CONDITIONS IN RAROTONGA

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21536, 27 July 1935, Page 18

CONDITIONS IN RAROTONGA

Good Recovery From Hurricane LIFE ON THE ISLAND "Rarotonga has made a marvellous recovery from the effects of the recent hurricane," said Mr J. Ainger when interviewed by 'The Press" on his return to Chrislchurch yesterday, after spending about two years on the island. He mentioned as an important development the reconstruction of an old native road running inland around the fuot of the mountain to the back country. This had existed before the coming of the Europeans, but When they had built the coastal road it had fallen into disuse and had become covered with vegetation. The work of opening it up again had been undertaken by the Government, and some progress had been already made. Its importance lay in that it would open up the back country to motor transport, and the bananas could be packed in cases en the plantations and sent down in trucks. The old method was to send them by packhorse; this meant that many of the bananas were bruised J and had to be rejected later. Work of Rebuilding The new wireless station, built in reinforced concrete, was a great improvement on the old, and the grounds surrounding it were much more attractively laid out, said Mr Aingcr. The concrete bridges which had been destroyed had also been more substantially rebuilt and had been enlarged to twice «r former width. They .were now much safer and could take two-way instead of one-way traffic. The coastal road was in good order. '

The rebuilding of the native houses, however, had not been so satisfactory. Formerly they had been of semi-European construction, with Iron roofs, but in place of those which had been destroyed, much cheaper 01.3s of purely native construction with roofs of plaited coconut leaves were now being built. The loss of their crops had greatly Impoverished the natives, and they could not afford to build better houses.

The vegetation along the coast was rapidly reappearing; it seemed that nature had produced unusually prolific growth in order to repair the damage. But it was estimated that the former appearance of the island would not be completely restored fyr 40 years.

The banana crop was finished two months early because of the hurricane, eaid Mr Ainger, and the natives were obliged to take up the cultivation oftomatoes on an extensive scale In order to recoup their fortunes. Unfortunately, however, »,he tomatoes 'were attacked by a bligit, and the industry of the natives was largely defeated. Moreover, the reports of possible large crops that had been circulating had caused the merchants to reduce the price, and the tomatoes were sold at 2s 6d a case instead, of 9s, as might have> been expected. 'Hardship to School Children Another cause of poverty among the natives at present was that since the hurricane the Government had ceased to offer a reward of a penny each for the tails of rats. From Mr Ainger's remarks It appeared that this economy measure caused a considerable amount of malnutrition among the native school children. It was formerly their custom to set a trap and catch a rat overnight, and buy a loaf of bread ■with the penny they received in the morning. Now it waa found that many of the children went to school with nothing more tiv a drink of coconut milk, and .vere sometimes unable to keep awake at school. The Government had found the economy necessary because of the reduction in fruit revenue, but the island was t>verrun with rats. They could be seen scampering about in large numbers even by daylight, and. they rapaciously '■ consumed much of the foodstuffs of the Island. They climbed trees for coconuts and caused many of them to, fall to the ground. They also devoured eggs and chickens, so much so that, although the island was noted for the prolific breeding of fowls, eggs "toere very scarce, and it waa found exceedingly difficult to rear a full fcrood of chickens. A hen would hatch a brood of 12 chickens, and one by one the rats would devour them till at last tonly one was left, which the hen seemed able to look after. Another pest was ants, which made It imoossiblo to have gardens on the Island. They would eat the seeds that were placed in the ground, and make It very difficult to raise vegetables. Mr Ainger said that he did not have any fresh vegetables for four months efHr the hurricane.

Curiously enough, according to Mr Ainger, there Is not a plentiful supply of ash on the Island, though neighbouring Inlands have more than they can use. The fish do not seem to bite, and the general method of catching them employed by the natives is to spear them under water. Native Sports The natives, however, in spite of their familiarity with the water, have not a good style of swimming, in •which Europeans easily "excel them. Eut they are excellent tennis players, Mr Ainger said, and though they do not as a rule play against the Europeans, there is no doubt that they would easily prove their superiors. They are also good at Association football, which they play better than Rugby. They play with bare feet, and have a method of kicking with the ball of the foot. In a match with the crew of the Dunedin they were victorious by three to nil. The natives also took a keen interest in cricket, and one of their teams had not been defeated for seven years, Mr Ainger said that ha and three ether New Zealanders, who had taken •ome part in athletics in this country. had entered as a team to the annua! athletic contest held by the natives, and bad been successful in winning the trophy known as the kumatei The Other men were: T. Pickering, L, Cook, and D. Thompson; it was quite an accident that such a group of men, - who had formerly competed in New Zealand championship meetings, should . have happened to be on the island together. Amusing: Incidents . ■ Mr Ainger said that he thought a treat deal of the natives and found them very friendly once their confidence was gained. They sometimes did very amusing things: on one occasion, Jfor instance, two natives who had a contract for making a bridge, had endeavoured to make sure of an early •tart in the morning by mixing the «ement the night before, only to And that it bad set when they came to work. A native had once escaped from faol and sat fire to a large store, after wealing the tobacco. He then returned tt> gaol where he smoked tho tobaceo for a long time before discover?, which was made when it was twtieed that the brand on the tins he MM throwing away wag the same as

that which had been the monopoly of the store which had been destroyed. Stamp-collecting is Mr Ainger's hobby. He mentioned the value of many of the Rarotongan stamps, and said that of those issued some 80 per cent were purchased by collectors. Some of the stamps appreciated by 30J per cent, when they had been cancelled in the post. He had high praise for the island as a holiday resort