Development

Business and

Lack of labour holds back development in the prosperous New Hebrides

With a favourable balance of trade, increasing copra pro duction and bright prospects for its new meat industry, the Anglo-French New Hebrides currently has one of the healthiest economies in the Pacific. However, its economic development is being held back by the lack of an adequate labour force.

These facts were revealed in Vila in December when the British and French Resident Commissioners, Mr.

C. H. Allen and Mr. J. Mouradian, formally opened the 15th session of the New Hebrides Advisory Council.

Referring to the labour situation, the Resident Commissioners said: “The absence of an adequate labour force has long been recognised as inhibiting the economic development of the territory.

“Even the most unskilled labour, with its low production rate, has proved to be difficult to obtain, and the problem has become more press ing with the widening in recent years of the New Hebridean economy by the introduction of new industries.

“There is a pressing need for the level and variety of skills possessed by the New Hebridean population to be raised if social development of the territory is to keep pace with economic development.

“This can be done only by educa tion and training and a first essential is obviously an assessment of present and future manpower requirements in order that educational and train ing facilities may be established in the light of the need.”

Copra main export

For the first time in the history of the Condominium, the Resident Commissioners presented a budget of more than £1 million sterling.

Reviewing the economy, they said that one of its most satisfactory aspects was the favourable visible balance of trade.

“In 1966, the value of our exports was £Stg.3.7 million while our imports were £Stg.2.B million,” they said.

“This satisfactory state of affairs has subsisted since 1963 and but for

the disasters of 1960 and 1961, we could have said that the situation had existed for the past 10 years.”

Despite diversification in a variety of fields, copra was still the main product, accounting for just under half of the Condominium’s exports in value.

Despite poor prices for most of the year, there was a good chance that copra exports would exceed 40,000 tons in 1967.

Unlike most other South Pacific territories, the New Hebrides’ copra production was increasing year by year.

The production of cocoa for the year was expected to reach 600 tons as against 696 tons in 1966 and 514 in 1965.

“Following the recent international agreement regarding prices and marketing, we are hopeful of a marked upswing in production,” the Resident Commissioners said.

Coffee down

“However, it is still sad that New Hebrides cocoa does not enjoy the quality reputation that it did before the war.”

The Commissioners said that coffee production was likely to reach only 150 tons in 1967 compared with 177 tons in 1966.

Sandalwood was still providing a small but valuable source of income on Erromango and Malekula, and local councils were urged to require adult men in their areas to plant 25 young sandalwood plants a year as a “valuable long-term investment for future generations”.

Referring to the meat industry, the Commissioners said that this was rapidly becoming one of the best prospects for the future. New

Hebrideans were showing a marked and growing interest in the industry.

In 1966, the value of meat exports reached £Stg.6o,ooo, which placed it fifth in order of importance and next after cocoa.

The export prospects for the local fishing industry for 1967 were “reasonably good”. The South Pacific Fishing Co. expected to export 6,000 tons compared with 6,563 tons in 1966.

The Commissioners said that the “broad fiscal agreement with the Condominium” under which the fish ing company had been operating had expired in October, 1966, and the existing arrangements were under re view.

“The fishing industry is a valuable one,” they said, “but our company has to face fierce competition from companies based in nearby territories which are anxious to give favourable terms to attract and retain the tuna industry.

“We, too, must be competitive, and for that reason careful attention is being given to the problem of future taxation arrangements.”

Tourism increasing

Referring to mining, the Com missioners said that the Compagnie Francaise des Phosphates de I’Oceanie expected to export 75,000 tons of manganese in 1967 compared with 65,161 tons in 1966. However, the world price for manganese was not good, and markets were not easy to find with new deposits being found elsewhere.

Meanwhile, the Joint Administra tion was holding talks with an inter national company interested in prospecting with new techniques for low grade ore deposits.

The scale of investment involved in the prospection phase was of such an order that special arrangements would be necessary.

Other points made by the Resident Commissioners were: • The construction of base in stallations and roads were proceeding apace on Erromanga where a new forestry industry was being developed. • The building industry had grown substantially in the last few years, and there were now 16 con tractors operating in the New Hebrides, of whom at least four were capable of doing more than £Stg. 150,000 of building a year. A

total of 7,130 square metres of building, with an estimated value of £5tg.665,000, had been approved by town planning authorities in Vila and Santo in 1966. The figures for 1967 were expected to be appreciably higher. • The number of tourists visiting the Condominium in 1967 was expected to reach 7,000 in 1967 com pared with 4,000 in 1966, and the figures for 1968 were expected to increase strikingly.

In introducing the draft estimates for 1968, the Commissioners said that although these showed a deficit of £77,885, it was proposed to balance the budget by introducing increased import duties on tobacco, wines, beer and spirits to net about £51,000, and by increasing the Customs service charge from one per cent, to 11 per cent, to bring in in creased revenue of £15,000.

The Advisory Council subsequently approved the increased duties on tobacco and liquor but declined to support the proposed increased Customs service charge.

Land questions

Among the matters which pro voked a good deal of animated and thoughtful debate in the council were two private members’ motions on land. One of these was introduced by the Rev. R. W. Murray; the other by Mr. H. Russet.

Mr. Murray asked that a com mission should be set up to in vestigate and report on the systems of land tenure operating in the Group, that it be entrusted with the consideration of land disputes, and that it be responsible for the formula tion of a land policy for the whole territory.

Mr. Russet asked that the Resident Commissioners should study any existing land problems in the New Hebrides, “especially any reasonable requirements put forward by certain indigenous communities”, with a view to finding solutions to them. “I also move that offences committed by certain trouble-makers in interfering with the property of others should be punished”, he said.

There was further discussion on land questions when Mr. Quantin, a soils expert from the French re search organisation ORSTOM, ad dressed the council on a soils survey he had made in the New Hebrides for the Condominium Government.

In reply to a question, Mr. Quantin said there was a very large potential of fertile but uncultivated land in the New Hebrides.

About half of this was on Santo, where only about 10 per cent, of tljp land was cultivated.