Strange Gold Story

From Misima

THE Misima goldmines (Eastern Papua) have closed down, and the Europeans have been evacuated, so it doesn’t matter. But, had conditions there been normal, a few bitter share holders in Gold Mines of Papua would have been asking some pertinent ques tions about the recent activities of Mr.

Alistair Alexander. Gold Mines of Papua Ltd. put in a great plant at Misima, and started grandiloquently to dig for gold, with its 5/- shares quoted at over 17/-. Then it found that it had missed the Umuna lode and was getting the wrong kind of ore, and finally it ceased

operations.

Now, Mr. Alexander has taken up leases on -the opposite (or northern) side of the ridge, and they straddle the old GMOP leases: and Mr. Alexander not only claims that he is getting phe

nomenally rich assays (from 27 to 88 ounces to the ton seem fantastic figures, but they are what he reports) but he also says that he and Boyd, and the late Scotty Buchanan urged GMOP to begin mining on the north instead of the south side of the ridge. These old prac tical miners were ignored—and GMOP crashed.

However, just when Mr. Alexander was becoming really busy, and a few other people very interested and argumenta tive, the Japs came, and evacuation was ordered: and the discussion can be resumed after the war.

Owing to war developments in the Pacific, Crown Prince Tuboutoa did not return to Tonga with his brother in December. The brothers remained in Sydney over the holidays. Jione Gu has now left for Queensland, where he will study tropical agriculture, and Tuboutoa is still in Sydney.

Mrs. Jeanne Parr, an Englishwoman who had lived in Fiji for over 20 years, died in Suva in January. She is survived by two sons—Mr. Cecil Parr (Acting Headmaster of Lau Provincial School) and Mr. Geoffrey Parr (formerly of the Fiji Police Force, now serving with the RAAF, in Britain).