Holiday Resorts

Fiji’s Lack of Low-Price Holiday Resorts

From Our Own Correspondent SUVA, February 2.

THE coral island of Nukulau, Suva’s nearest beach resort, has been popular during the school holidays.

Parents have seized the opportunity of getting their children out of Suva for a week or so during the hot weather; and others, with their own sailing boats and launches, have spent week-ends there.

The Defence Club of Suva had their first picnic on the Island on January 21, and this was attended by members, their wives and children, a total of 250 people: altogether. Refreshments were served for adults and children, and during the after noon races were run for the children.

It is unfortunate that the importance! of Nukulau Island to Suva has been con siderably overlooked. This Island couldi offer an up-to-date tourist resort complete; with tennis courts, nine-hole golf course,, well-furnished cabins, a restaurant and ai dance floor —and a regular launch service: connecting with the mainland.

As it is at present, the buildings are; badly in need of repair and steadily de teriorating. The primitive “conveniences”* built out in the tide, are beginning toe come apart, with planks missing here and! there.

It is understood that at one time plans were made to improve the amenities one this island but these were dropped in favour of more important! development works.

With the high cost of living, overseas holidays for short periods are not within' reach of the average citizen in Fiji. Holi day resorts near to the town are, therefore; essential.

Residents with families cannot afford tc spend their local leave in a hotel at the rate of £1 to £l/5/- a day per person. The hill rest house at Nadarivatu having been closed, this leaves very little in the of holiday resorts to the public, Nukulau Island is used as the Quaran tine Station but with a little organisation! this area could be placed elsewhere, leav ing this little Island free for tourists and) local holiday makers.

The new Conservator of Forests foni Fiji, Mr. J. B. Angus, arrived in the Colony on transfer from Kenya in February.

the Kaiser, and I received the following reply:— “His Majesty the Kaiser has taken great interest in the letter of Mr. Bigelow, of 14.11.30, and sends you his thanks for the nice expression used in your letter of 27.1.34. I am commanded by His Majesty to enclose the photo, which His Majesty has personally autographed.”

In the Crown Prince’s letter there was a picture of Princess Cecilie (the youngest daughter of the Crown Prince) and her betrothed, an officer of the American Occupation Force in Berlin (a very wealthy American from Texas, USA). The wedding was to take place in Sigmarin gen, the home of the Hohenzollerns.

IN November, 1949, I received another surprise—a letter from an old friend of mine. This letter shows how small the world is—and in how many of the world’s places the PIM is read.

Mr. Otto Eckert was a fellow-passenger of mine on board SS Provila, from Ham burg to Australia. We arrived in Port Adelaide on New Year’s Eve, 1882. I stayed in Adelaide while Eckert went to Sydney.

In 1886 I met Eckert in Apia, Samoa, where he was a clerk for the German Consul. In 1889 I met him again in Jaluit, Marshall Islands, where he was secretary to Dr. Hakl, the Governor of the Marshall Islands. Eckert had a six months leave, and was awaiting a chance to get to Germany via USA. He took passage on the “Golden Fleece,” one of A. Crawford & Co.’s San Francisco ves sels, on which I was travelling.

Life on a sailing vessel can be rather monotonous. The library of the Golden Fleece consisted of one book, Alexander Dumas’ “The Count of Monte Cristo.”

Everybody on board read this book and, when we arrived in ’Frisco, in March,

1890, the first thing we saw was a sign on the wharfshed: “Tonight, California Theatre, Alexander Dumas’ Masterpiece, The Count of Monte Cristo.”

Eckert and I spent 10 happy days in ’Frisco. A year later, in 1891, Eckert wrote that he had joined the Colonial Office in Berlin. Forty-five years after wards, in 1936, I learned tha-t he had re signed from the Colonial Office, as he had had enough of Hitler, and that he

was going to live in Sigmaringen with his married brother.

While in Sigmaringen he made the acquaintance of Crown Princess Cecilie (wife of the former Crown Prince Frederick Wilhelm), who came from the same town in Mecklenberg. Eckert be came a frequent visitor to the Castle.

One day, at the Castle, the Crown Prince asked Eckert if he knew a place called Lotofua, Haapai, Tonga. “I believe

you have been somewhere in that direc tion,” he said.

Eckert replied that he had been in Samoa, but not in Tonga.’ “But why?” he asked.

“I am writing a letter to a Count van Asten-Goedicke, who lives in Tonga,*’ replied the Crown Prince.

“Count van Asten-Goedicke?” asked Eckert. “I have been wondering lately who is this Count van Asten-Goedicke.

He has been writing articles in a maga zine called Pacific Islands Monthly, which a friend of mine in Hamburg, who was a book-keeper for the DHPG in Apia, Samoa, sends me every month. I must write and find out if this gentleman is my old friend Fritz Goedicke, who was a fellow-passenger in the SS Provida from Hamburg to Australia in 1882. I would be thankful to your Royal Highness if I could have this gentleman’s present address.”

Eckert wrote, and I duly received his letter, telling me all about his doings since 1889. He also writes about the pre sent Germany. He says food supply is normal (they had two good harvests) and everything would go smoothly if it was not for the mischief maker, Russia.

This letter shows again how small the world is, and where the PIM is read.

Sir Edward Herring, Australia’s Director- General of Recruiting, on February 1: “For awhile, during the Pacific war, I lived on the side of Mt. Lamington in Papua. If anyone had told us we were literally sitting on top of a volcano, we would have laughed, just as some people laugh when we say there is a great danger of an international upheaval. The people who were on Mt. Lamington a few weeks ago are not laughing to-day!”