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42,170. I gave Mr* Smith a short history of our bans^trade from 19.36 to 1941* Early shipments/ which consistedalmost entirely of Cavendish'bananas, had_.-con6latentlyfailed to pay :•' the first small profit bad' been made atthe beginning of 1939 when the percentage of Gros Michelbananas'had risen from &% to 52%, If the industry wererevived our exports would consist entirely of Gros Michel.171= Production would probably be in the neighbourhoodof TOO,000 bunches per annum, rising to 200,000 bunchesin 2 years* There was considerable interest amongstthe farmers themselves, who appeared satisfied with thepre-war price of 1/- per 9-^and bunch, The contract shippingcharge, never lower than 2/- per bunch, had seemedhigh compared with total costs e.g. in one of the moresuccessful shipments (No. 21/38-39) costs per bunch were i -local 16.15d : shipping 24d : England 12-89d : 'Total 53.04d.Receipts "55-OUeuH172* ' Mr, Smith said that he could not state with certaintywhat the future of the Cameroons banana trade would:be until it had been decided how the country wag to beadministered, if Nigeria were made responsible he thoughta contract for handling the whole of the Cameroons cropwould be giv n to one of the Banana Companies, The shallowdraught of boats serving the Cameroons would limit theircapacity to about 80,000 bunches. Running a weekly servloethe Company would need upwards of 4 million bunches ayear for successful operation : it was thought that theCameroons could produce this quantity-173* Mr. Snith thought no company would be attraotedby the prospect of taking on an extra 2 C000 bunches a weekat Takoradi, At 2s. 6d. a bunch the receipts would be£250* Against this must be set the extra mileage ,and IOBSof time in diverting the ship; the danger and expense ofopening, the cool-rooms two or three days after loading themain cargo (or the provision of a separately insulatedcool-room) ;.• and the payment of harbour ..dues. The, last- .item alone would probably be prohibitive, as the bananaboats would have neither the time nor the facilities forhandling cargo other than bananas. .174. In Mr. Smith's opinion our only hope of shippingbananas would be to make a contract, as heretofore, with aline whose ships worked Takoradi regularly,, The charge of2/- per stem did not appear excessive; as far as he remembered,pre-war charges in the West Indies were between2s. 3d, and 2s* 6d. per stem. The Custodian of EnemyProperty had paid 2s. 6d. per stem for Cameroons bananasshipped to the United Kingdom in 1939-40*175- Compared with our local price of 1/- per9-hand bunch Jamaica produc ;.rs w .. now being paid4s. 6d* free on rail, which would be about 5s. 9d« f.o.b.It should be remembered that these were boom prioee*176. /