RAROTONGA

Otaki Mail, 5 September 1923, Page 2

RAROTONGA

AN ISLAND OF GREAT 'JoSIBILITIES. Mr. Myron Brown, writing from Rarotonga. Jill vs: ‘•Tii'.s island is beaut iful ns a poet'Tv.'itii :uu! mm li mure utiiitarian. i > a lami of plenty, supiueness. am! r* t. where every man li\ t*s under the shade of Ins own Jig-1 roe, ami tin l earth yields of its abundance spontaneously. AH this without effort, from trees that alone planted, ami no man tends. 1*1“ dm tion could easily 1 »«* doulded by se/mnlilie cultivation, They have started to do a little in this way with tomatoes. and the possibilities are inwo mlotis. The island exports to .Ww Zvland about twenty thousand eases of oiangcs and bananas per momh. and from now on will add about, live lh»m> and cases of tomatoes. are cultivated in small patches among tin* oranjres and bananas, ami it is womh-r----ful how sucli a (joant it v can I*,> g» "\v n in smdi small space?. The whole trade of the island wants reorganisin': »»n economic lilies, ami I believe under good management. tin* growers could get more for their fruit and the consumers in New Zealand pay less. This would increase consumption, and much of the island fruit that now goes t«> waste, would be exported to mutual profit. Tile winter climate of Rarotonga is about espial to the Otaki summer, but. the island has more rain. Lethargy and indolence seems *• p- r mean* every channel of trade. X« «>»•■ wants any new methods; the old igood enough. The possibilities are great, and fortune await- the plucky up-to-date business man. who will brave ridicule. and wade in. Everybody grouses on general principals and they are so busy grou-rng that no one hatime to improve* conditions; and no ore* would, even if they had the time and capital. Truly, tis a land where every prospect pleases, and not even man tvile.”