LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 74, 20 December 1919, Page 10

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

COOK ISLANDS AFFAIRS THE FRUIT QUESTION. Pir,—ln n recent issue of your pap*r there appeared a letter touching upon matter* affe.itinu tho Cook Islands, over t'hc noni do plume "Advance Rurotonga," ti'liieii cannot bo alloired to go unchallenged. It was niy intention to refrain from further criticism of Cook Islands affairs in the meantime, seeing that the Priino Minister had granted our request for a full and open inquiry, but wnen letters of tho type under comment are published by interested people. I cannot remain silent,

Everyone ".-ill admit that business ileuses nre doing business for a profiteven llr. Advance Rarotoußa, who, as lie fiiiys, recently piiid this island a visit. After ii few secret meetings with the Pαtires in the Courthouse, Avarua, and no doubt further meetings with the Coinmifsioncr, he departed and now would have tho general public of New Zealand, believe ha is a competent authority on Cook Islands.

He states that there are four schools on this island with about 550 scholars, quite ignoring Hie extremely valuable work of the Sisters of St. Joseph's Convent which has one hundred and seventy pupils. The four Government schools have- fourteen teachers for 550 pupils as lie claims, while tho Sisters are only two in number, with a Mother 'Superior, three in all, and Protestant and Catholio alike in Earotonga- aro prefectly well aware- that in results obtained the palm is certainly retained by these three excellent women.

Tho serious riot mentioned by "Advance Rarotonga" Was not quelled by the respect tho natives have for the law as administered by Judge F. W. Platls. No! Not by a long chalk, but it was broken by the much-abused and slandered Europeans, many of whom were armed vvitli revolvers with which thev would soon have made a scatter had they'been molested.

At the time of writing I hoar repeated complaints tliat this ono or that one has had the whole or part of his banailM stolen, and I do not for a moment suppose the onlprits will be traced. Yery likely Mr. Advaneo will havo tho pleasure of handling some of the stolen bananas ox Moaua, without being aware of tho fact. Tho horticultural class referred to by your correspondent is entirely due to the lnbours of Mr. E. A. Heid, fruit inspector, and the Administration can claim no credit for it. Wo certainly have received a few benefits, and, indeed, who would expect otherwise seeing wo havo found tlrnisands of pounds of revenue? Do not forget: wo do not get oft' scot free from taxation. Oh, no,, not by any means. We pay about double what we would if in New- Zealand proper. The prompt measures tho Government took re the influenza epidcmic consisted mainly of nailing up notices on roadside trees telling tho natives that quinino was good for t'lie ailment and could bo purchased in tie traders' stores. As for the statement that the interested white residents aro the drawback to progress, ho\v docs Mr. Advance R-aro-onga account for the fact that all the progress there is has liecn led by tho oxertions of tho whites, and tho expenditure of white capital, and also that till the advent of. Dr. Pomare and moro particularly of Mr. P. W. Platts there was little or no friction between tho During tho term of office of Colonol W. E. Gudgeon it was tho customary thing for all Europeans to spend an evening at the residency each week, and everybody felt at homo. Upon _ the colonel's departure he was entertained at a dance and presented with a valuable piece of plato as a mark of esteem by the residents. Furthermore, and it can bo found in one of his reports to Parliament, Colonel Gudgeon, a man of wide nativo knowledge and experience, said t'liat the presence of white settlors, who would open up the lands then waste was a very desirable 'thin:; it the islands were to progress and the native# taught and encouraged to develop the island. In the Supplementary Estimates for this session thero appears a vote, of ,£2OOO for peeking shed for ,Rarotonga. Not a soul knew anything about too proposed shed till tho Resident CoimmssVmcr took steps to have, it ereoted. The present position, is that the erection of this building (or, white elephant) has been suspended, the Resident Commissioner having been shown by "exports that tho scheme is impracticable. This voting of ,£2ooo' out of tha New Zealand taxpayers' money to be wasted in tho Cook Islands should call for a full explanation in the Hoiiso of Representatives where the ignorance of these islands and their needs is to us absolutely appalling for the most part. It seems that tho present Government is prepared to squander the peoples money in all directions in order to hecst tho Resident Commissioner, Mr. F. W. Platts, and "smoodge" to the natives S\> that they will say ho is "a good mail," etc., etc. , Full publicity regarding Cook Islands affairs is not given, and at least most of the expenditure for many items Is hidden away under the heading of ' contingent expenditure" in the annual leport. ■ The Cook Islands Progressive Aisocintion has ovor seventy members, including Europeans and leading native of tln» group, also a resident of .'lalnti, several members resident in New Zealand jAuel-' land, Christclnirch, Wel'jngton, and Dunedinl, ard now has an application for membership from Niue, and had tho tives not boen frightened many ni.yiwould have j"uied, and then perhaps Mr. Advance would have had a different opinion of tho associaiton, for. they would probably have thou linked up with tha New Zealand Fruitgrowers' Federation, as per communication between the eooroiary of that body (Mr. Shelton) and the secretary of tho Cook Islands Prrarrcsnu-t Association. Tho antagonism was nil on ins pajt of tho Ocok Islands Administration, anvonc caring Vo look up the C.I.P.A. wport, page 42, letters 52 and 53, will see that Dr. Pomaro was invited to bwoai# a member, and so also were (ho ""je" 1 ; 8 of the Administration staff, Mr. I JaU* included. When men of position lihu lh« .Governor of Tahiti and tho. Prombr of Tonga compliment the association on its labours towards progress, wo can afford to olass Mr. Advance Rarotonga as an '.v.*

grinder. . . , Now, coming to l ' le fifteen account talm "tnUen at random," i\s stated. Anybody could do tho same, but to be fair it » necessary to lako a given period ambrna. injr all seasons and every shipment. I Imp> ic one account sale sent here lo tho Avatil, frnilsiwrere for fruit ex lotua. dated September 2, 1919, by the association j!,. Advance is connected with, whip# hi. (shall Ibe kind and say?) forgot. It is for 45 cases bananas, gross. .C2l Ifo. od. • 75 cases oranges, grass, ,£IS 10s. Sd.s ' Iota! gross,-.C-M Is.; total net, .CIS 12s. ! 3d. No*', 120 eases at 2s. Gd. equals .£ls; so' the natives received 12s, ,V., foJ 120 cases, or undor "Jd. per ease. ".Again, will Mr. Advance deny Hint upon the "advice of Mr. Plntrs n,nd liim«'lf iho natives sent up some 2000 palm-leaf kits, bping led to believe that they would receive Is. to 3s. each for them, end Hint nil the natives have so fur received is tho jtiil for tho freight? Will ho further deny tlmt there is little cr nothing to come for the kits, and is it not a fact that they wore sent to the dest-nictw in Wellington? Lastly, will "Advance" and Mr, I'h'.ts deny that, thero is serious discontent amongst native monil»t,i of the Native. Co-opcrativo Company oh account of somo hitch or unpleasantness rejardinr their cash? I trust that those responsible for issuing the leaflet published by the Wellington Publishing Company will issue another containing this letter, and my reply thiit<Mr. Advance Itarotongn w* to fiivo, for seeing that the New Zealand orehardists are taxed Is. per acre por year to maintain tho New Zealand Fruitgrowers' Federation I think ihey mlgttt like to read correspondence wilh which their federation is connected or interested.—l am, etc., W. G. TAYLOR, President, Cook Islands, Progressive Association. Rarotonga, November 28, 7919.