N-Again, Off-Again
p. 23 · Read in the full issue
New Hope For
Christmas Is?
The Pacific’s Christmas [and has been used for grow
g coconuts commercially since
>O2 so it may seem a little ;e for a soil survey to see lether this can be done or not. •UT that is what has been hap > pening on Christmas lately (they ft given up testing nuclear bombs re, for the moment, anyway). A I surveyor from the Directorate Overseas Surveys in London and oconut agronomist from the British omons have spent six weeks there veying the agricultural potential the big atoll, particularly in re snce to coconuts. [hey have taken away samples of [, water and coconut leaves and all se will be analysed in London h a view to suggesting new plant and replanting techniques, f something could be done to ivenate Christmas it would help h the everlasting battle that the bert and Ellice Islands Colony with overpopulation in the other Us of the Colony. The land area Christmas is 222 square miles— -1 over half of the total land area the Colony, which is scattered r one million square miles of an.
More Copra Needed
according to preliminary estimates the experts, only 6,000 acres on istmas would be of use for iting but even this would be a ), if not for resettlement then for eased production of copra, which he Colony’s only export crop.
Captain Cook discovered Christmas on Christmas Eve 1777. The Guano Co. worked or low-grade phosphate in 1865 soon gave it up as unprofitable, ain got around to annexing it in 5 and in 1902 leased it to Lever s. who established the plantations were far from happy with the its. i 1913 Levers sold Christmas to len Rougier, Roman Catholic nonary turned Pacific planter, who i owned the plantations on neigh ring Washington and Fanning nds. Rougier formed his planta s into a company, Central Pacific
Coconut Plantations Ltd., which he registered in London and this com pany continued to operate until some years after Rougier’s death in 1932.
His nephew inherited from him but he became involved in a bank crash in Tahiti in the 1930’s and the plantations on Fanning and Washing ton Islands were sold to Burns Philp interests in 1935. Christmas was not so highly regarded as a copra pro ducer and remained in CPCP owner ship until after World War II when
the plantation was acquired by the GEIC Government, Since 1956, of course, Christmas has had an on-again, off-again career as a nuclear testing base and little has been heard of it as a coconut plantation. The palms planted early this century must now be nearing the end of their useful commercial life.
The greatest drawback to plantation development on Christmas in the past has been the unpredictable rainfall and this will continue to be the greatest problem in any future plans.