Tropicalities

ONE of the things that struck me when I first arrived in Lae, in mid-Septem ber, was the apparent changed drink ing habits of the population: They must have come under the influence of the RN to such an extent that gin, in com bination with various cordials, plus an occasional excursion into rum and Coca- Cola were the favourite tipples.

The gin was Australian in origin; and, judging by the diversity of brands, pre viously unheard-of by man or woman, it is one of the easiest and most lucra tive varieties of fire-water to brew.

Finally, I asked someone why the local residents had switched from beer.

He seemed struck dumb for a moment, then he fairly whinnied with excitement.

“Beer? There’s no such thing—there can’t be! We haven’t had a blanky beer boat for months—and there won’t be any on the next ship, either. All re served for the poor Australian worker, I suppose. Doesn’t matter about us; we can drink this bottled gut-rot—”

He went off, still muttering. I gathered that in New Guinea the favourite drink is still beer. —JT.

MAYBE the ascendancy of Carpenters over rival Big Firms (which is discussed by everyone in New Guinea to-day) is best typified by their willingness to adopt new methods. Re cently, in their native trade department in Madang, they installed two skittish Maries—real South Seas glamour girls, Melanesian style—and if this is not plain borrowing from Yankee sales psychology, then we know nothing of Yank methods.

The new departure seems to be get ting results, too. To be sure, the Maries don’t appear to do any of the direct selling; but they dish out coy giggles, ad lib, and WRC trade department over flows with native male customers. • SINCE razor blades became scarce, and frames unobtainable, in outer Poly nesia, the village bucks have just let their faces grow wild. To-day, in a two-mile stroll, I met. and was greeted by, a regular “who’s who” of defunct and extant celebrities —slightly tarnished, but recognisable at a glance.

There were Abe Lincoln; “Oom Paul”

Kruger; D. H. Laurence; Lord Dun dreary, Bismarck and Bernard Shaw (or Count Dracula, possibly!); Athos, Por thos and Aramis; and even Belshazzar of Babylon. The.last to say “good-day” to me was not in the Hall of Fame—he looked just like a portrait of A. Hitler, Esq., framed within a hole in a hearth rug!—Tukapa Koko. • MR, PAUL EGEL, from Denmark, and formerly ships’ engineer on the China coastal trade, arrived in Melbourne in October, en route to New Guinea.

He told newspaper reporters that during the war years he saw large chunks of gold washed down the river near Lae, and that he is going back there to find the reef from which it came —somewhere in the jungle-covered mountains, he thinks.

And won’t the miners of Morobe be peeved if he finds it! They have been looking for that millionaire reef these last 20 years, quite hard too, but so far without success. ♦ TWO couples, formerly well-known in Fiji, are now doing a little pioneer ing in New Guinea. They are Mr. and Mrs. J. Peterson, formerly of Siga toka, Fiji, and Mr. and Mrs. T. Warbur ton, formerly of Ba, Fiji.

Both men are with Burns Philp. Mr.

Peterson is now manager of the Lae branch, and the Warburtons went to Madang on the September “Montoro” to take over there.

The days when the BP store and the BP manager’s house were the most im posing edifices in any South Pacific town ship have departed from New Guinea, where to-day they cannot be distin guished from the rest of the elements that make up the battered townships.

The BP stores in Lae and Madang are now conducted in tin sheds left behind by the army, and their managers’ houses are built of native material.

The Warburtons and the Petersons are experiencing conditions that Fiji forgot 50 years ago; but they are accept ing them cheerfully. « THE impact of war in New Guinea has affected the majority of its natives less than one would expect, but it has given a few of them a new twist on

life. Hence the following story, now going the rounds in the Territory, con cerning a native of Wewak.

It appears that he was somehow picked up by the evacuation wave of early 1942 and, after many vicissitudes, found himself dumped in North Queens land.

For the duration, then, he went to work on the canefields, where he learned a new kind of English and all the best slang expressions. He also earned 35/per day.

Recently he was returned to the Ter ritory and, in Port Moresby, was offered employment by the Administration, He enquired the rate of pay and was told “Fifteen shillings per month.”

The ex-canecutter allowed an amused expression to drift over his face, and with a slow shrug of his shoulders turned round to the nearest onlooker and spake eloquently: “Wouldn’t it?” • WHAT we have done for the Fiji In dian! The astonishing figures shown below and gleaned from a recent missionary magazine, give us some idea of what the world of 2000 AD will be like, but they should be read against the knowledge that, in India itself, not only is the infant mortality rate greater than in any other country in the world, but the expectation of life there is 27 years against Australia’s 63 years.

In Fiji, however; • The Fijian birth rate is approxi mately 36 per thousand, the Indian 50, and the European 17. • The Fijian death rate is approxi mately 16 per thousand, the Indian 8, and the European 9.5. • The Fijian infant mortality rate is approximately 121 per thousand, the In dian 20, and the European 38, * TfROM a personal letter from a prac * tical missionary in the New Guinea area : I sometimes wonder what the Adminis tration idealists imagine they are going to do with these lazy natives. We do our best with them—but it is no use blinking the truth—they are lazy.

The people are always asking me for soap—an expensive item away up here.

So I showed them how to make soap from coconut oil. I promised that if their women would scrape 40 dry nuts, I would supply the caustic and other things, so they could make soap. Weeks have passed, and so far only two women have taken advantage of the offer. They would rather sit and let the nuts go floating out with the tide, and scrounge their soap, than do a little work.

We bought some gardening tools —and no small price, either! I told them the tools were there for the use of the vil lage—“just call and borrow them when ever you like,” Again, two old men came and used the tools. The rest—just hopeless, hopeless. • A REMARKABLE letter was received recently by Mr, Sil Rohu, of Sydney, who has sold guns and ammunition to most people in the Pacific Territories.

Mr. Rohu advertised his catalogue re cently, and this was one reply: Dear Sir, —I am here to give my steepest on my way to Christ, to you. I am glad that I have received my blessings. I now look to you and say, please kindly supply me with a cata logue. I have seen the magazine of 1945, and I asked whether there is air guns in the store.

I hope that you would not be tired to send me a catalogue, knowing that whatsoever a man or woman soweth the same shall he or she reap said the Lord. I am now looking up for your kind gift to arrive by the grace of God. May God give you rest and blessing. I remain, Edim Okon Ema, c/o Ateya Kloma, Calabar. Nigeria.

Mr. Rohu is now prepared to b ac \ T his Nigerian against some of JNew Guinea letter-writers who occasionally have caused him diversion.