Letters
Bananas
I wish to refer to Mr Dossor’s letter (PIM, Jan, p 9) in which he claims that the ar ticle on the banana export in dustry of the Pacific Islands contained “many inaccura cies”.
There is only one error, which I believe is a typing error, in the whole article; and that is, the freight rate should, as Mr Dosser points out, be 5.5 cents/pound and not 3c. As to the rest of the ar ticle, it conveys a fairly ac curate and unbiased outline of
the industry.
Until recently, as the article in question correctly points out, the management of Fruit Distributors Limited had re peatedly told the Islanders that they could not produce good bananas. Management was not keen to co-operate with the Pacific Island authorities in trying to im prove the industry. As the ar ticle points out, there is for tunately a change in this nega tive attitude of Fruit Distribu tors Limited. The Pacific Islanders would have lost the NZ market to Ecuador were it not for the fact that Fruit Dis tributors Limited is bound by its charter to buy island bananas. In addition, the company would not have Jared to reject supplies for the Islands in favour of Ecuadorian bananas.
Politically, that would not be icceptable to the NZ Govern ment irrespective of what party was in power.
As to the price, is it not a fact that the premium price of & cents a pound originally came about through a NZ jovernment directive, and not hrough any initiative on the Part of the company?
Mr Dosser is correct about i fixed price being paid. But should it be different?
Why should bananas be ex ported on a consignment Pasis? And as for the inference hat the price being paid for sland bananas is one of the lighest in the world, one can Pnly say that that may be so in comparison with bananas for Pther poor countries. The
price of bananas throughout the world is far too low, even at 6c/lb the price paid for most of the island bananas im ported into NZ and is a clear example of the poor being ex ploited by the rich. The NZ consumers can afford to pay more than they are now pay ing for bananas. And Fruit Distributors Limited can make them pay a higher price by reducing the current levels of quantities being imported from Ecuador. A few cents more per pound is not going to mean much to the NZ housewife, but is going to mean a big difference to the island producer.
Has Mr Dosser ever com pared the price of hothouse tomatoes and that of bananas in the NZ market? How does the price of bananas compare with that received by the NZ farmer?
Fruit Distributors Limited has a monopoly in banana im ports into NZ which it can and should use to pay the island farmers a fair price. Perhaps this is the time for Fruit Dis tributors Limited to prove that it is now working in co operation with the Island authorities towards a better deal for the producers.
Sione Tupou
Nukualofa, Tonga.
J. K’S Papers
I was sorry to read (PIM Feb, p 31) that the widow of the late J. K. McCarthy has given many of her late hus band’s ‘papers’ to the National Library of Australia. With all due respect to Mrs McCarthy and the memory of the late ‘J.
K. I believe it would have been more appropriate to have given the ‘papers’ to Papua New Guinea. After all, ‘J. K.’ spent a lifetime in PNG with its people. Surely therefore, PNG deserves to have his ‘papers’ rather than Australia!
G. M. P. Gray
(ex-PNG)
Western Australia
Tahiti Guide
Would anyone having a file of the Tahiti Tourist Guide, especially those published in the early 1930’s please con tact the undersigned at 152 Burgess Avenue, Westwood, Mass. 02090, USA, and accept my thanks for so doing.