No New Building in Somorai Reconstruction
p. 27 · Read in the full issue
Somorai Reconstruction at a Standstill
From Our Own Correspondent
Samarai, Jan. 27.
THERE is still little reconstruction work going on in Samarai. During the early days of the Pacific war, when the Japs appeared as though they might make the island a stepping stone, the business centre was scorched-earthed.
Later the army constructed some of their own establishments in the ruins and in these ex-army buildings the trading stores that have returned are trying to carry on business. Burns Philp, A. H. Bunting Ltd., Steamships Trading, are back but Whitten Bros. Ltd., which did business here before the evacuation, has not returned.
Permission to erect new buildings on the island has not yet been granted although one may submit plans, unoffi cially, to the Building Board in Port Moresby. What little accommodation there is is very expensive. However, the whole of the island has been re-surveyed and people at least know where their pre-war allotments were. Some of these have mysteriously increased in size; some have shrunk. Presumably this is due to an incorrect survey made many years ago.
Repairs to the local wharf are so long overdue that part of it has now collapsed; the local power house is also waiting for new equipment which was ordered months ago.
The Muliama arrived direct from Sydney on January 17 with almost 600 tons of general cargo and departed on January 23 with a full cargo of copra and rubber.
Mrs. Ray Youlden, formerly of Rabaul, entertained a few friends at her Mel bourne home on January 8, to celebrate the coming of age of her daughter Valda.
Mrs. Youlden was the wife of the late Ray Youlden, well-known auctioneer of pre-war Rabaul. He lost his life when the “Montevideo Maru” was sunk in 1942.
Fiji has its lotteries, too. In the last four months of 1946, permits for 43 lot teries (or raffles) were issued by the Police Commissioner. Among those who benefited from the proceeds, were the Fiji Gifts to Britain Fund, various schools, The Cottage Home in Suva, church funds and patients at Makogai.