He is an enthusiastic student of nature, plants, birds and fish coming within his special orbit.

Naturally, there’s never a dull moment in his retirement. Following his war service with the RNZAF, he was in charge of NZNAC affairs in the Cooks until that airline withdrew 18 months ago. He is one of the keenest critics of Administration— or NZ Government—policy in the Group to-day.

Expensive Ornament

NOT generally realised, even by Cook Islanders, is the fact that the attractive but now idle

New £?

pSSf

towards maintaining several houses sgg.y&mTiß

“f 1 st Z tt - The aMeld its while it is the Rarntnnp-n crnif iii

saas?£ i

ingle east-west runway. Even if an lr service is resumed it should not reatly interfere with the club’s ctivities.

:Oconut Currency

CURIOSITIES of the Cook Islands j are the huge stone mound s' shaped ovens, many of them ng-since abandoned and crumbling » pieces, that may be seen round nv village. And one of the curios les of the bakery business on itutaki is the huge mound of dry jconuts that lie beside each oven lat is still in operation—about ;ven on that island.

These coconut piles are the subject I a great deal if ill-will —for, with nt doubt, many of the coconuts ave been stolen. It is impossible for mdholders to adequately police leir land at night, and the stealing said to be on an extensive scale.

A nut is valued at 3d. in local irrency, and two buy a loaf of read. On most islands coconuts re banned as a medium of trade, Lit for some reason not on itutaki.

Ost Of Drinking

/Ater

Ji ALT is generally a popular sub rJL ject in these islands, but not so the Malt Report.

Back in 1948, 1,800 persons on arotonga signed a petition de landing an adequate supply of ean fresh water for all villages, i December, 1941, Mr. L. C. Malt, senior engineer of the New Zea nd Ministry of Works, was sent to •epare a plan—which was received i the Administration the follow r ig September. Estimated cost of le plan was a mere £76,000 and the .stallation was to take place in ages over a period of six years, be plan involved a 4-inch water ain right round the 21-mile lastal road, with three main hi kes feeding into 6-inch pipes from ountain streams, and three other ibsidiary intakes from other reams. Filtration and chlorination ants were to be installed at the ain intakes, and there were to be ',OOO-gallon reservoirs at two >ints.

Then someone found that the an made no provision whatever r the residents along the old road at parallels the coast road a mile so inland. Many citrus plots are cated there.

The present water system has en condemned frequently by the edical authorities. Stock are mdering and feeding above the ain intakes, and whenever a eshet occurs in the mountain reams the water comes out of the ps like soup—even with leaves and getation in it. But in spite of the edical Dept, warning, no major

epidemics have yet been traced to this water.

Most residents of Rarotonga are convinced that a clean and adequate water supply could be provided at very much less than £76,000. Meanwhile the soup still flows from the taps (where there are taps) and the Malt Plan appears to have been given the green light in Wellington.

The first stage £13,000 worth ?s to be implemented this financial year oV n in^thlv a fni«}iir| 1 ?f<ln eC * P en( * m S yet anothei investigation. r"» . -pi /mi *

Far From Flome

W°T many people know that there Id is a Port Moresby in the Cook Islands.

Port Moresby is a man—an aged

missionary now living on AitutakL His history is interesting. He was born at Port Moresby, Papua the son of an LMS pastor, who had been sent there from the Cooks. Port Moresby of Aitutaki now heads a. sect which broke away from the LMS, and has its own church at Aitutaki.

Also on Aitutaki is Mr T?mip jamiesoS of Suva-an Article of flotsam, so to speak, from the wreck of the Alexander which has sat on the edge of the reef these past several years. Mr. Jamieson joined her in Fiji on her ill-fated voyage. 7 mamtamfn g a iff John Harrington’s launches and road. vehicles, and gives promise of be coming a permanent resident.