Productivity changes since annexation²

During the decade 1906–15² the volume of exports increased considerably and the annual income per capita from agricultural production grew to about double that of the preceding dccade (nevertheless, per capita income during the later period probably did not greatly exceed that obtaining in the 1880s).³

As shown by a comparison of tables 1A and 1B, a part of this increase was due to a rise in market prices for the commodities concerned, and the balance to an increase in output. There was a slight increase in the production of copra, while exports of citrus fruits reached double the volume for the previous decade. Neither of these increases, however, can be attributed to changes in land tenure,⁴ for the coconut and citrus trees which were

producing in 1906–15 must necessarily have been planted prior to the establishment of the Land Court.¹ It could, of course, be argued that the trees had been producing similar amounts previously, but that they were not being harvested owing to land disputes. Such, however, was never claimed by the protagonists of reform, but rather that the tenure system had discouraged the planting of trees. In view of the marked improvement in shipping facilities and the frequent claims in the previous decade that large quantities of citrus fruits were wasted through the lack of shipping, the increase must be attributed primarily to improvements in transport services.²

There was a significant drop in the output of coffee, but this was due to a leaf blight which first manifested itself in 1898. No concerted effort was ever made to combat the blight and the coffee trade died slowly away.³ The pineapple trade remained at much the same level as it had been, exports remaining insignificant owing to the low price and limited market.

Furthermore, informants stated that the bulk of banana output at that period was organized on a minor lineage basis by the various chiefs, and this claim is given some support by the fact that the trade developed on Rarotonga and Mangaia where chiefly power was strong, but not on Mauke, where chiefly powers had been seriously disturbed since 1904 at least. This would indicate, as the evidence from the Protectorate period suggests, that organization by the chiefs was at that stage conducive to higher output.

During and after World War I shipping was severely disrupted and exports accordingly fell to a very low level. The next ‘normal’ decade was from 1921 to 1930, after which the world trade depression caused a further disruption of the economy. During that decade the average per capita real income was slightly lower than that obtaining in 1906–15, though the volume of exports was about the same.² This was mainly due to an increase in population and consequent drop in production per capita. The output of copra increased, in all probability owing to the additional trees planted under administrative pressures applied during

the earlier period. It is most unlikely that the extra planting resulted from tenure changes, for on Mauke and Mangaia, where the administrative pressures to plant were least felt, the output fell in both absolute and per capita terms at very similar rates, despite the fact that the former island had been investigated by the Court and the latter had not.¹

Citrus exports were higher in the latter decade than in the former, but this was due to better market conditions. No one claimed that the land tenure pattern had any effect on this crop, for during the earlier period the planting of it had been discouraged owing to the flooded state of the market, and there is every indication that relatively few trees were planted after the turn of the century.

Tomatoes were introduced, and their successful establishment was due in part at least to the introduction of radio communication which was necessary for the timing of shipments of this perishable crop. The Mauke people, despite registered land titles, did not take to planting tomatoes, but the Mangaians did, though never on a large scale.² There is thus no indication that the work of the Court contributed to the rise of this trade. Banana and pineapple production dropped: probably due to the reduction of enforced planting and the introduction of tomatoes as a more lucrative alternative crop.

Before the islands' economy had fully recovered from the trade depression it was again disrupted by the onset of World War II and its aftermath. Shipping and marketing services had returned to normal by 1950 and the figures for the decade 1950–9 (the latest available) are shown in table 5. Per capita income from agriculture had dropped to about half the level of 1906–15.¹ Copra production in absolute terms averaged 36 per cent less than the 1921–30 volume, and 5 per cent less than its 1906–15 volume. In per capita terms the output for the current decade was 61 per cent less than that in 1921–30. As the tables show, citrus exports fell to less than half their 1921–30 volume (or less than one quarter in per capita terms) and bananas to less than one per cent of their 1921–30 volume. Only tomatoes retained their earlier level per capita. The outstanding exception to the general trend was the pineapple trade, which showed a marked increase, but almost the whole crop was grown on Mangaia.

Production of copra in both Mauke and Mangaia has fallen in both absolute and per capita terms, though more heavily in the latter.² Production of citrus has also fallen in both islands (as for the group as a whole) though in this instance the drop is more pronounced in Mauke.

Pineapple exports, which boomed on Mangaia in the mid-1950s (until a sudden price recession in 1956 made further planting uneconomic) have never achieved a fraction of the Mangaia volume on Mauke. The banana trade, once the biggest source of income in the islands, has brought in less than one shilling per capita per annum during the last decade. In general the prices paid for fruit have been as good or better than those paid in the two previous decades examined, and while shipping has always been a problem, it appears to have been no more of a hindrance in the 1950s than it was in earlier years.