In This Issue:

Editorial: “The South Pacific Com mission is Launched” 5 Australians Lucky in War Damage Jackpot 6 Steamships Trading Co. Makes Almost £39,000 Profit 6 Tahiti is Anxious About TRAP AS Service 6 Oil Search in NG—Five Bores by End of 1949 7 Mrs. Cowan To Hold Ariki Title Permanently 7 Tahiti Tourist Premises Searched For Foreign Currency 7 Developmental Plans for Papua-New Guinea —Govt. May Retain Control of Copra 7 New Ship and Hotel for Norfolk Island 8 New Guinea Timber Case Begins ... 8 Lavish War Damage Gifts to NG Natives 8 Australian Donations to Islands Missions Are Taxable 8 Mr. R. H. Garvey is Promoted to Governorship Rank 9 More Trouble for Matson Line Directors 9 South Pacific Air Control Conference to Decide on Fiji’s International Airport 9 Maddening Travel Conditions “Matua” Three Months in Dock .’. 9 Sheep for NG Highlands—lnteresting Experiment Under Way 10 Japan Remains a Danger to Pacific Peace 10 UN Praise for NZ’s Samoa 10 South Pacific Commission Meets in Sydney but Noumea Will be New Headquarters i 11 Colonel Allan Speaks for New Guinea at RSSAILA Congress 18

Public Views Sought on Amending Fiji Constitution 20 Yacht Procession Across Pacific ... 20 New Tuna Industry for Fiji—Modern Ships and Equipment Will Be Brought Into South Pacific 21 Fiji-Indian Pot is Boiling—Discussions High-Light Difficulties of Racial Problem 25 Fiji’s Increased Copra Output 28 Qantas Begins Delayed Santo-Sydney Service 28 BGD’s War Compensation £1,300,000 . 29 NG Administrator on Work of Missions 29 Two Families Share Christmas Island Phosphate Fortune 30 Movie-Making on Makogai 31 Suva Wants Automatic Telephones .. 32 New Caledonia’s Industries—America Interested in Nickel and Chrome .. 32 Still no Timber from Vanikoro ... 33 Cook Islanders Form Labour Branch in New Zealand 33 Fiji Has Been British Colony for 74 Years 33 NZ Labour Solomons Seek Causes for Cook Islands Unrest 35 Notes from Tahiti 36 “Viti” on Tasman Run 36 Nauru’s Cantilever is Operating Again 37 Masonic Lodge Sponsors Fijian School 38 Fantastic Prices for New Hebrides Disposals Buildings 38 Palm-Grove Movies —16 mm. Film Development 39 Yachts for Tonga 40 NG Natives on Assault Charges ... 40 Territories Talk-Talk 41 Pacific Nature Notes 42 “Vaka Totomi” 43 Torgil, Valley of the Virgins 44 Tropicalities 45 Short Story: “On the Wallaby” ... 46

The Orange Grower’s Dream 47 Pay-Back 43 Queen Victoria School is Going Way of Fiji’s Cession Memorial 50 New Methods of Native Food Growing in Tonga 51 More Control Needed Over New Caledonian Lepers 51 Lae Newsletter 53 Banabans Settle Down on Rabi ... 53 New Hebrides Copra—Exchange Un certainty 55 New Look for Pitcairn Architecture .. 56 America’s Big Science Plans for Pacific Islands 57 Makatea’s Deep-Sea Moorings Rest on Sea-Bed 59 Men Who Rallied New Caledonia to de Gaulle were Condemned to Death 59 Earthworms Mean Soil Fertility ... 60 Melbourne Firm Seeks Pacific Mutton Birds 61 New Sydney University Professor Has Papua Affiliations 62 NZ Airforce Leaves Nausori 63 Gatty—A Man Who Gets Things Done 65 Western Samoa’s Healthy Financial Position 68 Plane and Shipping Services 71 Bird’s-eye Views of Pacific Islands — Photo-Survey Being Made 75 NZ Beer for Santo! 75 Soil Erosion in Fiji 76 Potato Growing in Fiji 79 Europeans Outnumbered in Suva Town Rolls 79 “German-Harry”—Memories of By- Gone Days in Papua 81 Commercial, Markets, etc 88 ORGANISATIONS: Brisbane NG Asso ciation, 67; Pacific Islands Society, 59.

OBITUARY: Fred. Cuthbert, 29; The Rev.

Nacaniela Mataika, 51.

INDUSTRIES: Oil, 7; Copra, 7, 28, 55, 68; Gold, 29; Phosphate, 30, 37, 38, 59.