OUR MANDATED TERRITORY.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17857, 1 September 1923, Page 13

OUR MANDATED TERRITORY.

HOW NEW ZEALAND IS FULFILLING HER TRUST.

(SPECIALLY WBITTEX TO* "THE PSES3.") [BY A. W. Ttxdall.]

Th? mask-faced nut —the Portugese ■word "coca" means jv mask —is not the only export of Snmoa. There aro many other products the export of which is capable of indefinite expansion. One of th© objects of the Mulinu'u Show was to further the cultivation of these. Accordingly, besides ten first priaes of £3 each and ten second prizes of iil 10s each for the best 501b of copra,, ten first prizes of £1 and ten second prises of 10s each were offered for the best samples of cacao —pods presumably —the whole weight of the sample to bo 251b. Similar prizes and to a like number were given for the best assorted' three sticks of sugar-o.uie. Prizes „ero also given for local tobacco, and kava cut and dried. In addition, championship prizes -were presented to the value of £3 and £2 for copra, cacao, sugar-cane, and tobacco by Colonel Tate, late Administrator, Messrs J. Southon, J. H. Oakes, and }l. C. Connor. Splendid bananas ot several varieties are grown in Samoa, and the cultivation of them was encouraged by the offer of ten first prizes of £3 each and ten second prizes of £1 10s each for tho finest and larjiest bunches of bananas, betides a championship prize of £3 presented by Mr L. J. Cowley. Moreover, comestibles for native consumption were not neglected. Valuable and numerous prizes were given foi' tares, yams, taamus, and the best collection of Samoan-grown trees. (By the way, I don't know what taamus are. The I'ev. Mr Pratt does not give the word in his dictionary.) The most peculiar reward for industry offered bv the promoters of tho show was ten firstprizes of 10s each and ten second prizes of 5s each, besides si championship prizie of £3 presented by Mr H. I*. Ritchie, for two specimens, largest andi smallest, of the rhinoceros beetlo. Those prizes were not offered to promote the rearing of the beetle, bub to encourage the collection, .and consequent destruction, of the pest. Ono feels dubious as to the ultimate results of this policy. The Samoans may take rather keenly t.o the study of entomology and keep on band too many specimens. It would not -do for New Zealand agricultural societies to offer prizes for the biggest and smallest pair of rabbits. Now for some remarks on the foregoing and other « Exportable Products of Samoa.

Of cacao last year 765 tons were exported, value £44,513, as against 750 tons Rvalue in the previous year. Cocoa mado from Samoan cacao is notable for rich aroma and distinctive flavour. The average production is about scwt per acre, while on the best plantations 12cwt and even more pc.r acre have been obtained. There is a chance here for the "small" man with sufficient capital to take up a block of, say, SO acres. Ov; a moderate estimate a cacao plantation in full bearing, on the basis of current prices—£sß per ton at Apia—should, in capable hand?, assure an income of £6 to £lO per acre per annum, equal to £3OO to £SOO a year from 60 acre 3. " But to bring" a plantation into full bearing would cost from £25 to £35 per acre. Nature steps in, however, to helpHhe enterprising planter. On the virgin bush bt-inu cl«y»reu tht papaya, or mummy-apple tree, springs up spontaneously. The mlky juice of the unripe fruit of the papaya, papaw, or mummyapple is called papain, and is largely used in the preparation of medicines for the improvement of digestion. It commands good prices on the markets. The unripe fruit is tapped, and the latex, or milky juice, oozes out quickly coagulates, and may be dried by artificial heat. The papaya tree largely used for shading young cacao tiees, which are very tender in their early stages of growth, and must have eliadfe. Honco those shelter trees might be utilised as a source of profit, and the whole or a part of the development costs of a new cacao, or even cocoiiut, plantation, might be paid by tapping tht papaw fruit and selling the papain. As much as 18s per lb has been obtained for Samoan papain, and the Current price in Canada is approximately four dollars. Unquestionably there is promise* of

A Splendid Future. fo- the Samoan cacao, industry andi real opportunities of a fortune now await enterprising men with a capital of £ISOO or £2OOO. At the present time cacao plantations in full bearing are ivalued in Samoa at from £SO to £7O per aero Will tho reader at this juncture please note that cacao has no relation to coconuts or copra, but it has to cocoa, the beverage, and chocolate, the sweetmeat. Both the latter are made from the ground cacao bean, which grows packed with many brother beans in a large brown pod on a low-growing bronze-leafed tree. On this tree pretty flowers and pods may be found growing at the same time, not onlj* on the twigs, but also directly from the large branches and trunk. You may see some growing beside the road to Vailima, where K. L. Stevenson planted thousands of cacao trees. A reference to the medicinal virtues of the papaw or mummy apple may be interesting to sufferers from indigestion, and serviceable also to those victims of dietetic delusions who, while dwelling in tin, tropics, insist on breaking their fast with the matutinal chop, steak, or bacon and eggs. I can assure them, from personal experiment, that half a mummy-apple, two or three richly ripe bananas, and some brown bread and butter constitute for the tropics "a good, hearty, wholesome, honest breakfast," to use the phrase of Piscator to Venator in "The CompJeat Angler," when hs produces from his fishbag "a piece of powdered beef and a radish or two." Papain, jthe extract derived from the juice of the mummy-apple, is highly favoured in America as a remedy for indigestion, and the Americans are acknowledged experts at indigestion. They say it has "remarkable pepsin-like digestive properties." A retired New Zealand farmer who has spoilt his stomach with fried chops and strong tea might therefore do worse than take up a cacao plantation in Samoa, where he could grow his own medicine free of expense in liis back-yard. How poor old dyspeptic Thomas Carlyle would have rejoiced at the prospect! "Peptonic garden s for dyspeptics" may be suggested as an advertisement to induce settlement of white planters in Samoa.

Prom Pineapples to Peanuts. Pineapples in Samoa grow wild in. the busli and are commonly found in local gardens. They are of fine quality. When grown from sucker 3 the ripened stage is reached in about 12 months and when they are once established two crops can be gathered every Ye .ar. There is a promising field for enterprise in the shape of pineapple canning. About the time when the Great War broke out the Tuvao Pineapple Company began the canning industry, and in 1916 exported to the

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United Kingdom 3274 cases of preserved pineapples. But, owing to war conditions, tfle venture- was allowed to lapse, though not before it w ! 's clearly proved that the canning of pineapples and their export from bamoa could be made a commercial success. Spices of various kinds may be grown profitably in Samoa. Nutmegs grow wild, and I have found them in the bush, "but* both. th-e mac© and th© nut are inferior in flavour and aroma to the cultivated variety, which may be grafted on the wild stock, and does very well in Samoa, being prolific enough to warrant extensive cultivation With a view to proiitable trade. Cardamon is another spice the cultivation of which was successfully started in- Samoa, but abandoned on account of the war. Kapok trees have been largely planted to serve as a windbreak for cacao plantations. They bear large elliptical pods containing, -when ripe, small seeds wrapped in elastic fluff, which is the kapok of commerce used in upholstery and for stuffing lifebelts and pillows. Three or four years ago tlier» used to be a market for kapok among local merchants at Apia, and no doubt the trade will again revive. Oranges, lemons, and limes all grow in Samoa, but the two former some vears ago were nearly exterminated by disease. The lime trees, _ with round green fruit, are still plentiful, and the fruit might be made 'in article for export to New Zealand were its wholesome and refreshing qualities wellknown here. . Some years ago two varieties of coffee, the Liberian and the Arabian, were grown fairly extensively by the German .planters. The ruins of a coffee factory may still be seen on V allele Plantation, where the formerlv cultivated plants have spread through the native bush as thickly as xnaniika sap" lines. The production' of eofiee beans was abandoned because copra and cacao proved more profitable lines. Several rubber companies were operating prior to the war, and, while the urice of the article exceeded per fb worked at a profit. At the present time however, the price of rubber in the world's markets is too low to allow rubber cultivation to be a payable prooosition under Samoan conditions. Peanuts of better quahtv than the average on the market ■haW> beerj grown at the Government Experimental Fa*-m. Some of these been sent to New Zealand and been received with favour by merchants and manufacturers. The application of energy and enterprise might establish a profitable business in these popular and nourishing dainties.' especially in view of the increased favour evinced by many people for a vegetarian diet.