NEW HOPE IN COOK ISLANDS

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21861, 14 August 1936, Page 4

NEW HOPE IN COOK ISLANDS

EFFECT OF VISIT OF NEW ZEALAND DELEGATION

[THE PRESS Special Service.]

AUCKLAND. August 13.

After the visit of the New Zealand parliamentary delegation and coincident with the placing of the new steamer Matua on the run, and a rise in the price of copra, the Cook and Rarotongan Islands are haying a new' lease of life, said Captain J. D. Campbell, who arrived from the islands by the Matua. Mr Campbell, who is a planter and manager of the Cook Island Native Association, has suffered a recurrence of war disabilities and he was taken from the vessel to the Auckland Hospital. “The arrival of the parliamentary delegation seems 19 have inspired the native planters with new hope,” he said, when interviewed. “They have a new enthusiasm and it seems a? though it will mean the regeneration of the islands. The delegation was eager to look into the conditions of planters and their passing has left the planters with a feeling of hope. •Tt is rumoured—l don’t know with what truth—that a cold storage plant is to be erected at Rarotonga. That will give great assistance, particularly to orange and tomato growers. Previously. fruit had to be picked just whenever a ship happened to arrive, and unfortunately, that was often in bad weather, with the result that the fruit arrived in New Zealand in bad condition. With cool storage and the regular running of the Matua, which also has cool stores, planters will be able to pick fruit at maturity and it will arrive in perfect condition.”