Hombu Hombu, Bsi,

Port Of Entry

Letter to the Editor HOBU HOBU (see August “PIM”), is an inlet in the Roviana Lagoon, New Georgia, about a mile off the main land, opposite Labete and the Munda air field. It belongs to the family of the late Norman Wheatley.

Prior to 1943 it was undeveloped. After the battle and capture of Munda it be came the British Administration’s seat of Government in the Western Solomons, superseding Gizo in that respect.

Its future is obscure. Local opinion favours Gizo as the most suitable in every respect for the permanent seat of Gov ernment in the Western Solomons. But the officials seem to lean to the retention of Hobu Hobu. Like the Honiara-Tulagi controversy, the argument regarding the sites revolves around their suitability for shipping in normal times.

In the first-mentioned controversy, the perfect port of Tulagi was rejected in favour of Honiara, which is virtually an unprotected, open roadstead.

Gizo is an Admiralty-surveyed port, better even than Tulgai and the natural focal point of the Western Solomons; whereas Hobu Hobu is bv no means central ,and suffers the navigational dis ability of being located in the midst of a maze of reefs in the Roviana Lagoon,

and whose approach for large vessels is across the wide, 2i fathom Munda Bar—a navigational hazard for big ships in day light, and a risky operation at night.

I am, etc..

Leslie F. Gill.

Caulfield, Vic.

August 21, 1947.