Cooks' Cannery Industry

Gets Under Wav

“Orange juice has a future,” sai Mr. Chas. D. Baker, managing dire* tor of W. Gregg and Company, s he introduced the NZ trade to frui juice from the Cook Islands.

Gregg and Company has recent!: established its canning industry a Rarotonga after nearly three years o investigation. Manager there is M] H. D. Baker.

The first large cargo of concentrr ted orange juice—10,000 cartons reached Auckland in the Moana Ro on June 23.

The plant is processing orange juio as a start in 15 oz and half-gallcc cans, and later in the year it will cae pineapple juice and crushed pina apple. The Rarotonga subsidy c the parent company (of Dunedii NZ) is called Island Foods, Ltd. Ttl brand name is “Raro”.

The canning industry in the Cool will solve the problem of what to 6 with second grade oranges (the omi slightly blemished that can’t be so) as fresh fruit) and those which ripe between ships and rejected for e:; port. These are mostly wasted.

More oranges will also be used frox the outer islands now they can V brought into Rarotonga on noi( refrigerated local ships.

This in turn will mean better com munications between the islands du to more regular cargoes to Rarotongs The pineapple canning industry w\ be of special interest to Mangaii. which produces more pineapples ths NZ consumes as fresh fruit.

Said the NZ Minister for Islan Territories, Mr. F. L. A. Gotz, “TIT beginning of this canning industh may be the prelude to further & tempts to use Islands’ resources, iii eluding perhaps a tuna canning i:i dustry.”