Notes From Talasea, Ng
p. 77 · Read in the full issue
From Our Own Correspondent MR. KEN McMULLEN, late of New Guinea Company, Rabaul, has taken up residence with his family at Garua Island Plantation.
Mesdames Skinner, Page and Phillips- Veirke, who were all at various times in the Rabaul hospital, have now returned to Talasea. Getting to hospital from this area has always been something of a problem, but now that Dr. Roelcze has arrived, residents feel they will not be forced to rely on Directorate boats or the once-fortnightly Catalina service, to quite the same extent.
Mr. P. (Rusty) Phillips-Veirke, manager of Numundo, advises that this extensive property, owned by Coconut Products Ltd., is being opened up. The property suffered severely in a fire lit by natives in 1941. Coconuts will be planted, also cocoa. Cocoa will also be planted in the area that is producing at present.
Mr. Geoff Hitch, late manager of San Remo plantation, has now gone to the Bainings where he is managing Gun tersohe.
Mr. Ken Douglas, of San Remo, has returned with his family from a vacation in Australia. His particular bete noir of the moment is the weed Ageratum, a noxious species which, in his experienced opinion, is poisoning the ground. This weed is found both on San Remo and Numundo plantations, and springs up strongly with the secondary growth.
An aviation official has been making a reconnaissance trip of Stettin Bay (where the two above mentioned planta tions are situated) seeking a suitable alternate landing base for Catalina air craft.
Cocoa is reported to be doing well both on Walindi and Lafenda plantations. Mr. and Mrs. Lou Searle are now returned to Walindi. It is also reported that Solupai, managed by Mr. Bill Wills, is keeping up a steady copra production.
There is a rumour that the Japanese snail has been seen in the Nakanai area.
This is disquieting news to cocoa-growers hereabouts, and it is hoped that the snails will confine their activities to the other side of the Nakanai. The snails are believed to have been brought in unwittingly on cargo.
A farewell party was recently given in Talasea for Mr. Rod Marsland, of Lafenda, who is going south on leave.
Mrs. Phil Page, wife of P. O. John Page, and Mr. Bill Wills, supervised, and arranged the cooking of the chickens and mushrooms, and the roasting of the pig (on hot stones) all of which were delicious. Toon Pen, trade store pro prietor, provided the piece de resistance with huge bowls of chow mien, noodles, etc. The party was held in the gardens at the rear of the Page house, and guests sat at tables under the trees in the moon light and talked, and occasionally sang and ate. It was voted one of the best outdoor parties yet.
Concerning the native Batari, I did not, I think, write that he was “the local luluai sanctioned by the Administration notwithstanding;” for he holds no official rank and is certainly not a Luluai or a Tultul, and is not recognised by the Administration as an official of any sort.
His Lordship Bishop Foley has returned to Fiji from an overseas journey which included a visit to the United Kingdom and the making of the Holy Year pil grimage to Rome. Members of the Roman Catholic Church in Suva arranged an extensive series of functions to wel come him back.
The Returned Servicemen’s League Queensland State Congress decided recently, to recommend to the Federal Government that it approach the Netherlands Government on the possi bility of negotiating a treaty for the mutual development and defence of New Guinea. The State President said that any talk of buying Dutch New Guinea would strengthen Indonesia’s claims in the area. But if the Indonesians got
Dutch New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand would be the only white nations in the South Pacific surrounded by a teeming mass of coloured people.
Mr. F. M. O’Driscoll, a former Queens land Police Inspector and crime expert, died recently in Brisbane. He was the father of Mr. Andrew O’Driscoll, Crown Prosecutor of Papua-New Guinea.