US Tourists “Don’t Spend Like

Gl’s”

From Our Own Correspondent

Port Moresby, March 1.

BIG money strolled through Port Moresby during February when two world cruising luxury vessels—the Swedish Stella Polaris and the British Caronia —paid brief visits to the ports.

Stella Polaris, resembling a graceful outsize yacht, arrived on February 15

with a capacity booking of world tourists, mostly Americans. For their four-and-a half months jaunt around the globe they are paying from $3,000 to $B,OOO each.

As they trooped ashore at Port Moresby they put on a marvellous display of holiday-style clothes —from Fifth Avenue hats to blue jeans with up-turned cuffs, In the sightseeing buses, which whizzed them around the gay and not-so-gay parts of the town, an elderly and wealthy lady of fashion, who finished off her costume with immaculate white gloves, sat beside a rough diamond from the Texas oilfields in corded work pants and his

shirt open to the waist showing a fine expanse of hairy chest. This same gentle man’s over-enthusiastic but playful tactics with small pickaninnies produced near-panic among the brown youngsters bf one village.

But on the whole the Stella Polaris passengers were a friendly and cheerful crowd who somehow or other still managed to be happy though rich. One thing they did not do was to throw their money around recklessly. Most of their purchases were made after very careful consideration, and souvenir sales were by no means on the lavish wartime G.I. scale, THEN on February 23 the Cunard liner Caronia steamed into Port Moresby harbour and the tourist-run-around started again. This was an even more luxurious outfit. A modest little cabin for the cruise cost $3,500 but at the top of the scale were suites for two persons ticketed at $30,000.

Both visits had their amusing side, for the tourists were busy seeing the sights, and the townsfolk enjoyed seeing the sight-seers. The tourists said that they liked the harbour, the green hills, the flowering trees, and the grass skirts had them fascinated. “They’re not just put ting them things on because we happened along?” one Texan asked, and when assured that the grass models were just everyday apparel, and undoubtedly the sole wardrobe of the dusky girls, the man from Texas commented, “Wal, that’s sure gonna be something to tell the folks back home.”

Native craftsmen worked overtime to reap the tourist harvest, and they didn’t do badly, putting a solid minimum of £1 on every article. Fortunately, with the exchange rates on American dollars, this didn’t look too bad to the visitors, most of whom meticulously worked out the price to the last US cent.