South Taranaki News

Taranaki Daily News, 5 January 1927, Page 2

South Taranaki News

i (From Our Own Reporter.) = i ; Telephone No. 596. P.O. Box 133.

THE LURE OF THE TROPICS

LIFE IN THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDS. IMPRESSIONS OF HAWERA RESIDENT. “For anyone wanting a health trip and a complete rest at reasonable cost there is nothing better than to do the round trip of the South Sea Islands,” said Mr. H. B. Gibson, who returned to Hawera last week after a four weeks’ trip round the islands. "The route is from Auckland to Suva (Fiji), thence to Nukualofa, Haapai and Vavu (Tongan group) to Apia (Samoa) and back to Auckland, calling at Suva again,” continued Mr. Gibson. "The discharge and loading of cargo occupies sufficient time to enable tourists to see all places of interest in the many different islands visited, and at each port excellent arrangements have been made to eater for the entertainment of tourists. "The ideal time to visit the islands is, of course, during the winter months, but the Tofua encountered very little rough weather during her December trip and at no time was the heat unduly oppressive.” Speaking of the islands, Air. Gibson said Samoa appeared to him to be undoubtedly the most progressive, due, in his opinion, to the New Zealand Government having control of affairs there, but he thought that the possibilities were greater in Fiji, owing to the fact that this island was so much nearer to both Australia and New Zealand, and that Suva, the chief town, was a port of call for all the Auckland, Sydney, and Melbourne to Vancouver boats. I DIRECT SHIPMENTS OF FRUIT. “The sugar industry in Fiji is also a great asset,” said Mr. Gibson, “but the i banana-growing industry has suffered to a great extent through the restrictive tariff imposed in Australia, and practically no bananas are now being shipped to that country.” Mr. Gibson said he had read in the Daily News, before he left New Zealand, that both New Plymouth and Dunedin were anxious to get direct shipments of bananas from the islands and he particularity interested himself in this regard. From what he could see in Fiji, thousands of cases of bananas mere grown, many growing wild, which never reached the market, and he did not think there should be the slightest difficulty in getting a direct shipment from Suva to New Plymouth if any of the shipping companies, whose boats sailed direat to New Plymouth through Suva, could be persuaded to fill up their available space with bananas. The trouble seemed to be, he said, that the Auckland merchants controlled the banana trade, both in New Zealand and in Fiji, and no one at that end seemed to have even thought of shipping bananas through other than the Auckland merchants. He felt certain that if the New Plymouth and Dunedin merchants went to the trouble of sending someone to Suva to arrange either to buy bananas or to have them sent to New Zealand on consignment the shipping service could easily be arranged. DAIRYING IN FIJI. Referring to the dairying industry in the islands, Mr. Gibson said it was as yet in its- infancy, although the dairy companies at Navua and Rewa in Fiji were making all the butter needed for local consumption. In the Rewa district a large number of returned soldiers Were settled on the land, but very few of them had made a success of dairying. The experiment had been made chiefly wifh the idea of bringing into cultivation some of the easy hili country, thousands of acres-of which were tying idle in Fiji, but the growth in the islands was so luxuriant that it was found that a certain weed came away faster than the grass and in a short time smothered it altogether. If a grass could be found which would grow quickly and luxuriantly enough to keep down the weeds there would seem to be a great future ahead of dairying in Fiji, for cattle throve and did exceptionally well in that climate. The most striking phenomenon which Mr. Gibson noticed in Fiji was the period during which the cows were kept in milk. "It is quite common,” he said, "for a house cow to be in milk for two or three years.” One overseer in Fiji informed him that he was milking a cow which had had its last calf five years ago and was still milking well.

The Indians, descendants of Hindus imported during the old indenture days, who comprised the main population of the kept their cows always tethered to a stake by a rope and they cut para grass and fed it to them. The Indian cows were very poor looking specimens, but they seemed to milk well despite the apparently unfavourable conditions under which they lived. PEOPLE AND THEIR CUSTOMS. “The cow is a sacred animal to the Hindu, yet most of the ploughing and transport work is done by working bullocks,” said Mr, Gibson. “It is quite a common sight in Fiji to see an Indian tilling his ground with two oxen and a wooden plough in one field, whilst in a neighbouring field the very latest motor tractor and equipment may be at work in the employ of the Colonial Sugar Refining Company, which carries on its operations in a most up-to-date and scientific manner.” "On her December trip the Tofua varied her usual itinerary and called at Ellington, on the island of Viti Levu, to pick up sugar from the Penang mill, formerly the property of the Melbourne Trust Company, and recently acquired by the Colonial Sugar Refining Company. The Tofua also called at Levuka, on the island of Ovalau, which was the old capital of Fiji and the one-time port of call for trane-Pacifie steamers. “Levuka is .an extremely beautiful place,” said Mr. Gibson, “but it was visited some months ago by a local hurricane and still showed marks of the ■ devastation. It is well situated for inter-island trade, but this is not sufficient to keep the town in its former prosperous state and it shows many signs of decay. "Levuka is probably the most cosmopolitan town in the islands, but the Hindus are most in evidence throughout the Fijian Islands. It is said that there are some 70,000 Hindus in the group and their numbers are almost as great as those of the native Fijians, who did not exceed 84,000 in the 1921 census. There are also large liumbers of Chinese and half castes in the group and only about 4,000 Europeans, although the climate is not over-severe and much more suited for Europeans than that of Samoa.” In Mr. Gibson’s opinion the reason why the various islands of the Pacific are not more liberally inhabited by white people lies mainly in the lack of means of communication. “The islands are multifarious and the climate of most of them, especially of the smaller ones, is almost ideal,” said Mr. Gibson. “There are millions of acres of splendid land tying idle, but the telephone and cable services are extremely poor and there are so few inter-island passenger and cargo services. The Fijian Government has recently granted Burns T ’hilp and Co. a big subsidy to start a new inter-island service and the Samoan Government has a fruit boat now under construet-ion, but many more boats will be needed if the islands of the South Pacific are to become very popular.” RAINFALL IN HAWERA. The rainfall for 1926 in Hawera was materially in excess of that of the previous year. In the twelve months just terminated 52.65 inches were recorded, against 39.76 inches for the corresponding period in the preceding year. Tile fall during December was 319 points. Rain fell on 12 days, the maximum being one inch on the 12th. Rain fell on 180 days in 1926, as against 164 days in the preceding 12 months. The maximum fall for 1926 was 2.25 inches on October 28. The heaviest preceding fall was 4.20 on March 11, 1924. PERSONAL ITEMS. On the eve of his departure to take up the editorship of the Christchurch Sun, Mr. J. H. Hall, for two years head, of the literary side of the Star, received a present from the staff to mark his happy relations with it. Reference was made to the staff’s appreciation of the assistance and consideration it had received from the retiring editor. Having acknowledged the presentation, Mr. Hall formally introduced the new editor, Mi'. L. A. Ablett. Mr. and Mrs. Hall left en route for Christchurch yesterday morning. Mr. R. B. Fearon, who has been spending the holiday season in Auckland, returned by the mail train yesterday morning from New Plymouth.