Tropicalities

information on the Giant Snail Problem—from an American journalist, Harman W. Nichols, in

Washington :

The Navy would like to know whatever happened to the bright young scientist it sent to South Africa in search of a snail eater.

If the boy doesn’t come back pretty soon, we’re going to have to move out of Guam, not to mention Saipan, to make room for the giant African snails.

History of the snail plague is this: When the Japs first moved onto Guam, they brought their lunch with them.

Snails, which the Nips dearly love. As you’ll recall, the Japs left the island in kind of a hurry, leaving their main entree behind.

The Marines and Gl’s who took over, had lots of those delicious beans and Spam and hence had little appetite for snails. So the hard-shelled critters, left to their own devices, reproduced a lot of little snails.

The snails, measuring 4 to 6 inches in length and weighing up to a pound and a half, are raising the very devil with vege tation on Guam.

There are 11,000 arable acres on the island —good for raising corn, potatoes, peas, melons and sugar. All liked by snails.

The Navy yelped for help and the Naval Research Council and our Department of Agriculture responded. The two agencies lend-leased a crew of snail experts who gave the matter a good, hard thought.

They sent a lone scientist to Africa, from whence came the snails, to find a natural enemy.

The man hasn’t sent a report in; or even a “wish-you-all-were-here” card. I went through a flock of "channels,” as we call ’em, and couldn’t even learn the man’s name, although the Navy is sure it sent Somebody down there.

West Coast ports are a little disturbed too.

They got word not long ago that offi cials boarded freighters loaded with scrap metal in Saipan and the Marianas and found more snails—apparently looking forward to a voyage to the United States.

Bent, doubtless, on displacing a lot of our growing stuff. * * * APT AIN S. W. MUIR, 77 years old, J and one of the few remaining square rigger masters, skippered the 37-ton "Diane” when she left Hobart, Tasmania, for Tulagi, BSI.

Lever’s Pacific Plantations Ltd., bought the "Diane” in Hobart and plan to use her for inter-island trading.

The four members of Captain Muir’s crew were all from Sydney. He has been at sea for 61 years and thinks that sail ing small vessels is more fun than sailing larger ships. ♦ * ♦ Y HIS appeared in McNicoll’s column

in the Sydney “Daily Telegraph”

recently :—

MANLY’S puzzled about a local theft — a Military Cross and a Belgian Royal decoration taken from a showcase in the Manly Art Gallery.

The Military Cross had an amazing his tory. Lieutenant Hunter Kirke won it in World War I. When the Japs invaded New Guinea in World War 11. Kirke evacuated his home, leaving all his pos sessions, including the decoration.

The MC was found two years later, strung round the neck of a native 1,500 miles away. * * * THE Cook Islanders’ love for being photographed or sketched, is par ticularly noticeable among the people of Rarotonga, the administrative centre.

One village there, near the very "hub” of Cl affairs, contains some very remarkable old examples of the enlarger’s art, as practised nearly forty years ago.

These “family portraits” are of native worthies long gathered to their ancestors.

They have, of course, typical Polynesian faces. The oddity lies in the fact that the framed portraits do not conform to Polynesian colouring, but have been—at the customer’s express order—tinted upon the best Teutonic lines, with pink faces and blue eyes! The early artist who did them, of course, had no fixed views on such matters, and was willing to oblige as generous a patron as the Maori of Cl always is with photographers. In that far-off day, it was no unusual thing for some Rarotongan of substance to pay the limner a fee of even five sovereigns (they were in circulation then) for a nice Nordic-tinted job, including gilt metal frame.

Preserved with pride by the descendants, these quaint, old, enlarged photos are as bright to-day as when they were made.

As far as I know, the custom was not practised in any other part of Cl, prob ably because the outer-islanders had not the money to spare. But Mangaia now has its photographer—and the future is to be dreaded!

“Eti.”

DURING the Jap blitz on Port Moresby when ANGAU was dug in at Hanua bada, a certain US Artillery colonel called on the RSM (Mons Medal and ex- Irish Guards type) in search of a suitable site for some AA guns. The RSM directed him to an old, disused watertank at the rear of the OR’s mess and a pair of Bofors was duly installed —much to the alarm and consternation of the said OR’s, whose midday siestas and nightly slumbers were rudely disturbed by the staccato crashes of the Bofors.

The situation caused amusement in

more exalted circles and resulted in a neatly typed notice which appeared on the notice boards:— No more long, dull, winter evenings —keep the children home —banish boredom by keeping a Bofors in the back yard.

A slightly amended version would be applicable in New Guinea to-day:— No more long dull winter evenings— keep the children amused—buy a second hand jeep, and you will never know a dull moment!

MM.

SOME months ago we published a short article from our Mangaia correspon dent in which he suggested that the difference in the fertility in the soils of Mangaia and Rarotonga might be ex plained by the fact that there were few, if any, earthworms on Mangaia while there were many to be found on Raro tonga.

We added, editorially, that the fact that fertility and earthworms went hand-in hand was recognised overseas and that there was at least one earth-worm farm, on the United States Pacific coast, which produced earthworms for farmers and gardeners.

Now we have a pamphlet from a firm in Sydney which aims to do the same thing for Australian farms and gardens.

Anyone who wants to know more about how worms build up the top-soil, and their other peculiar habits, can get one of these folders by writing to Soilmaster Earthworm Farms, 37 Manning Road, Double Bay, NSW. Breeder worms are also available at 25/- a box of 200. Or if you think you may have trouble intro ducing these to your soil, you can buy earthworm capsules (which is what worms produce instead of babies) for 2/per dozen; these hatch out in about three weeks.

The whole idea, of course, sounds slightly screwey as do most new ideas, but there is probably much in it. It is said that one reason why the Nile Valley retains its fertility after 6,000 years of cultivation is that there the earthworms produce 119 tons of castings—the most readily avail able plant food—per acre, per annum.

Janet Johnson, aged 14, who recently won the NSW 800-metre title at the State women’s swimming championships in Sydney, is the daughter of the former Miss Yeala McConnell, niece of Mr. Percy McConnell, formerly of Taveuni, Fiji, and now of Suva. Mrs. Johnson was born at Taveuni but now lives at Newcastle.