Tropicalities

UTTER comment is being made in > aviation circles in Australia concern gr the slowness of the Australian jvemment in getting on with prepara ms for the Australian-New Zealand r mail service. The trans-Tasman ser ce evidently is regarded as merely an rpendage of the two main services— iperial Airways service from South npton to Sydney, and Pan-American irways service from ’Frisco to Auck id, both of which should be run ig with giant flying-boats early next ir. * * * *HE following appeared in Sydney Sun at the end of June: jondon, Tuesday.—Full satisfaction with Aus lia’s administration of the New Guinea man ed territory was expressed by the League ndates Commission in Geneva, after hearing I report by Mr. Furman, of the Australia use staff, and Mr. Walstab, chief of the New inea police. The two representatives gave the tnmission details of the Rabaul earthquake, and d there was no intention of changing the capi as all parts of the island were equally iject to shocks.

It is most interesting to note that the 0 officials were able to state, about ne 29. that “there was no intention of anging the capital,” although less than fortnight before, on June 16, the inister for the Pacific Territories said at the Australian Government proposed set up an expert committee to advise in the suitability of Rabaul as a per anent capital.”

Had the gentlemen been in communi ,tion with Rabaul? Or were they speak g on their own responsibility, after the ibit of bureaucrats who become intoxi- L ted with a sense of their own impor nce? In either event, they have made le Minister look silly. * * ♦ N the March issue, under “Ready for Hurricanes,” there was a paragraph iggesting that had Judge Ayson not 3en absent on furlough in 1935, more Tective measures might have been taken 1 connection with the hurricane which vept the island in February.

As some readers have interpreted this s a reflection on Dr. E, P. Ellison, Act ig Resident Commissioner at the time, ur Rarotonga correspondent hastens to oint out emphatically that no such leaning was intended. To those who now both the circumstances and Dr. lllison, the implication is absurd. Dr. lllison had already been through five turricanes —two while he was Resident Commissioner and Chief Medical Officer ,t Niue. What actually was in the writer’s mind was that probably Mr. had certain definite plans for such ,n eventuality and had he been there he vould have seen them put into >ractice. * * ♦ A CAPABLE and courteous steward on the staff of the Montoro , known to many Pacific Islands travellers under his nickname of “Nifty,” is making a slow

recovery from a horrible experience which befel him during the Rabaul erup tions. Among the refugees taken aboard the Montoro was a dog, unhappily separ ated from her owner; and the kind hearted “Nifty” befriended the animal, and fed her. She was very grateful to “Nifty,” and followed him around, but later on, in the confusion and crowd, she disappeared. Some hours afterwards, “Nifty” heard a curious noise in one of the deck cabins, which are his special care. Ensconced therein, he found a proud and happy mother. His canine friend had made herself comfortable in the cabin, and there had givep birth to three pups. “Nifty,” as a meticulous cabin steward, has had to deal with some difficult social problems, but this one almost prostrated him. His bitterest mo ment came when he was accused by his chief of having arranged the accouche ment. * * * MR. Hakon Mielche, the well-known Danish author, artist, and traveller, in a cheery letter to the editor from Copen hagen, says that he is back from South America with material for a new book and that Monsunen (the story of his South Seas wanderings) is still selling well. It has been translated into eight languages. Mr. Mielche adds: “If you go on your yearly inspection trip in the South Seas, do take my com pliments to Gordon Thomas. H. 0. Town send, and Tom Proctor, Rabaul, all Tu lagi—especially the golf club —Dupertius, Mitchell, and Dawkins in New Hebrides, everybody on Vanikoro, and most of the people around the Pier Hotel in Suva.

Tell them I am longing to be back Good luck!”