[?] W. Samoa's

er-age Trees, Unattractive ces

Opra As Factor

Conomics

(From Our Apia Correspondent) is a well known fact that the current financial difficulties facing the Samoan Government a result of the wrong financial cy of the past years were caused some extent by economic prob s connected with Samoan agri ;ural development. W. Samoa s nomy is almost exclusively de dent on agriculture, mile at present the banana ex t industry is booming with )rd exports to the New Zealand :ket, and while Samoan cocoa ns are meeting with a strong land at rising prices from over ; the oldest branch of Samoan iculture, and for many years the nstay of the Samoan economy, le copra industry—is not only mant, but shows the lowest pro tion figures for many years, s combined with a decrease in :e which seriously affects pro he S ’decline of the copra industry attributable to various causes, •ing the first months of 1958, copra crop was seriously laged by very dry weather con ons and was therefore much tiler than normal. The ravages the rhinoceros beetle were ther contributing factor for the line. fith more shipping space and erly increased quotas for bana offering in 1957, and particu y in 1958, Samoan producers e inclined to concentrate on ana growing and neglect cutting ra at much reduced prices, he Government grading of ra, which was unpopular from beginning, was an additional urent to Samoan producers, he Department of Agriculture started a campaign to en rage Samoan planters to pro e more and better copra and, 1958, to attempt to at least, ob l the minimum quantity of 10,000 5 of copra which was to have i delivered to the Unilever ipany, under contract. But as ooks at present it is extremely btful whether the campaign can ;eed. continuous decrease in copra iuction was only to be expected fiew of the fact that practically the coconut plantations in ;tern Samoa are over-age, and t for long years no substantial iantings have been undertaken. ; is possible that the present m of the banana industry may

not last much longer. New Zealand claims that no more than about one million cases of bananas can be absorbed at present and our neighbouring territories of Fiji and Tonga which are good customers for New Zealand products naturally want their shares in New Zealand’s banana imports. Though sufficient shipping facilities have been made available to transport bananas from Samoa to New Zealand, dis tribution of bananas throughout New Zealand is difficult to organise, though there is undoubtedly a large potential market for bananas in New Zealand country towns and districts.

Should banana exports to New Zealand be again restricted from

the present peak, this might in duce the Samoan planters to give more attention to their copra out put to make up the deficiency in their income.