[?]ji‘s Tortured

[?] Ely Publicity

[?]ji‘s Tortured Banana Industry

,Vhen he arrived in New hand on a business trip in i-February, the head of The Times, Mr. L. G. Usher,

ted some lively publicity in the

v Zealand newspapers about failure of New Zealand to

ly to Fiji’s frantic appeals

ut its banana industry. t the end of 1957, the newly ted NZ Labour Government leked over the Dominion’s ign trade position, and chopped a large proportion of NZ’s ex s. Among other things, NZ cut much of Fiji banana imports, lis was a shocking thing to do. only are there many close con ions commercial, financial, il between Fiji and New and. But, officially and com :ially, New Zealand always en aged Fiji to grow bananas for ever-hungry NZ banana mar and, in the past two or three s, Fiji had responded actively, len in December, NZ’s imports fiji’s bananas suddenly were re ted to 75 per cent, of the 1956 i and (owing to the floods) production of bananas was low. leant that there would be a NZ set for only half of Fiji’s esti ?d 1958 crop. ji Governor Sir Ronald Garvey anuary appealed urgently to NZ re Minister Nash, and the latter used his “urgent personal at ion”. Nothing since has been i; and now Mr. Nash, like all Prime Ministers, is about to 5 on an overseas tour. *. Usher told the story effec y, and the newspapers played it stirred up the Prime Minister. ;aid he still was examining the tion. “NZ would like to help, I hope to solve the problem”, aid. tat was on February 22. The ng was that the gentleman d get away overseas with the lem still unsolved. NZ loves .nas, but really hasn’t got ey to buy them.

Meanwhile, the Fiji banana growers got another kind of shock.

Late in February, the Navua came to Suva to load about 10,500 cases of bananas. About 8,000 cases were brought into Suva, and sub mitted for Agriculture Department inspection, in the usual way.

The Department, after having given repeated warnings, now put a more rigid system of inspection into operation, and rejected 2,062 cases. It was a heavy loss to shippers the Suva fob price is 22/6 per case. The growers get at least 10/6 per case.

The Navua sailed with only 5,927 cases.

A man regarded as a competent critic, Mr. A. E. Muir, manager of Fiji Export Agency Ltd., praised the new move. He said that the Fiji banana-shipping industry had be come “a disorganised rabble”, which ignored the reasonable standards of quality that had been set, and had been receiving and shipping all kinds of rubbish to New Zealand.

The chief produce inspector, Mr.

C. R. Vasey, spread cases of the rejected bananas across the shed floor, to let reporters see how bad was the fruit rejected. There seemed to be agreement that the industry needed a lesson. It surely got it.

Better late than never, perhaps.

But these abuses have been going on for a long time. If strong offi cial action had been taken sooner, the growers—the people who really matter most—might have suffered less.

Development of

Bananas in Hawaii

Though from an agricultural viewpoint Hawaii usually brings to mind pineapples, that territory also has a banana industry supplying local needs.

At the end of last October 1,056 acres were under bananas, mainly on Oahu Island. Varieties produced are 60 per cent. Brazilian (apple), 30 per cent. Cavendish (Chinese) and 10 per cent. Bluefields. The latter variety is most popular with consumers but is highly susceptible to Panama wilt disease.

Banana production over the past three years has averaged around 6i million pounds of fruit per annum, and in the three preceding years it was about 9i million pounds. Of the total acreage under bananas last October, about 915 acres were in actual bearing.

Cost of production is substantially higher in Hawaii, with its high wages and high cost of living, than in the South Pacific but the crop has been worth about $480,000 per annum in recent years. Peak production is from about April to July.