BUTTER AND FIJI.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5465, 23 August 1929, Page 3

BUTTER AND FIJI.

GREAT DAIRYING COUNTRY. WONDERFUL STRIDES MADE. Mr A. Edwards, who has been a resident of Fiji for the last four years, is on a business and holiday visit to Paeroa from the islands after an absence of several years. Mr Edwards was formerly at Waharoa, and is a brother of Mr C. Edwards, of the Waikato Valley Dairy Co., Frankton Junction. Interviewed by a representative of the “Hauraki Plains Gazette.” Mr Edwards said that Fiji was an ideal country to live in from every aspect for a European. Dairying in Fiji. Life and its activities there were in many ways akin to those of New Zealand, he said. Dairying was commenced in earnest just after tne war, when the Government, under a returred soldiers’ scheme, started the first butter* factory at Tilevu. Unfortunately, this did not turn out well, but private enterprise erected another factory at Rewa, some 12 miles from Suva, the capital, and it was soon in full swing, and since that date dairying had never looked back. Milch cows, especially Jerseys, were imported from New Zealand, and New Zealand dairy experts and sharem ulcers were engaged to put the business on a satisfactory basis. “So good have the results been, said Mr Edwards, “that Fiji butter is now graded 92, as against the Dominion’s 92L Previously Fiji had to import its butter ; now the country is seeking an export market. The dairy factories in the island colony were built by New Zealand men, run with New Zealand machinery; and, to round the circle off, are managed and run by New Zealanders. The cattle do remarkably well, and go about one to the acre, an acre costing £6. Their feed consists of native grass and, if thought desirable, maize and sugar cane. The latter for the use of cattle is cut when young and tender, and when some 3ft high, and is a splendid milk producer. The cows can be milked all the year round. So good are the prospects for dairying that an enterprising Waikato company is considering the establishment of a factory there. “Beef cattle, mostly Shorthorn and Hereford, run semi-wild and practically untended in the cocoanut plantations, finding their own feed. These animals are used for canning,” said. Mr Edwards, “the resulting product being utilised in the colony itself and exported also to other islands in the South Seas, The bullocks in Fiji are larger and finer beasts than any I have seen in New Zealand, but their flesh, however, in common with cattle raised in semi-tropical and tropical countries, does not compare favourably with that of animals in cooler climes. “Another typically New Zealand industry in Fiji is that of kauri timber,” continued Mr Edwards. “This enterprise is also in the hands of New Zealanders. In fact, only some half-dozen Indians are employed in the bush itself, New Zealanders doing practically everything. While the bush work is done by pakehas, a Fiji-owned timbermill at Suva has only a European at its head, the employees all being Indians, w’ho work for Is 9d a day. The kauris, though not so large as the New Zealand ones, average 12ft to 14ft, running to about 3000 super feet. The Government does not permit of trees less than a certain size being felled. Practically all the kauri is exported direct to the United Kingdom in 9 by 9, 14 by 14, and 24 by 24 logs, the mill averaging ’ about 18,000 to 20.000 ft super a day. “Apart from products similar to those of New Zealand, Fiji has it’s own indigenous commercial produce. The biggest thing in Fiji, and one that is expanding enormously, and at a rapid rate, is that of pineapple canning,” stated Mr Edwards. “Started only a few years ago, the firms interested have turned out a finished article that has already more than won a favoured place in the world market. The Government; realising what it means to the colony, is strongly behind the canning industry, and assists in every way possible. Land is leased to firms or individuals by the authorities at 3d an acre on a 21 years’ lease, and the Gover '.ment supplies free the initially required plants. The plants arc thus supplied so that only one grade of pine, wh’eh has proved the best, is planted, so as to assure the standard of quality being maintained. The pines return at present £3 17s 6d a ton, and average 12 to 14 tons an acre. There are two crops a year, and the method of replanting is absurdly simple. When the pineapple is pulled from the ground the head, comprising the leaves and stems, is merely wrenched from the fruit and laid aside for a couple of months, and then placed in the ground to reproduce. Practically perpetual motion 1 The labour is done by Indians at a cost of Is 3d a day, so all in all, it can readily be realised what an enormous return is given by this succulent fruit. “Passion fruit, and oranges, grow in luxurious profusion,” said Mr Edwards, “the former growing wild in dense masses in the bush, and the latter retailing at a penny a dozen. Tomatoes glow, riotously the year round. Bananas, once Fiji’s main export, have suffered considerably from a disease known as bunchy top, which has retarded the trade until now it is practically at a standstill. Concerted efforts are being made by spraying with various liquids, and it is hoped to shortly eradicate the disease and once more place bananas on a firm commercial footing. Cocoanut palms receive attention on account of the copra produced from the nut, although it is a waiting business, the tree taking some seven years before producing fruit.” In answer to a query regarding prospects of employment of Europeans in Fiji, Mr Edwards said that for men without capital it was imperative to secure a position through the Dominion agents of Fijian houses, etc., before going there. To land at

Fiji in the hopes of securing a job sooner or later one had to deposit the ■ sum of £2O with the Government as a guarantee against going “native” or becoming a beachcomber. With that sum the benevolent Government, if it thought fit, could return a man to whence he came, should his behaviour not be to its liking, or should he become at all likely to be a charge on the State. However, for the man of small capi-tal-round £4OO or so—the prospects offering could nowhere be better. The cost of land, labour, living, everything combined to aid one prosper, and—paradise of a land—there were no rates or taxes to' pay ! The only thing of that nature was the sum of £1 to he paid annually to the Government by European, .Asiatic, and aboriginal alike. Mr Edwards mentioned that during his stay in Fiji he had met two onetime Paeroa residents, Mr T. Wells, late of Karangahake, and Mr R. Lenning, late of Paeroa and now manager of the Rewa butter factory—the largest in the colony.