A RAROTONGAN BUDGET

Evening Star, Issue 22277, 2 March 1936, Page 12

A RAROTONGAN BUDGET

NATIVES PARTIAL TO CRICKET WONDERFULLY PROFICIENT [Pb* Uxittd Pnsis A.mociatjojt.l WELLINGTON. March 2. The correspondent of the Press Association in Rarotonga writes: The cricket season is well advanced. There are eight senior and seven B grade teams, including a European team which plays in the same competition as the Native senior teams. The European team comprises New Zealand, Australian, and locally born white players. The Natives are remarkably good cricketers, and are very keen on the game They are good batsmen and relish fast bowling. Their fielding would be an eye opener to some club teams in New Zealand. A catch is rarely missed, no matter how fast the ball is travelling. What impresses most is the remarkably fine spirit in which the game is played. Wonderful sportsmanship is displayed by the players.From Wednesday, February 5, until Friday the 7th inclusive, strong winds and heavy seas were experienced at Rarotonga and in outer islands. Owing to the fact that Wednesday was , the anniversary of the disastrous hurricane of 1935, grave fears of a storm were entertained, but on Saturday the wind and seas abated considerably. No material damage to the fruit trees is reported, but the hybiscus and flamboyant trees along the foreshore at Rarotonga showed the effects of the high wind and the salt sea spray. A petition addressed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives for the establishment of . a Fruit Control Board has been circulated among the fruitgrowers, and has now been forwarded to New Zealand. Radio advice has been received that. Captain John M'Culloch, the Resident Agent for Manihiki and Rakahanga Islands, died on January 17, after a short illness. From May, IDIO, until the end of 1913 he held tha positions |of Resident Agent at Aitutaki and 1 Mauke in the service of the Cook Islands Administration. After that he was master of auxiliary schooners trading in the Cook Group, and also of the Doris Crane, the well-known schooner trading out to San' Francisco. Later j he was manager of the Cook Island Trading Company's branch stores. More recently he managed his_ own plantation at Aitutaki. He rejoined, the service of the Administration in 1934. Mr M. A. Black, one of the crew of the vacht Te Rapunga returned from Tahiti to Rarotonga on January 27 last. Black was a passenger to New Zealand per the Makura. All crews, of which Miss Morris was a, member, were in excellent health and enjoying their leisurely cruise. Sailing has been difficult on account of calm days and heavy head wind squalls at night. They reached Tahiti on Christmas Eve and sailed for Honolulu on February 15. The quantity of bananas shipped from Rarotonga in January was 3,867 cases. The average selling price received was 12s 6d to 14s per case. A shipment is <;oing-forward per the Makura of 4,700 to 4,800 cases. The price offered to growers is 2s 6d per-case in the packing sheds and 3s per case on the wharf. The greater part of the t fruit is being shipjied on consignment