Little Crime In

Tahiti

Exaggerated Reports Resented.

From Our Own Correspondent.

Tahiti, Oct. 10.

MANY people in Tahiti have taken ex ception to an article sent by a special correspondent, which ap peared in the August number of the “Monthly” under the heading “Tahitian Robbers”. They are anxious to remove the impression conveyed by the writer that Tahiti is becoming an unsafe place for the foreigner to live in, and that his belongings are liable to be stolen at any time.

Unfortunately, there is some truth in the account given of the depredations committed by a party of escaped prisoners, but these were merely inci dents which happen in any country under similar circumstances, and do not merit the importance given to them in the article referred to. The more serious of the thefts which occurred at about, that time have since been traced to cer tain foreigners who are now, happily, in gaol, or have been deported.

Unlocked Houses.

In spite of reports to the contrary, most Tahitian homes continue unclosed, night and day, as they have always been, and their contents in the way of furniture and other effects remain un molested. Of course, if people are so foolish as to provide temptation by leaving loose cash lying about, they must not be surprised if it should one day be missing—as it would assuredly be in any other country.

“Coconut Wireless.”

Everybody who is familiar with native life, especially in Tahiti, knows what the

“coconut radio” can do to the simplest rumour when once it gets started. The native thirst for “parau api” (news) is so insatiable that exaggeration is inevit able.

Thus, an incident like an early morn ing wrangle between two females, one the outraged wife and the other the temporary amour of her husband, oc curring in any outside village, will have attained the importance of an attempted murder when the tidings reach Papeete.

The story, meanwhile, has been detailed with gusto by the passengers on five or six competing ’buses, and swallowed with glee by the gossips at every stop ping place.

We suspect that many of the stories of so-called “hold-ups” were not gathered from authentic sources but were the outcome of the process of magnification illustrated above.

It is true that many foreigners have left Tahiti of late, owing to the diffi culties brought about by the fall in the exchange rate of the English pound and the American dollar. But we have yet to learn of anyone leaving the Colony for reasons mentioned by this special correspondent.

We may conjecture that this gentle man is perhaps one of those unfortunate persons who has been lured to the is lands by the accounts of unscrupulous writers anent the extreme cheapness of living in Tahiti, and that he is now in a disgruntled humour.