"Porachute Post" Ends

Mangaia's Isolation

From Our Own Correspondent MANGAIA, March 1.

FEBRUARY 11—Ash-Wednesday in the white man’s calendar—will go down to history in the local one as “Para chute Wednesday.” For the first time since the Days of Hayes, this island’s hurricane-season isolation has been broken by a visit from “outside” in Feb ruary—but by an aeroplane, not a ship.

As the off-season was formerly a com plete cut-off between December and April, the coming of the “silver bird” has been a nine-days’ wonder on Mangaia.

We have no airport yet, so the visitor could not land; but the machine circled gracefully over the beach and cliff, and seven parachutes, carrying containers of necessary drugs for the dispensary, and a small mail, were dropped upon the parade-ground. It Is hoped that this arrangement may be repeated every month. Incidentally, the arrival of the first air-mail has caused our villagers to ask why it is that the allegedly-frail air craft has been able to make this trip, ■while inter-island schooners hug the safe harbours in the North during the hurri cane-season.

An interesting feature of the aerial visit was the behaviour of the fowls and horses of the villages. The former hid; the latter were thrown into a panic as the plane passed overhead.

The mail carried by 'the plane was necessarily limited to air-letters from Rarotonga and New Zealand; so that the expected ship-mail (or “surface”-carried items), is still in the Rarotonga GPO, The recipients of “first drop covers” were greatly envied by those to whom the plane brought nothing, and their names have gone down to local history, although in many cases all that was received was just a bill.

Mangaia now looks forward to the day when packets, newspapers and even par cels may be parachuted to us. The pro jected airstrip, at Tavaenga Village will take a long time to get into operation, the matter being at present not even fully planned, nor a site marked out, though some preliminary surveying has been carried out.

THE parachuting of passengers, in case of necessity, seems quite feasible.

In an epidemic, for instance, doctors could now land at Mangaia in this way, even if no schooner were available —and, of course, the relief by air would be im mensely more speedy than transportation of medical staff by sea.

The real solution lies, to this writer s mind, in the helicopter, which would make landing-grounds unnecessary.