COCONUT GROWERS ANXIOUS ABOUT PRICE OF BUTTER.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20278, 12 April 1934, Page 8

COCONUT GROWERS ANXIOUS ABOUT PRICE OF BUTTER.

To-day’s Special Article.

Whale Oil is Another Commodity That Lowers the Value of Copra ,

By

the Rev A. A. Bensley.

The author of this article. who has been an occasional contributor to the “ Star” for a number of years, is a New Zealand Methodist missionary. stationed at Gizo. in the British Solomon Islands. Mr Bensley is hoping to be in Christchurch again before the year is out. In a private letter to the editor of the ”Star,” he states that the Solomon Islands, in common with other countries, are having a thin time.

JT IS STRANGE how closely related are

the various products of even remote countries when it comes to price adjustments. Who would have thought that the low price that has been ruling for butter would have any effect on the copra market? It is difficult to measure the extent of the influence, but it is there. Butter has been so cheap that people whose slender finances usually confine them to margarine, now aspire to the real thing. Coconut fat is. or was. the principal ingredient in margarine, and the cheapness of butter has greatly reduced margarine consumption. Very feelingly island people wish the New Zealand dairy farmer a greater measure of prosperity.

We are glad to think that dairying has scarcely fallen as low as the copra industry. For a year or two the manufacture of copra has been unprofitable but now the bottom of the market has completely gone. Before it was within pounds of its present market value experts stated confidently that it simply could not drop any further. Now, when a planter fills up his vessel with ten tons of copra and freights it into the depot, he wonders whether he will get enough out of it to buy himself and boys a few provisions. A few years ago £1 a sack could be reckoned on, but now copra little more than produces the cost of the bags that contain it. At this figure the few remaining optimists are feeling very grim. One planter engaged some labour two years ago to work his plantation and -when the stipulated period was over, he found himself without the means to pay the boys, who will have to find their way back to their own island without the hoped for money in their boxes. The ruling price for copra does not come within pounds of the cost of manufacture.

Primary products in other places reached a low figure and then painfully commenced the upward climb, but nothing seems to steady copra in its headlong slide. As in other lines, there has been over-production. Other oils, more easy of treatment, have been supplanting coconut oil. Whale oil in its de-odorised state is now used in the manufacture of many articles that former-

ly required coconut oil. Every now and then we hear quite cheerful rumours that the whales are nearly all killed. Then there are soya beans that are raised in huge quantities, particularly in Manchuria, and the oil from this industry is being poured on the already flooded market. Altogether, the poor planter is having a very thin time. Many have already ceased operations, and the ever-watchful jungle is invading the work of years. In a surprisingly short time the palms are tied and bound with all manner of creepers and the undergrowth and multitude of sprouting nuts soon complete the work of “ smotheration.” The most optimistic thing now being said is that the very considerably reduced production will automatically react on prices, and that in two or three years’ time there may be a slight rise. It will be interesting to see what will happen to the finances of the Protectorate. If the present price is maintained there will be little chance of the natives paying their tax money. All able-bodied males are taxed up to £1 per annum, and the greatest proportion of this tax money comes from copra sales. Traders have now largely ceased buying copra. Even if the natives could dispose of their produce they would have to manufacture from thirty to forty sacks each, or about two tons, to secure their tax money. Apart from copra the natives have scarcely any source of income. White planters and traders are no longer able to employ them on their vessels or holdings, thus depriving them of this source of income. Such small items as trochus shell and ivory nut are variable in value and limited in quantity. Without the native tax and without the native trade, the Government cannot but be financially embarrassed.

Here there is no relief work or financial assistance of any sort for impoverished white folk. The worst feature is that planters and traders are unable to send their wives and children away to a more temperate locality, and the little ones ail and pine and their faces become pinched and wan. A rise in prices sufficient to allow of even a slight margin of profit would relieve much anxiety.