A.—3.

No. 84. Barotonga, 6th February, 1902. I have the honour to forward a letter from Mr. E. Blame, solicitor, referring to appeals fr ° m iSS impose!g? should be made for tj-^^^J-J; section 4 would meet all cases likely to arise. I have, &c, W. E. Gudgeon, The Eight. Hon. the Premier, Wellington. Resident Commissioner.

Barotonga, 20th February, 1902. '" I have the honour to enclose a report on the Cook and northern Islands for the, year 1901-2, but have omitted the trade statistics which it has this report, since I find on inquiry that these returns are now made direct to the Customs Depart ment of New Zealand. 'W.'e. Gudgeon. The Eight Hon. the Premier of New Zealand, Wellington.

Enclosure. REPORT ON THE TRADE AND SOCIAL CONDITION OP THE EASTERN PACIFIC. The past year has in many respects been a bad one for the Cook Group for on most of the Mand P she y orange-crop ha/been limited in quantity, and, in Barotonga, of indifferent quay, £ tthe ffit-pests imported in old cases from New Zealand and other places. Fortunately, the Elands oi! £££ Sin "and Mitiaro are at present free from these blights, and measures have the average in quantity, but of fair quality and the same may be saTof the copra, which is our chief article of export. Not more than 800 tons have aro compe P lLd to hve on the'cocoanuts, nature having provided them with yams, taro, breadnecessarilybe used for both food and drink and therefore theon put of copra is limited as compared with the nuts actually produced. On S'most^moderatecommutation" every member of the population living on a coral island must consume fifteen hundred nuts-namely, half a ton of copra per annum In the following schedule I show the present production of copra m each island ana an p knted and the trees attended to -

As the above schedule requires explanation in order to show why certain of the islands are comparatively unproductive, I will report on the condition of each island separately.

47

Population. Present Production of Copra. Estimated Possible Product. Pearl-shell. Island. Area. Tons. 150 150 125 350 160 40 60 10 30 100 100 25 100 500 100 Tons. 2,000 500 1,800 450 350 80 400 100 100 200 200 100 180 3,500 200 Tons. Barotonga Mangaia Atiu ... Aitutaki Mauke Miciaro Manuae Takutea Penrhyn Manihiki Bakahanga Suwarrow Palmerston Niue ... Pukapuka Nassau (no information)... Square Miles. 30 30 32 7 4i 4 1* 4 3 2 2 i 1 110 2(?) 2,100 1,541 820 900 370 165 10 Nil 389 570 400 30 65 4,576 505 100 10 50 Total ... 231| 12,441 2,000 10,160 160