Troficalities

A SERVICE that is provided by the N.S. Wales Department of Educa tion, and that is most gratefully availed of by numerous parents throughout the Pacific Islands, is that known as the “Blackfriars Correspond ence Course,” by which children in isolated places are given a primary school education. The papers are most cleverly designed, the lessons are done under the supervision of parents or missionaries, and the work of correcting and advising is carried out very efficiently in Sydney by Mr. Finnegan and a large staff of experts, who take a keen personal interest in the indi vidual pupils—who number over 6,000 A man who recently brought his four children to school in Sydney, after several years’ residence in Tonga, was surprised and delighted to find that they were able to go straight into the classes suitable to their respective ages.

They had never previously attended a school: all their education had been given by the “Blackfriars Course.” The Department makes no charge for the service: it is provided for backblocks children in New South Wales, and there is no reason why it should not be extended to the children of isolated Islanders. Consequently, the name of the Department has been blessed by many people in the Pacific Territories where there is no school available. * * * MEMORIES of a lively, but now almost forgotten war incident of 1917 were revived in Sydney in September, when Mr. N. A. Pyne, just returned from Tonga, met Captain Donaldson, of the B.P. steamer Marella.

Sixteen years ago, Captain Donaldson was master of the Burns Philp steamer Matunga, and Mr. Pyne was purser; and one unhappy day, near Rabaul, they encountered the German minelayer Wolf. That was the end of the Matunga’s freedom. The Germans made prisoners of the 80 people on the Matunga, and took the steamer to the Dutch East Indies, where they sank her. The Wolf sank other British ships, and thus accumulated aboard about 400 wretched prisoners. They were not treated inhumanly: but their quarters were frightfully cramped, and the food was beyond description.

When the Wolf finally landed her miserable human cargo at Kiel, in Ger many, some of the prisoners had been aboard her for a year. The Matunga’s company were sent to various prison camps in Germany, and remained there until a fortnight after the armistice. In such circumstances, men get to know each other very well; and the captain and purser of the lamented Matunga had some queer experiences together.

Subsequently, Mr. Pyne went away into another sphere, and the two did not meet again for many years, until the other day in Sydney. * * * THE trade of the little Kingdom of Tonga, as a result of the depression, has shrunk to alarming proportions, with the result that regular shipping operations have been practically dis

continued. The Union Company with drew the Tofua some time ago, and put the freighter Waipahi on a regular schedule. Then the calls at Vavau and Haapai were cut out; produce for those ports was simply dumped out at Nukualofa, where it took its chance of getting casual transport northwards., Such things as butter and onions were not thereby improved. Now, owing to there being insufficient traffic, the Waipahi’s Tonga call has been can celled altogether, and Tonga is quite isolated. The post of collector at Haapai has been abolished; , and Nukualofa and Vavau are now the only ports of entry—when there are any ships to enter! What a contrast to the conditions of 20 years ago, when all these Central Pacific groups were con nected with Sydney and Auckland by regular and frequently-calling steamers, with excellent passenger accommoda tion. The other day, a man who wanted to get away from Northern Tonga had to cross by launch to Suva, over hundreds of miles of open sea. * * * SEVEN good men and true were appointed to the Legislative Council of New Guinea the other day, and automatically became entitled to write after their names the pregnant letters “M.L.C.” A number of their friends thereupon—and quite naturally addressed them as “The Honourable John Planter, M.L.C.”—and it certainly looked impressive on an envelope. But now it has been noticed that in all official communications the newly honoured one is simply “Mr. John Planter, M.L.C.” Therefore, it would appear that for some reason, with which we are not familiar, the Coun cillors of New Guinea are not entitled to “Honourable.” We have not heard that the Councillors concerned are wearing sackcloth or casting ashes upon their plebeian heads; but certain pertinacious residents of Rabaul now want to know why Papua’s Legislative Councillors should all be “Honourables,” while their opposite numbers in New Guinea are plain “Mr.” . . . This inter- Territory jealousy grows apace. We should not be surprised to learn, one day soon, that aeroplanes from New Guinea are dropping bombs on Port Moresby. * * * TRAVELLERS on Island steamers will be interested in a recent address on “Seasickness” by Professor Mac curdy, lecturer in psychopathology at Cambridge. The Professor said that persons need not be sick.

“The main thing,” he said, “is to let your self go with the motion of the ship. Don’t watch the horizon. Try to think it is the ship that is heaving, and not the world.”

The Professor added that vomiting in sea sickness and air sickness resulted from in accurate and persistent attempts to maintain equilibrium.

We are sure that the news will be gratefully received in many Pacific centres. So far as we ourselves are concerned, we find that the trouble is that it is not the ship or the world that is heaving, but us.

THE ‘P.I.M.’ is too good a journal to be printing apologies in reply to official bluff,” writes an indignant resident of Papua. He refers to our recent battle with our good friend Mr.

Harris, wherein the head of the Papuan postal service repudiated with vigour and bitterness our mild suggestion that copies of the “P.I.M.” occasionally went astray in Territory mailbags.

Our correspondent declares we were right; and he gives quite a list of posted articles which, in recent times, have been mis-sorted into his mailbag.

We think we had better not pur sue the matter, beyond mixing our metaphors to say that honour is satisfied; that we have no wish to cross swords again with Mr. Harris; and that sleeping dogs had better be left asleep. * * * A querulous note is to hand from a resident of Port Moresby concerning a certain contributor to this journal.

The attack is_a little difficult to reply to. Our contributor’s record as a scientist and observer is challenged— possibly on sound grounds. But no good purpose can be served by the publication of stinging reflections upon people who, no matter how irritating they may be, are well-meaning and harmless. Good-humoured criticism and comment in the public interest is always welcome: but attacks on people —more particularly on defenceless pub lic servants —usually go down south, where lives the w.p.b.