COOK ISLANDS

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 72, 22 September 1933, Page 9

COOK ISLANDS

THE ORANGE TRADE

IMPROVING PLANTATIONS

STATE ACTION

, Vast areas of. new citrus, cultivations planted in Australia during recent years have provided snrplus crops much in excess of the Australian market's locai requirements, arid one of the main outlets has been New Zealand. As Australia has a cheap freight' and regular arid frequent shipping services to New Zealand, and as the Australian grower is ready to dump his surplus crop at little over cost of production, the Australian orange trade has rapidly replaced the trade from our own Cook Islands, as the following figures show:— ' 1028 ' 1931 Ib. Ib. Australia .... 5,101,900 11,156,620 .Cook Islands .. 7,881,699 3,336,439 This competition, together with the poot prices that have been returned to the Cook Islands grower from his orange sales over a number of years, has given, a serio.us, --setback to the orange trade of the Cook Group, but the recent embargo on Australian oranges. has created a revival of the Island orange, trade. Up to the present time the bulk of the oranges imported from the Cook Group has been gathered from trees that have.grown for many years in.a more or.less wild'state on'the lands of the native people, without cultivation, the wonderful fertility of the soil producing immense crops from the3e trees for over half a century. Some of the trees have 'attained «n unbelievable size, with a girth to be measured not in inches but in feet, and they take their place with the indigenous forest trees. ' 'The efforts of the Administration for some years have been directed to the elimination of all "forest" citrus trees,; the cutting down of old trees that have passed their usefulness, and replacement with good stock trees in ordered plantations, i Many acres of new trees have been laid down -within the past few years, but progress gen' erally-has been slow. '. A FORWABD MOVEMENT. With better market prospects ahead, the Administration has recently made a very definite forward movement to place the Cook Island^ orange trade on a sound footing at the Islands, and an Order in .Council published in this week's Gazette indicates the steps that all growers in the Islands are to be required, to take to put their plantations in. order. All old trees unsuitable for. profitable bearing are to bo cut down, and clumps of citrus trees are to be thinned out to ten feet space between trees. All dead and diseased wood is to be cut out, and trees are to be. "topped" to such a height as may be directed. It is estimated that there are no less than 40,000 unsuitable trees on the Islands, and the work of cutting down has already been- comriienced. In order to avoid the incurring of costs by the individual growers, arrangements have been made for community $aws, axes, and secateurs to be provided through the . existing packing sheds, the cost being found from a levy on experts; and by team, w.ork it ia anticipated-that this task will be completed at an early date. The pruning and topping of trees is a much more difficult matter, and the plan .of -operations will .extend over three years, not only because of the great amount of work involved, but in order that the heavy. cutting back of trees shall not deprive the New Zea-land-market of next year's supplies. . Many, ijhousanda of young quality trees of various types have been, propagated . by. the Administration, and these 'are being readily requisitioned' ;by'growers, who are required under the terms of the regulations to cultivate all new areas in properly ordered plantations. As already stated/ many acres of new .trees are already under cultivation,' arid it is anticipated that; it will'be only a matter of years be-fore,-,the, N,ew. Zcajand supplies of oranges frbriv the Cook Islands will be coming forward from properly ordered plantation trees. A Brief 'soil survey Of Rarotonga has been undertaken recently, and it is intended to go further with this as funds: permit. The survey .already made shows » marked deficiency in potash in the' soils of the Island generally, and it is certain that with a replenishing of the soils a better keeping-quality orange* will be produced. ;The Administration has also estab-, lished a citrus area for the.purpose of manurial experiments and- -the- .cultivation of those .types of tree that will prolong the present orange season of the Islands. , ••- •;■'■ ' — PACKING METHttfi&. The present m«thod of -packing fruit in Barotonga is to be retained... Each district at present (seven in number) has its district packing shed, equipped with machine graders arid' a staff of packers under the direction. of a packing shed committee and the; Government inspectors. This system of packing has been ia operation for some years'and has now entirely replaced the .previous method of picking direct from- trees into boxes without grading of any description before shipping. The methods of shipment-from the Islands arc crude, and steamer calls are nob sufficiently frequent constituting- a weakness in the Island fruit indnstry^ Modern transport in cool storage conditions, and a. regular fortnightly steamer, would go far in putting the Cook Islands orange trade on a good footing. Hundreds of tons of magnificent oranges are allowed to go to waste annually in the Cook Group; ior 'the-'lack/of- shipping :services, particularly in the outer islands of Aitutaki, Mangaia, Atiu, and Mauke, which are riot regular ports of call for trans-1 ocean steamers.

The low^priees returned to the native grower for his fruit, due to the channels through which the Cook Islands fruit is sold, are a serious deterrent to trade, and this is a matter which-is also engaging- the attention of the Administration at the present time.