Better Than Sydney,
p. 30 · Read in the full issue
Anyway
AN evacuee of 1942-46 returns to his Territory—in this case, to a job on the coast of the Gulf of Papua—and does not like it much: “If it is possible for a place to be des cribed as the back-side of a country, then this region is the back-side of Papua.
“Everything seems dead. There are no fish, no crocs, no game except a rare pigeon, or a rare-as-radium pig.
“The Orokolo coons —Oh, I beg your pardon—the Orokolo natives always were considered to be about ten feet lower than the belly of a snake —a morose, dirty, scaly, shiftless lot—they are fit in habitants for this dung-heap of a place.
“The overcast skies and the poisonous
brown waters match the featureless coast, depressing and hopeless.
“However, even although it is the Orokolo country, and all these things, it is better than Sydney.’’
Father Dupont, a Roman Catholic priest well known throughout Fiji, died on December 1 at Wairiki, where he was living in retirement. He was born in France in 1869 and went to Fiji in 1894.
He was appointed Procurator in 1907 and in December 1910 he suceeded Bishop Nicholas as parish priest in Suva. In 1926 he was again appointed Procurator and a year later he became Superior at Wairiki. He remained in this position until 1933, when ill-health led to his re tirement.