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1919. NEW ZEALAND.

COOK AND OTHER ISLANDS. [In continuation of Parliamentary Paper A.-3, 1918.]

Presented' to both, Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

MB MOKAND U M. Cook Islands Department, Wellington, 22nd August, 1919. The annual reports of the Resident Commissioners at Rarotonga and Nine are attached hereto, in which particulars of the operations for the year are fully set out. The finances of the Administration are satisfactory notwithstanding the disabilities under which the Islands have laboured on account of the war, and the trade prospects are improving. During the year the wireless station at Rarotonga was completed and opened for public use, and has proved a great convenience to the residents of the Islands. Educational matters have received attention. A new school was opened at Avarua, Rarotonga, under a European teacher, making the third school in the island to be so established ; and a school was opened at the Island of Mangaia also under a European teacher. M. Pomace, Minister for the Cook Islands.

COOK ISLANDS. REPORT OF THE RESIDENT COMMISSIONER OF RAROTONGA FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st MARCH, 1919. Sir, — Rarotonga, Ist July, 1919. I have the honour to submit the following report: — Finance. For the past two years our revenue has steadily increased. This year it amounts to £13,846, an increase of £2,778 over last year's. The expenditure was £12,343 (last year, £12,614). We close the year with a credit balance of £2,785, as against £1,262 for the previous year. Trade and Trade Prospects. During the year our chief exports were 150,000 cases of fruit valued at £41,000 (as against 165,000 cases, of the value of £36,500, the previous year), and 1,750 tons of copra (£37,000) as against 700 tons valued at £19,000. The total value of our imports was £99,632, compared with £80,000 for the year before. As much as other parts of the Empire —perhaps more, because of our geographical position-—the Cook Islands have suffered from the economic pressure of the war, and especially from the dearth of

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