Mystery

Islands [?]et Cut

[?]icence Adds Mystery

VS from Wellington, in August, ;hat the Cook Islands budget :or 1956-57 has been cut by 0 will cause perplexity in that ;ory, in the light of the re endations of the Belshaw- Plan for economic develop made last year and of the Min of Islands Territories’ state pubished in the May Cook Is Review, one paragraph of read: a result of the Government’s ight and positive action, many » recommendations of the re had reached the stage where could he implemented. (Note ord “could”). The (Auckland articles were therefore un ' in that they created doubt 7 the people in the Cook Ls as to the motives of the nment at the very time when is important to have their onfidence.

Minister was referring to a of articles summarising the iw-Stace Plan report. s true that several appoint have been made in line with ilshaw-Stace recommendations le report made it clear (a) ertain of its recommendations irgent; (b) that the Govern must be prepared to spend money in the Group per 1 before it could ever hope to less at some future time (if ly if the public disclosure of elshaw-Stace report created in the Cooks, the cutting of by £55,000 will create a good lore doubt on intentions. At ery least one should have it that the reasons for the mid have been carefully ex i to the Cook Islands people e Minister over Radio New d, and by every other means, t, not a word on the subject ;ard from Radio New Zealand ast up to time of writing); >erhaps only by chance, the was made available to the is the Minister left to attend iez Conference in London. ■e may be excellent reasons j cut in funds but surely the were entitled to hear them. 1956-57 vote is £329,000. expenditure last year was . In the very fields where Lid have been expected that iiture would be increased—the subsidies covering health, ion, etc.—the grant is reduced

by £20,000. About £21,000 less will be paid in advances tociturs growers this year than last, confirming that there have been second thoughts on the Citrus Scheme as originally en visaged.

What the actual estimates for the 1956-57 year were is not known but it was stated in Rarotonga in July that these had been cut by £120,000 The estimates almost always sub stantially exceed the actual ex penditure, whch is usually limited by shipping, available manpower and other local factors, but it does appear that the plan was to spend substantially more than was spent last year; so the cut of £55,000 may represent a greater reduction than

might appear on the surface.-

Jps.

t Messrs. W. G. Johnson, chairman and managing director of W R center and Co. (Fiji) Ltd., and j.* Snell, chairman and managing director of Morris Hedstrom Ltd, members of the board of W R Carpenter and Co. Ltd., returned to m the first week in October after having attended the annual meeting of WRC in Sydney on September 28. Mr. Johnson also visited Canberra and Tasmania. t Dr. M. F. Barnett, head of the New Zealand Meteorological Service m the course of a tour of Pacific Islands weather stations under his control—with particular emphasis on International Geophysical Year projects— recently visited the Cook Islands.