tightening

Islands are tightening their money belts'

By Norman Baxter

Islanders are tightening their money belts as the ripples from economic recessions outside reach their shores.

Some Island groups are finding it difficult to keep up their level of im ports because of a shortage of finance and this is giving Island agents a headache.

According to Mr. Arthur Duldig, managing director of Melbourne based Island agents S. E. Tatham and Co. Pty. Ltd., agents are having diffi culty extending credit for any length of time.

This is particularly so, said Mr.

Duldig, of New Caledonia where money has become tighter since de valuation of the United States dollar, and French Polynesia where the departure of many French servicemen and their families, there for the Mururoa atoll nuclear tests, has left a gap which will be hard to fill.

But the outside world is showing an increasing interest in the Pacific Islands. Countries like Japan, Singa pore and Hong Kong are becoming much more active in Island markets despite a weakening of purchasing power of the Islanders.

Australia is still the biggest supplier of most goods but there are some articles required in the Pacific which Australia, competitively, cannot supply. A typical example is bicycles which are exported to the Islands by the UK and Japan.

Mr. Duldig, who thinks his job among the Islanders is the best in the world, described Australian manu facturers who miss deliveries as the greatest enemies of Island agents.

That type of manufacturer had usually another big fault as well. He did not pack the goods properly or packed them as if they were intended for the Australian trade.

“This creates a lot of trouble at the other end, where goods arrive in bad condition,” he said. “It all comes back to the agents. Some manufac turers will make good any wrong, but what they did originally leads to loss of goodwill overseas. Some of them don’t deliver to order. They

deliver what they happen to have in stock, but near enough is not good enough.

Another problem with manufac turers was that they did not like small orders which comprised much of the trade in the Islands. These orders were placed to the bottom of the list and the agent only got satisfaction by constant telephone calls. He under haoov w'il'h n 'Zu ! ‘ C „ t rT rS nV* nnhnLn orde r s ’ k ut th ? ir ?" h r m “ S „. dld e ‘ fe eaSler . .

Shipping services leaving Australia on Fridays, particularly late in the day, are another worry. Because of

the weekend intervening they are un able to prepare bills of landing before Monday. Then it is touch and go whether the documents will reach port before the ship, even in these days of jet air services. This problem affects shipments to ports only a few days away—Port Moresby, Noumea, Suva, and Lautoka (if Lautoka is on the schedule before Suva).

S. E. Tatham Pty. Ltd. was founded in 1924 by Mr. Sidney Ernest Tatham. The firm was originally based in Sydney, and moved to Mel bourne in the mid 30’s. It closed in 1942 because of the war, and re opened in 1945. The firm was in corporated in 1950 and in 1964 a Fiji subsidiary was established. Mr.

Tatham retired in 1966.

What does S. E. Tatham supply?

Almost anything from a packet of pins up. They have filled orders for prefabricated houses. Manufacturers of almost every description have an outlet somewhere in the Pacific. The Islands agent knows where.

Being Melbourne-based does not worry S. E. Tatham, says Mr. Duldig.

It is simple to pick up a telephone and place an order in Sydney. There were shipping services from Mel bourne to the islands, although not as many, nor to as many ports, as from Sydney.

S. E. Tatham has a subsidiary com pany in Fiji which also covers some of the S. E. Tatham activities in Tonga. Otherwise all Tatham in terests are provided direct from Mel bourne to every island group in the Pacific except the Cook Islands.

Mr. Arthur Duldig, managing director of S. E. Tatham & Co.