NORFOLK ISLAND NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21131, 14 March 1932, Page 6

NORFOLK ISLAND NEWS.

LOW BANANA PRICES. GOOD YIELDS OF BEANS. [FROM OXTR OWN CORRESPONDENT."! NORFOLK ISLAND, March 7. The world-wide depression is making itgel f severely felt ey'"n on Norfolk Island. The people of the mainland have not the money wherewith to 1 <uy bananas, and consequently prices for the growers are distressingly low. Bant na planters who have ■"all their eggs in one basket are faced with serious financial problems, for some time past shippers have been receiving debit notes for expenses, in place of cheques for their produce. Canadian Wonder beans have been the 6heet anchor that ha: enabled the Norfolk Island planters to withstand low prices for produce. The past season has been a good one, the yields excellent, and the prices—in the vicinity of £3 a bushel — highly satisfactory. Quite a large area was sown in beans. At the present time much new ground i i being prepared for planting this season. New Zealand lies practically due southeast of Norfolk Island. Consequently the south-east winds—pr ictically the "trades" —which prevail at t nis time of the year, brought' the smoke irom the fires on the Ilauraki Plains, 700 miles away, and the Canterbury grass fiies, over 1000 miles away, directly aero s the island. Long before the newspape s arrived from New Zealand the islander's realised that big fires were raging the re. The famous "community spiders" of Norfolk Island build a web which is quito remarkable for its strength. Mrs. M. B. Blake, an ex-Nev/ Zealander, recently found a white, tern, a strong, swift flying bird, something like a small seagull, hopelessly entangled in one of these webs. The bird wa: quite uninjured and joyfully flew off win n liberated.