Letter from Manihiki

In addition to the information received above, the following letter was received from another resident in Manihiki concerning the shortages there of fuel and food.

The Kukupa is leaving Friday for Manihiki to bring up diesel. We are short on diesel because we didn’t get all of what we ordered last time. All I know is that when the last ship came up here, it was chokka full of cargo and fuel, but it still wasn’t enough. As for food, I’m not sure about that because we don’t buy from anyone, but we are hearing there is a shortage on some items like milk and rice. I suppose people are a little dependant on imported goods these days.
We are not in desperate mode for food, but we are for diesel to run the power. The problem with the power is that the new generators that we’ve installed require a lot of fuel to maintain just the minimum amount to run. Something like 60 litres of diesel an hour, that’s a lot. Also, we don’t have the minimum loading to run the generators, so there are certain premises on the island that don’t get power bills because we need the loading so the generator can run. They are usually community buildings like the CMC’s, Church buildings etc.
There is a shortage of Petrol here. Tapi’s last trip could not fit that much on the ship, believe me things were so tight on the ship that we could only walk from our cabin to the bathroom and dining room. Not even roam outside for a breath of fresh air. If government only looked to help Tapi get his new ship here, it would assist us in the northern group so much. Everyone likes to pick on Tapi, but he is only trying to run a business.
I’m very wary about government going outside of our country to seek assistance with transportation, it doesn’t help the “Go Local” swing of things. I’m also very curious about CIPA/MMR –Pearl Authority/Ministry for Marine - getting farming equipment from NZ from a supplier that we all use up here. Somehow the goods got sent to Samoa and then the Viking brought it over to Manihiki.”

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