Diary of a Passenger With

a “Hang-over”

On 8.8. Montoro.

WE are now speeding along at the rate of three drinks to the mile—which is rather good for a sea trip—and we are passing among small tropical islands. The mainland looms like a towering giant in the distance, its highest peaks shrouded in mist.

We have just passed a floating bottle, bobbing its way to China or some other far-flung outposts of Empire.

Maybe, there is a note inside, telling in charcoal or betelnut juice the plight of some shipwrecked seaman living on coco nuts or the notorious Actional breadfruit, and hanging his only shirt out every day on the off-chance that a passing steamer will make a note of it in the' log.

Then, again, there may be no note In side and it may tell a wordless tale of three married men going out to fish in a dinghy, becoming saturated in saltwater and alcohol, returning home to infuriated wives with the old story about the boat capsizing and the catch being lost.

So much for a bottle in the ocean.

We left Port Moresby last night. We were carried onto the boat as the gang plank was being lifted. We left our hat on the Macdhui, our coat in the Hotel Moresby, and our cobbers in the various gutters and drain-pipes. Port Moresby is a wonderful place and we enjoyed our selves so much that we cannot remember a thing about it.

We are nearing Samarai, one of the beauty spots of the Pacific. The beauty is not to be found without the desired spots.

Its hibiscus shrubs in the evening and its gin slings in the morning have left nothing to the imagination of the pleasure lover.

I’ll describe the city to-morrow —a few friends have just come aboard. —L.W.

Dr. W. Wood has resigned from the directorate of Mandated Alluvials N.L., Papua, on account of the increasing de mands of his professional life.

Mr. George Henry Pass, of the staff of the Bank of New South Wales in Ra baul, New Guinea, married Miss Jean Lindsay Sherwood on August 28. Arch deacon de Voil, of the Melanesian Mission, performed the ceremony at St. George’s Church, Rabaul.