Pacific Territories

Publicity and Progress in the Pacific Territories

AT long last, the attention of the great nations is being given to the Pacific Islands territories. Because of their new value in the calculations of airways companies, and of their almost incalculable importance in Pacific naval strategy—no less than because of their possibilities as rich producers of half the things that mankind needs—“the Islands” have had more “publicity” in the last year than in the whole of the previous decade.

At least three of the biggest terri tories are moving with the times. The enterprise of the Governments of New Guinea and Papua in making, at the Royal Show in Sydney, displays calcu lated to show the arts, crafts, indus tries and resources of the territories pleased everyone concerned. The two Administrations, and especially New Guinea, were successful in getting the co-operation of the mission and com mercial interests, and a splendid job of work was done by Mr. S. Lonergan,

of Rabaul, in arranging the exhibits.

The result was that hundreds of thou sands of people, who eagerly inspected the displays, got a new and favour able impression of the character and potentialities of Australia’s Pacific territories.

One wonders why this sort of pub licity was not undertaken sooner; and what New Guinea and Papua now pro pose to do to follow on and get due advantage from the successful effort they have made. There is not much use in stirring interest and attracting goodwill, in the manner described, un less the thing is part of a national plan of development and progress.

A different kind of publicity effort has been made recently by Fiji. The James Fitzpatrick Travelogue outfit passed that way recently; and all Suva interests—Government, news papers, commercial firms, tourist bureau, Fijian chiefs and people, In dian constabulary—co-operated in an enthusiastic and well-organised effort

to assist the film experts in getting a first-class travel-picture of the beau tiful place for world-wide exhibition.

That is good politics and good busi ness. Fiji possesses great attractions for travellers, yet it has not got one tenth of the tourist traffic it de serves.

Much more could be done by these Pacific territories in making their tourist attractions and developmental possibilities more widely known. Why not a sort of South Seas Publicity Bureau in Sydney, the metropolis of the South Pacific? There is plenty of scope for it. There is no official representative in Sydney of any 7 of the numerous territories, with p lie re sult that the offices of Islands Monthly” are visited every day by people who want information of widely-varying character. We give this service gladly, to'lielp the Islands interests; but ytfe often wonder whether it would not be to the ad vantage of the Territories—especially New Guinea, Papua, Solomons, New Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, and, maybeyThe French colonies—if they got together and carried out this pro pagandist work on their own account. 11l may mean just the difference be tween stagnation and progress.