Remember?

Do You Remember?

World War II was yet only eight

months old, hut the “phoney” part

was over and the South Pacific

finally was beginning to feel the

effects. There was a shortage of

shipping and prices were going up.

Active American participation, how

ever was still a long way off in the

South Pacific of 20 years ago.

Here are some extracts from the issue of May, 1940; In Fiji there had been a “vigorous” round-up of opium traders, with some local Chinese caught red-handed. Suva for the past 10 years, “PIM” reported, had become an important distributing point for opium supplies from the Far East. * * * In Tonga the Japanese trading firm of Banno Brothers began negotiations for leaseholds along the Nukualofa waterfront and in the country. A correspondent said one of the pieces of land appeared to be almost next door to the wireless station and another was close to the new aero drome. There were local fears about the “alarming growth” of Japanese influence. % sfc ❖ Preliminary exploratory drilling had proved the existence of oil in Dutch New Guinea. * sjs * During May that year London copra prices fell by 7/6 a ton to £l2/17/6 Sterling, and there were even bigger falls in the South Pacific. Planters were un happy and “PIM” pointed out that there were two things that needed explaining to copra producers—one was the difference between the London price and the price to the planter and the other was the ex tent to which the Margarine Trust was able to influence the London prices.

There was a recent big shipment of stud cattle to New Caledonia from Sydney, where they had been bought at the Royal Show. The cattle would help build up an export meat trade, said a correspondent, who added that because New Caledonia had become more than ever isolated from Prance due to the war, she was looking towards Australia for the bulk of her supplies generally. ❖ ❖ * What was needed in the South Pacific was a South Seas Confederation, said missionary, M. Prater, in a special article in that issue. He said the central object of such a confederation would be the preservation of peace and the well being of the native races. It was now recog nised that the development of the Islands was inseparable from the conservation of the native race, he said. This, of course, was before the South Pacific Commission. * * * The war was forcing many Pacific planters to investigate the possibility of balancing their budgets by cultivating cocoa. Western Samoa, the New Hebrides and Papua-New Guinea were all increas ing their cocoa crops, and especially in New Guinea was cocoa being handled with enthusiasm.