COOK ISLANDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10131, 14 May 1896, Page 5

COOK ISLANDS.

[•"ROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.]

Rarotonga, May i, On Saturday night we had something like the old tropical rain, which seemed to have deserted us altogether for the last two years. It streamed continuously, and the register showed 8| inches. The creeks are all up, the roads and ditches thoroughly cleansed, and the coffee will benefit greatly, as the berries were shrivelling for want of rain.

\ The ,l Pa succession "at Takitumu has advanced another stage. The remaining Avikis have formally refused to recognise Maretu as the Pa, Arifci of that district. It remains to be soert what theTftkltumu people will do. All the Afikis are, by the Federal Constitution, ex officio members of the Government and the Federal Parliament is to meet on July 5. The Government have to be called together before that date. The question to be now settled is, shall Marotu be included in tho call ? The Same difficulty exists in relation to tho local government of this Island, bub the local Council does nob meet till August. The hospital was formally opened on May 1, It bad for some weeks previously been placed at tho service of Dr. Caldwell. Me gathered in it eight of his patients, but the Government declined incurring any current expenses until the fittings ot the building were completed, This was done by the end of April, and the hospital is now an established fact. One of the patients was a very nice Maori lad, well known in Auckland, George Raea, who came back from Sydney very ill a fortnight ago. Fortunately, his father removed him on Saturday to his own house, as the doctor pronounced his case hopeless. The poor lad died yesterday. Had he died in the hospital there would probably have been for Borne time a prejudice against it. As it is, his relatives ate consoled, and will havo the usual tongi. This is one of the difficulties baaed on the nature of things, which can only be gradually overcome. At Atiu, the people have voluntarily formed a local Council to deal with the three islands of Atui, Mitiaro, and Mauke. They follow the lines of the local councils in the other islands of the Federation, but, being very backward and without European guidance, will take time to get it into shape. Meanwhile, the movement is quite spontaneous, and shows lifo.

By-the-bye, among the patients at the Hospital is one of the little Maori triplota born between three and four yoars ago in this Island. The mother is a New Zealand half-caste, and the father a Rarotollman Maori named Maunga, who lived many yoara in the north of New Zealand, and returned aboub five years ago to Rarotonga. The three children are alive and healthy, but one of thorn lob a hoary weight fall on her litbls foot, breaking some of the bono*. . This does not look like the dying out of the race. The mother comes from Wairoa North. It would be interesting to know if twins or triplets are ever heard of among the Maoris there? Perhaps some of your readers in that part of New Zealand may know. . ' The schooner Glon, with a_ cargo _of timber and sundries, arrived this morning from San Francisco. She is the first vessel direct for many years, and her arrival is due, I. suppose, to the high Customs and octroi duties levied in Tahiti. There can be/no fear, of California beating New Zealand for this trade, bub shippers from New Zealand must get rid of the idea that rubbish of any kind, especially timber, wooden matches, and preserved provisions can be dumpod into these islands. The Glon comes to Mr. Maxwell's agents here, and the cargo is on account of Mr, Maxwell, who is a well-known merchant at Tahiti. '

Tho Union Steamship Company have advortisod in the local newspaper, the Torea, Mint their first vessel will leave Auckland about the Ist May, Her arrival is therefore looked for early, and it is hoped will give a fresh impulse to the trade between this and New Zealand. Sho will give us a fortnightly mail, and the Maoris aro of course delighted at the increased price competition is bringing for their bananas and oranges . The coffee picking has begun. . Unfortunately it is always shipped •as soon us dry enough to be husked, but people who use the coffee here keep it at least a yoar, in the husk, to mature. The difference in flavour and strength is then remarkable, so much so that the coffee would, 1 think, bo found suitable for sale by itself in New Zealand instead of being, as at present, merely used to'-mix with stronger qualities. It might be worth while for some of the coffee merchants to keep an experimental lot in Rarotonga in the husk, to get. age. I doubt if it wonhl mature so well in a colder climate, and if the machinery for shelling would be availableln New Zealand. If tho experiment wore successful the Cook Islands could supply. New Zealand easily with all the coffee used, in the colony, and to the great advantage of both murkots. It may be said that tho people in Rarotonga should make the experiment, but there is no one specially interested, and the natives have not the requisite capital to keep it stored and cared for properly for a yoar. I can only say that no one here thinks of drinking tho coffee till a year old at least, although it is husked and shippeed abroad as soon as possible after being picked and dried. .

The schools have broken up for the holidays for the first time. The parents attondod by invitation at the breaking up, and were enthusiastic at seeing what, in so short a time, had beon done. In all of them the discipline is excellent, and in the present stauo of native development that; is tho first consideration.