Fiji Cigarettes May
pp. 136-137 · Read in the full issue
If And When—
Fiji Cigarettes May Be Even Cheaper
IF an experiment, estimated t cost £20,000, is successful cig arettes now produced and sold i Fiji for eightpence a packet may b even cheaper.
Fiji Tobacco Co. will make th experiments to find if suitabl cigarette tobacco can be grown i Fiji. If so, the price of cigarette will drop because excise is not pay able on locally-grown tobacco.
The Manager of the Fiji Tobacc Co. (Mr. J. W. Ellis) said that th first seeds had been planted an some of the young plants wei already coming through. The planl would be grown by Fijian an Indian farmers under expert supei vision.
Mr. Ellis said that tobacco grow ing was a highly technical undei taking, and it was also necessary t find the most suitable soil an climate.
Fiji grows tobacco leaf of tb cheroot type, and cheroots are mac from it. Cheroot smokers say that £ times the local product is quite goo but, probably due to faults in tb preparation of the leaf, lacks cor sistency.
While cigarette smokers wall cei tainly welcome still cheaper cig arettes (prices having already bee lowered by the two companies wb make cigarettes locally from irr ported leaf), non-smokers may pei haps wonder how the Governmei will make up the loss of duty c imported tobacco, and in what dire* tions. —Suva Correspondent.
Excise—No Trouble At Al
Fiji now has two cigarette fa* tories, both in Suva. One is a sul' sidiary of W. D. and H. O. Will which has been producing Sts brand cigarettes since last yea The other is a subsidiary < Carreras Ltd., whose cigarettes fro:< their Walu Bay factory went on tl market in Fiji on May 30 this yea These cigarettes are Crown brand., Both companies retail their prc duct at Bd. for 10 cigarettes. It emphasised, however, that the 1c price does not indicate an inferli product. They are able to sell the' at this price because of existii differential between duty and excii duties. Import duty on 10 cigarettJ imported from the UK is 710 excise duty on 10 cigarettes is 3d.
Freight and packaging for tropic: conditions must also be taken inc the cost of the imported article.
The Government will, of coun 1 lose directly in revenue —but doub: less the Government considered tbJ when giving the companies pe: mission to operate in the Colon To counter this loss, the compam.
creating secondary industries ii thus an avenue of employment local people and an ultimate tree of income taxation revenue m the company and its employees.
Vhen (or if) the time comes when Fiji leaf is used in local cig ttes, it doubtless will be no in uerable hurdle for the Govern mt to amend the existing excise gulations.
If the Fiji Government is in doubt jut this, the Administration of will no doubt be happy to . them how. This Administration I no difficulty at all in amend its legislation in order to get rake-off from the beer brewed Port Moresby by the South cific Brewery.
Brother Herman, Marist teacher American Samoa for 42 years, s honoured at a special meeting the Marist Old Boys’ Association, id at Leala, on May 12. The /s presented him with a special ind copy of his book on Samoan ?ends, which Brother Herman •oriously compiled in English and moan. The presentation copy had message of appreciation on the -leaf and was filled with signa ges of most of the Old Boys, as II as those of many associates d friends of the author.
This photograph shows a crew of local Fiji girls running the fast packing machine in Carreras factory at Walu Bay, Suva. The two cigarette factories in Fiji have given employ ment to Fijian, Indian and Euronesian girls. (Block loaned by Carreras, Ltd.)