G. And E. Finances

THE statement of accounts of the Gil *■ bert and Ellice Islands Colony would make an average Australian State Treas urer sick with envy. The little Colony shows a regular surplus; and on August 31, 1936, it had £116,747 excess of assets over liabilities. And it was not a paper surplus—it was in hard cash in the bank.

In addition, the G. and E. Administration holds, also in cash, about £150,000, in trust for the Banaban landowners, Bana ban royalty trust fund, and Banaban provident fund.

Sir Maynard and Lady Hedstrom, of Suva, Fiji, left Sydney on July 22 to spend a holiday in the Far East, Hawaii

and, possibly, the United States. They

expect to return about the end of the year.