ISLANDERS' DRINK BILL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 156, 30 June 1914, Page 8

ISLANDERS' DRINK BILL.

THE WASTE OF COPRA.

PROHIBITION WANTED.

Although thero is no intoxicating liquor of any kind consumed by the natives of Kino, it is calculated that the Niueau drink bill is equal-to £3 10s per head of the population per annum. When one of these islanders feels thirsty he climbs a cocoanut palm, picks a green nut, slices tho top off, and partakes of the delicious "milk" inside. The Administration has placed concrete tanks in most of the villages, where water is stored for drinking {urposes, but old habits die hard in the Blonds, and in 1912 it was estimated that tho waste of yonng nuts, which are too immature to have any value as copra, represented a loss of from 1600 to 2000 tons of copra per annum. In this way tho amount of the Niuean drink bill is calculated. Tho Administration is patiently trying to induce the people to drink water and leavo the nnts to ripen on tho trees, but this good advice is generally ignored. When tho Hon. Dr. Pomare visited Nine on Juno 14 he was asked by representatives •of tho native people that the Administration forbid the importation of any liquor of an intoxicating nature into the island, either by Europeans or natives. The Minister said that ho sympathised with the desire of the islanders to have a thoroughly sober community. It was a good thing for the natives to be temperate, but as their proposal, if given effect to, would conflict with the present licensing laws in New Zealand, he could not himself promise that tho request would be acceded to. However, he would place tho matter before the Now Zealand Cabinnt, and it would bo fully considered.