Tropicalities

Dr. George Mackaness Was En

gaged for 10 years on the work of collecting material for the biography of Captain William Bligh, commander of H.M.S. “Bounty” and later Governor of N.S.W. His search extended to all parts of the world and the discovery of docu ments and related facts involved feats of deduction worthy of Sherlock Holmes himself. Dr. Mackaness told the fascinat ing story at a meeting of the Pacific Is lands Society in Sydney on July 21. This distinguished historian’s work on Bligh has won him a great reputation abroad— especially in the United States. The chairman, in thanking Dr. Mackaness for his address, urged the Society to be active in gathering up, collating and pre serving the great mass of historical material now available in the various

Pacific territories, covering the events of the past 150 years; and he issued the warning that, as the older people dropped off, this material was steadily disappear ing, and was irreplaceable. * * * DURING the naval confusion in the Mediterranean early in July, when it was necessary that certain French warships should be destroyed to prevent them from falling into the hands of the enemy, it was announced that the small cruiser “Rigault de Genouilly”, 2,000 tons, had been sunk by a torpedo off Algeria.

This graceful little warship was well- • known in the South Pacific ports, having been based in recent years at Noumea and Papeete. The French officers and crew were welcome visitors in Suva, Auckland and Sydney. It was unofficially reported that the vessel was sunk by a British submarine, but no details have b.en published. * * * THE search for oil in Papua having covered most of the central and western districts is now concentrated on two points—the district inland from the Kikori River where plant worth hundreds of thousands of pounds is be ing assembled to put down a bore which should reach oil if it is anywhere within 5 miles under the earth’s surface; and the small area held by the Papuan Apinaipi Petroleum Company, in the same region. A private letter from a resi dent of Port Moresby to the editor says; “The Apinaipi company seems very con fident of finding good oil soon”. * * * AN Islands newspaper is bitter: “It is reported that the Germans are using a gas which produces ex treme lassitude. Spies have obviously ob tained the serum from this Territory, using trained mosquitoes which have bitten civil servants dozing at their desks. There is no other reasonable ex planation.” * * * EARLY this year, the New Zealand Government prohibited the importa tion of fresh pineapples. Recently, a small consignment of Queensland pine apples reached the Auckland market and sold at from 30/- to 35/- a case—each case containing between 18 and 25 pine apples. The pineapples were sold retail at from 2/6 to 3/6 each. This extra ordinary situation (reported in the “New Zealand Herald” of July 26) persists, al though there is an abundance of pine apples in the nearby Pacific Islands —in Fiji, for example, and in Tonga. It was the quality of its luscious pineapples which first put Aitutaki (in the Cook Islands) on the map. And the Cook Is lands are a dependency of pineapple hungry N.Z.! ♦ • THERE are various kinds of thrills; but even the following incidents gave at least a momentary relief from the monotony of ordering, and receiving about three months later, our regular lines of Islands needs. Also, a good laugh.

For my mission natives, I ordered; “Sankey’s Hymn-book, sol-fa edition, 2 doz”. Sydney price was about 11/- or 12/- per doz. That trip we received mail ahead of cargo, and my agents wrote that, in reference to my order of 2,000 Hymn books, they had to advise that Angus & Robercson had not enough in stock to meet the full order, but were sending what they could that trip, and would forward the remainder by next steamer.

Being isolated here, I couldn’t cable or do anything about it till the cargo

arrived. Imagine my relief to find a mere half-dozen of the dreaded lot of books; and 18 more followed next trip. It was the most comforting anti-climax I have experienced.

A few weeks ago a steamer call brought just the few lines of household stuff that a small family, living quietly, requires.

Among the cargo we expected 4 dozen small tins of assorted soup, and in the order, I had mentioned 5 or 6 varieties.

One or two of the cases were so heavy that I told the boys to open them at the beach, and bring the contents up in bags.

Up at the house, the soup began to arrive—soup, soup, and still more soup.

I don’t remember seeing so much tinned soup anywhere else before —enough for us for about five years. After the first annoyance, it became amusing. They sent merely the bare 4 dozen each of five of the varieties I had mentioned—2o dozen tins of soup! I ask you!—P. * * * BRIEF history of a South Sea island, as set out in the “Saturday Evening Post”: 4000 8.C.—1693 A.D. Uninhabited is land. 1694 A.D.—1778 A.D. Pirates’ Hide-out. 1779 A.D.—1845 A.D. Uninhabited is land. 1846 A.D. —1921 A.D. Treasure-Hunters’

Bonanza. 1922 A.D.—1933 A.D. Escapist Paradise. 1934 A.D.—1937 A.D. Naval Base. 1938 A.D.—1957 A.D. Air Base. 1958 A.D.—4000 B.C. Uninhabited is land. * * * A NOTE from Mr. Edward Auerbach, of the Trobriand Islands, referring to the pioneers of the New Guinea (Morobe) goldfield:— “The Germans don’t do things in the way that we do. Prior to 1914, they founded a company of lh million marks, for prospecting in German New Guinea.

The headquarters were at Luard Island, outside Morobe; Schlinck was their ex pert. I was up there in 1900, and they had in their stores thousands of pounds’ worth of mining machinery. I asked them what it was for, and they told me that when they found gold, the machin ery would be ah ready. I told them that we found the gold first, and got the machinery afterwards. I met Schlinck about 5 years ago, at Samarai. He had been to the Mandated Territory, report ing on oil, for Canberra. I believe he was one of the leading oil experts of the world. The funny part was that the Germans never went into the bush to look for gold. I suppose they expected to find it on Luard Island.” ♦ ♦ * A WELL-KNOWN hotel in Uganda con tains the following notice:— “Visitors are expected to take baths, which are provided at no extra charge; an additional charge of 2/- per day, how ever will be made if no bath is taken!” * * * BACK from a holiday trip to Suva, where he went to meet Lady Gepp, Sir Herbert Gepp is full of praise for the manner in which E. G. Theodore, as managing director of the Loloma and Emperor mines, has organised amenities for the staffs of 1,400 Fijians and 150 Australians. These folk seem to have all the comforts of home, down to —or is it up to? —a nine-hole golf course (says a writer in Melbourne “Herald”).

As a mining engineer, Sir Herbert told me to-day that he “takes his hat off” to Mr. Theodore for the job he has done in providing good homes in the middle of this huge extinct volcano, 140 miles due north of Suva. The Australians are en

gineers, metallurgists, mechanics and accountants, mostly from Melbourne and Sydney, and the mine manager is an American married to an Australian. * * * FTIHE Samoan fale, which aroused so X much attention when exhibited at the Centenary Exhibition in Wellington, New Zealand, will not return to the Islands after all. This marvellous exhibit of Polynesian craftsmanship, which had not a single nail in it, has been bought by Mr. H. J. Kelliher, of Auckland, a director of the Bank of New Zealand. Mr, Kelliher and his wife (who re-

cently visited the Netherlands East Indies) are the owners of Puketutu, an historic island in Manukau harbour, near Auck land, and there the fale is to be erected — just as it appeared at the Exhibition. Mr. and Mrs. Kelliher, who were in Tahiti and Moorea not long ago, have many friends in the Pacific, T\URING the past few months—in fact, JX as soon as the Nazis struck down their weaker neighbours and pro ceeded to overrun Europe—the eagerness among all the younger men of the Pacific Territories to volunteer for milit

ary service of some kind oecame marked.

Much disappointment was expressed lately when it became known that Britain considers that she has, for the moment, all the military forces she requires—the call is for airmen and technicians of every kind. “Footsloggers” may have their opportunity later—they are not wanted just now. Every kind of young man has been literally on the warpath. Three young Presbyterian missionaries in the New Hebrides were so anxious to enlist in Britain’s fighting forces somewhere that the Victorian mission body which controls them had to be quite stem in requesting them to remain at their posts.

The mission committee said that each missionary would of course exercise his own judgment and decide for himself; but the opinion of the committee was that, as that soldiers are actually not needed just now, the missionaries can perform better service for the Empire by remaining on their stations * * * AN ingenious writer recently tried to sum up the everlasting argument in this way:— SOCIALISM.—You have two cows, and you give one to your neighbour.

COMMUNISM. —You have two cows, and you give both cows to the Govern ment, which gives you part of the milk.

FASCISM.—You have two cows, and you keep both cows, and give the milk to the Government, which lets you buy part of it back.

American New Deal.—You Have

two cows, and the Government shoots one cow, buys the milk from the other cow, and puts it down the sewer.

NAZISM.—The Government shoots you and takes the cows and sells the milk.

CAPITALISM.—You have two cows, and you sell one and buy a bull.

SOCIAL CREDIT.—You shoot the bull. * * * HOW many times has this kind of in cident occurred in the Pacific Is lands during the past 150 years?

Early in July, a steamer was preparing to sail from the anchorage at Apia, in Western Samoa, when one of the crew leapt overboard and started away on a half-mile swim to the reef. He had made up his mind to remain in beauti ful Samoa. A constable on duty on the ship immediately disrobed and set off in pursuit. He caught his man and the two of them were taken back to the ship in a boat. A little later, the sailor escaped, and again plunged into the water and, this time, he gave the constable a harder and a longer chase. On the second occa sion, he was locked up ashore, and was returned to the ship only a few minutes before her departure. * * * WHEN that well-known Pacific traveller, Mr. Arthur J. Vogan, visited the Trobriand Islands a few years ago, he brought to Australia a col lection of what he considered the finest yams grown in the Pacific; and these he placed in the hands of Mr. H. A. Joubert, of the Tweed River district, N.S.W. Mr.

Joubert co-operated heartily in the ex periment of producing good yams in Australia, and those Trobriand yams are now a recognised crop all along the northern coast of N.S.W. and in the coastal districts of Queensland. One yam, exhibited at the Hawkesbury Agricul tural College a few years ago by Hon.

Hugh Main, and grown in the Tweed District, weighed nearly 30 lb. Memories of this interesting experiment in trans plantation is revived by the announce ment during the month that Mr. Joubert is dead. He was a member of one of Sydney's oldest families. Mr. Vogan, in an interesting note, says that the yam, apparently, was first brought into the Pacific by the Arab (or Phoenician )

traders nearly 2,000 years ago, from the east coast of Africa. ♦ ♦ ♦ IN these days it would be well for Is lands residents to take to heart the advice which a lady of 78 years of age, residing in Tunbridge Wells, England, cabled to her daughter in Aus tralia. Having received a letter from her daughter, couched in depressing terms, the old lady forthwith cabled a reply to Melbourne: “Nobody here downhearted. Australians, keep your chins up!” * * * A PATROL Officer in the west of Papua was examining a severe arrow wound in a native woman's leg.

“Who did this”, he asked, frowning.

“It was the mosquitoes”, she assured

him plaintively.

Now he knew that mosquitoes were bad in the district, but he doubted if any of them were strong enough to draw a six foot bow. Enquiries revealed that one night the woman’s husband had been un able to sleep because of the pests—magic spells, wood-smoke, aromatic herbs, all proved useless, and even the chanting of the mosquito song had no effect. So he grabbed his bow and arrows and left the hut, to find the mosquitoes even worse among the long grass outside. Irritated beyond endurance, he raised his bow and shot three arrows into the darkness, one of which penetrated the wall of his hut and pinned his wife’s leg to the floor! * ♦ * FOR some years, a new stamp series has been projected to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Chilean possession of Easter Island, the mystery Island in Eastern Pacific, 1,000 miles east of the Marquesas Group. The anniver sary actually fell in 1938, but the stamps have only just appeared, according to the “Australian Stamp Journal”. The issue consists of two values and the principal feature of the design is a view of the “Abtao”, which visited Easter Island on September 9, 1888, when its commander, Captain Toro, signed a treaty with the native chiefs. On one of the values a portrait of Captain Toro is inset, while on the other is inset a picture of Father Eyraud, a Franciscan friar who lived on the island from 1864 to 1866. Incorporated in the design is a representation of one of the mysteri ous stone statues found on the island, whose origin has caused so much dis cussion and speculation. * ♦ * SOME time ago, Mr. R. H. Phillips, of Suva, presented a large collection of Fiji moths to the Australian Museum, Sydney; and it was reported in July that these now have been placed in the Museum’s reference collection.

In an article in the “Fiji Times”, Mr.

A. Musgrave states that Mr. Phillips first began collecting moths whilst in the service of the Fiji Government. On retiring, in 1928, he became connected with the Colonial Sugar Refining Co., and remained in their employ for three years. All of this time Mr. Phillips added to his collection and, when he handed it over to the Museum, there were no less than 873 different specimens.

Mr. Musgrave also refers to the early entomologists who visited the Fiji Islands. Among the first were French explorers, in their quest for the missing La Perouse expedition. Later, German and English collectors came to the Group; and, to-day, the names of Fijian moths occur quite frequently in scientific journals.

A PRIVATE letter received in Wau, T.N.G., states that Flying-Officer Moresby Gofton (son of Mrs. P. Stewart, of the Bulolo Hotel, Wau) who was re ported missing in June, is believed to be a prisoner of war in Norway. The infor mation is decribed as “garbled” and ap parently unreliable, and no official noti fication has been received by his mother.

Naturally, all friends of Mrs. Stewart and of the gallant young airman hope that the report is correct. It is true that the British were carrying out considerable operations in Norway about the time that young Gofton was reported missing; and it may be that he was with one of several machines which disappeared when over enemy territory. * * * SO many young men have left the service of the Papuan Government to enlist in the Australian forces that the Government is finding itself em barrassed in the matter of carrying on the ordinary work of administration.

Elderly men have been engaged to take

some of the vacant places and in other cases women are being employed as clerks.