Retaliation
p. 29 · Read in the full issue
Fishermen and Tahiti "Blacketeers"
From Our Own Correspondent
Papeete, Nov. 20.
OUR early morning market is assuming a striking resemblance to world famous Billingsgate.
Papeete—by reason of certain wartime conditions —has become so congested that the housing problem is one of major importance. All these people are firmly convinced that if fish does not appear daily on their tables they and their families are surely and progressively starving to death. , The native fishermen of the districts — who have been the chief victims of our Black Market ghouls—have appraised the situation in the light of their own unsavoury experiences, and have resolved to get “some of their own back.” They have, accordingly, so limited the supply of fish at the early morning market that competition among frantic buyers sends
prices into the vicinity of the sub cfrQ tncnhprp Attempts at regulation result in a vacuum —the fishermen and their wares do not appear for several days.
The early morning market has, there fore, departed from its former aspect of leisurely buying and exchange of spicy gossip, into a daily turmoil which resembles Billingsgate at its historic best.