Comic Opera, Irony

In Fiji's Latest Beetle Invasion

From John Carter in Suva The rhinoceros beetle, wager of incessant warfare against the coconut industry all over the world, has caught its enemies

napping in Fiji.

THE beetle, against which Fiji has struggled for many years in the faint hope of containing it to areas well away from the main copra centres of the Colony, has landed on yet another Fiji island and nobody knew until late June.

The invasion took place more than 12 months ago, the experts say, and it has managed to breed three gene rations of the pest without detection.

The island, small but with a thousand acres of coconut palms on it, is Vatulele, 20 miles south-east of Sigatoka, off the main Fiji island of Viti Levu, So serious is the beetle’s onslaught on Fiji’s copra industry, that the laws have been tightened up. Severe penal ties are laid down for infringement of the regulation requiring all ships coming from infected areas to be inspected and certified free of in fection before going to clear areas.

Thousands of palms are climbed and inspected for the beetle every week, and thousands of beetles, grubs and eggs are destroyed month by month.

So far, the invasion hasn’t reached the most important centres of the industry on Vanua Levu, Taveuni and the Lau Group. .The beetle was first discovered in Fiji in 1952 when several colonies were found near Suva. Till then, it was only talked about as an inhabi tant of Samoa.

Advance By Ship

Its flight is limited to about eight miles, but borne on the wings of a strong wind the distance it can cover is anybody’s guess. Its main mode of travel, however, is by ship and by ship it has made its remorseless advance.

Despite the regulations and the day-to-day forays against it, no one m Fiji really believes that the beetle can be kept out of the copra centres.

What several Directors of Agricul ture have graphically called the “fatal

leap” is bound to come, the expects say. Their only hope is to keep the fatal day as far away as possible.

Iromcally, the Government has assisted in the latest invasion.

The Department of Agriculture’s senior entomologist, Mr. G. Swaine, reported m June that the beetle had apparently been taken to the island in bags of kumalas (sweet potatoes) sent there for emergency relief after the hurricane in February last year, as the original infestation was esti-

mated to have occurred 12 to 14 months ago and had apparently spread simultaneously along the en tire east coast of the island.

The beetle seems to have worked hard since landing on Vatulele.

Searchers unearthed 60 adult beetles, 600 eggs and 1,500 grubs, and signs of feeding were present on new growth throughout the 1,000 acres of bearing palms.

Mr. Swaine’s report says: “A rapid increase in numbers of the beetles

can be expected, as there is a great deal of breeding material in the form of palms felled or killed where they stand by the hurricane, as well as many palms which have been felled during the thinning of groves under the coconut subsidy scheme. There are also fears of damage to 600 acres of newly-planted palms.”

Islanders Knew

When the Government officials ar rived on the island to organise the

counter-attack, they found that the islanders apparently already knew about the beetle’s presence.

The Director of Agriculture was told that they had kept quiet because they were reluctant to call in the Coconut Pests and Diseases Board “as there appeared to be a fairly widespread belief on the island, and in other areas, that a visit by mem bers of the board’s staff seemed to result in a heavy build-up of infesta tion”.

Gilbert and Sullivan, no doubt, could have made something out of that.

Mr. Garnett said: “This is a dan gerous belief. The board exists to assist copra planters. But if it is called in after infestation has occurred and

when a build-up is almost certain to follow, it is inevitable that it appears that more beetles are present after their arrival than before.

“Furthermore, the board’s inspec tors are highly trained and ex perienced operators who search for and find beetles and grubs in greater areas and larger numbers than the village people who have no experience with the pest.”

Many people think that because of the carelessness of skippers of local vessels who neglect to get a certificate of cleanliness after leaving infested areas, and because of the inertia of villagers who fail to clean up their villages and allow beetles to breed in the rubbish, the beetle has a ready made fifth column wherever it launches an attack.