Development

Business and

Central Pacific

Producers To Set

Up Suva Office

The Pacific Islands Producers

Association, which represents

produce growers in Tonga,

Western Samoa and Fiji, took steps in February to set up a central secretary’s office in Suva to oversee, full-time, all associa tion matters.

Delegates of the association decided this at a Nukualofa con ference. They estimated the office would cost $16,000 a year to run.

Finance for the office will come from the three territories, and will be based on each territory’s 1962-67 banana exports.

When appointed, the secretary will deal initially with banana production and exportation.

The association decided to ask Britain to provide a qualified official free, under its technical assistance programme, for a three-year period to fill the secretary post.

Delegates to the conference also decided to change their organisation’s name from Secretariat to Association and to ask the Union Steam Ship Company to replace its passenger freighter Matua with a new cargo vessel better equipped to handle bananas.

The organisation was founded a couple of years ago to give Fiji, Tonga and Samoa a single and stronger voice in the marketing of their products.

BSIP beche-de-mer

factory in operation

A beche-de-mer factory set up at Kukum. Honiara, BSIP, by Quan Hong Limited at a cost of about $22,000 is now in operation after a few teething troubles.

Some Solomon Islanders on Malaita said at first that they would not sell beche-de-mer to the new factory because it could not pay as much for the slugs as before the war. However, these islanders are now prepared to co-operate.

It is 27 years since sea-slugs were marketable from the Solomons. Mr.

Quan Hong then operated a beche de-mer export industry in the Western Solomons.

The buying price in those days was 1/- for two black slugs, and 1/- for three of other colours.

Now the price is 10c for six black slugs, and 10c a dozen for others.

They must be six inches or longer and sent in alive to the factory, where they are graded, cooked, cleaned and dried in that order.

Ships will be sent by the company to various pick-up places around the Solomons.

Buying stations will probably be set up on some of the islands includ ing Ysabel, Geila and Malaita where there seems to be the most potential, and it looks like being a successful new industry.

The company expects to export its first shipment of three to four tons at the end of March to Hong Kong.

Singapore and Taiwan are other prospective markets; and if some Sydney restaurants are interested, the small variety will be sent there.

US development plan

for Micronesia

A SUSSO million development plan for Micronesia by private US in terests is under consideration by the United States Trust Territory Admini stration.

The plan calls for the formation of a Micronesian corporation to be called Western Island Development Enterprises, Inc. (WIDE), with an initial capital of SUSSO million.

WIDE would be jointly owned by the American investing public and Micronesian interests and would be managed by a board of directors which would include Micronesian representation.

It would engage in a broad range of business enterprises and economic activities. It is the first ever pre sented involving such a broad under taking with Micronesian participa tion.

The plan was presented to High Commissioner W. R. Norwood re cently by a team of US businessmen headed by Mr. Fred K. Fox, of Houston, Texas.

Mr. Fox is a former marine who was wounded in the invasion of Peleliu (Palau District) in 1944. In 1964 he returned to Peleliu during

a pleasure tour and noted that little development had taken place in the 20 years since he was last there.

The proposed formation of WIDE is the result.

Report on the

copra market

Chairman of the P-NG Copra Marketing Board, Mr. lan McDonald, issued the following copra market re port in Port Moresby on February Philippine copra production has continued to decline mainly as a re sult of typhoon damage towards the end of 1967 and earlier drought con ditions. Consequently, total exports for 1967 reached only 711,500 tons oil basis, this being about 20 per cent, below the 1966 figure and the lowest since 1962.

Papua and New Guinea produc tion was also low at 115,000, just above that of 1966, but 6 per cent, below that of 1965, which was a peak year.

Production figures from other coco nut exporting countries are not pre sently available, but generally the in dications are that results will be somewhat lower than 1966.

Palm kernel shipments from Nigeria have also been declining as a result of the internal political situation. Con sequently, with European demand much in excess of the supply position, market prices, although down slightly over the last few weeks, have re mained quite high in comparison with other edible oils such as soyabean, groundnut, etc.

The recent slight decline in copra prices has probably been brought about as much as anything by a temporary halt in the operation of several large copra crushing mills in the Philippines, thus relieving local demand and allowing additional quantities for the European market.

Current prospects for 1968 in dicate that supplies of edible oils and fats could exceed demand. Increased production of practically all oil seeds is forecast as well as fish oils. Butter production in Europe is also expected to increase. The demand for edible oils will still remain high, but it is difficult to forecast the position re garding oil seed meals as this depends largely on weather conditions over the next six or seven months, particularly in Europe.

All of this will have a dampening ffect on oilseed, and, of course, copra rices, although it is not expected that ny particularly heavy downward ■end, such as happened in 1961, will ccur.

disappointing season

or Mangaia

The 1967-68 pineapple season, hich finishes at the end of ebruary, was a disappointing one )r Mangaia, in the Cook Islands, 'hich shipped only 52,700 cases f the 90,000 cases estimated for lat year.

The main reason for the low pro iction was thought to be the re ictance of some growers to spray icir pines with iron sulphate dution. This method, which pro ices better fruit, is a new one id has not been fully accepted by ie conservative Mangaians. The T weather experienced during the irmally wet months of January and ebruary is believed to have further tarded production. Mangaian pine )ples shipped to Rarotonga recently ere much smaller than normal.

By mid-February, 26,217 cases of e Smooth Cayenne variety and 1,190 cases of Ripley Queens had :en shipped to the fruit processing ctory on Rarotonga. In December, V Moana Roa uplifted 3,082 cases : Ripley Queens and 200 cases of nooth Cayennes from Mangaia for e New Zealand market.

The Smooth Cayenne pineapple is ore productive and more suitable r canning than the Ripley Queen, id Mangaia’s production has been

changed from Ripleys to Cayennes for this reason. Ripley Queens, how ever, are the most popular for home consumption owing to their sweeter taste.

Of the total production of 52,700 cases, almost 2,000 never left Mangaia owing to bad reef condi tions, and other cases were rejected by the fruit processing factory.

New theatre

for Apia

Apia got its second movie theatre when the Savalalo Grand Theatre

opened on the night of Saturday, February 10, only a few hours after the hurricane had damaged a number of buildings in the town and flattened nearby banana plantations. “El Cid’* played to packed houses, The new theatre, built at a cost of over $60,000, seats 800 on a slop ing floor. It was designed by Meki Lee Lo and built by Fuimaono T.

The Grand was built by the recently formed company of Samoa Holdings Ltd. chairman of Directors is ft Retzlaff, managing director R. Keil, and directors are H. Phineas, Lesa H.

Keil, P. J. Rivers, Arnulf Keil and William Keil.

Hawker de Havilland

to open NG office

Hawker de Havilland Australia Pty. Ltd. will open a branch office in Port Moresby in March to cover P-NG and the Solomon Islands.

The move will assist in promoting sales of the company’s aircraft, air craft servicing, commercial and pleasure boats, electronics, generating equipment, chemicals, aluminium windows and logging machinery.

Manager of the new office, which will be on the eighth floor of the new ANG House, is Mr. Brian C. Dodd,

formerly sales manager of de Havilland Marine.

Mr. Dodd has served as an officer in the RAN and in the Merchant Navy. He has been a charter skipper in the US and is a qualified pilot.

He has participated in three Sydney-Hobart yacht races and has sailed a 70 ft yawl round the world.

Mr. H. G. Nicholls

steps down from CSR

Mr. H. G. Nicholls, general man ager of the Fiji division of the CSR Co. Ltd., and chairman of CSR’s

Fiji subsidiaries, South Pacific Sugar Mills and Rewa Rice Ltd. retired on February 9 from his company posts. He will remain as independent chairman of the Fiji Coconut Board, which was formed in 1965. He was appointed for four years from May, 1965, and it is his present intention to serve the full term.

He was specially named for the Coconut Board post after Lord Silsoe conducted an inquiry into the Fiji copra industry.

Mr. John Potts will succeed Mr.

Nicholls in his CSR posts.

Mr. Nicholls had a long career with CSR, starting in 1923 as an industrial chemist.

He was one of many CSR chemists, including the present general manager, Sir James Vernon, who eventually reached senior managerial posts within the company.

For his first seven years he was in the company’s mills in NSW and Queensland, and then conducted sugar research in Fiji and Australia for a few years. In 1934 he became chief chemist at the Rarawai Mill, Ba, and three years later transferred to Lautoka in a similar capacity.

Staff changes

Mr. Nicholls was the company’s chief industrial officer in Fiji from 1943 to 1946, and in 1946 he took over as manager of the fruit canning division (the pineapple factory) at Lautoka.

He managed the Penang mill at Rakiraki in 1950, and in 1951 he went to Lautoka as manager.

Mr. Nicholls went back to head office in Sydney in 1952 as an assistant inspector for the Fiji division, a post which took him fre quently to the colony. He became chief inspector for Fiji in 1957.

Mr. John Potts, Mr. Nicholls’ successor, also spent many years in Fiji, culminating in holding the posts of managing director of SPSM Ltd. and Rewa Rice Ltd., and chief manager for the CSR Co. in Fiji.

Mr. Stuart Hermes, who filled the posts vacated by Mr. Potts when the latter left Fiji in 1962, has been appointed deputy chairman of SPSM Ltd.

Mr. Geoff Day, manager of SPSM at Labasa, has been posted to a new position of manager, Suva.

Mr. Ernie Blomfield, manager at Penang for several years, has been appointed to succeed Mr. Day at Labasa, and Mr. D. S. Woodman is acting manager at Penang.

Mr. B. J. Robertson is again filling the post of industrial manager at Suva, succeeding Mr. Woodman.