The Editors' Mailbag

Heinrich Rudolph Wahlen

Ltkf. a voice from the past comes a letter from Hamburg, in which H. R. Wahlen takes us mildly to task for an inaccuracy in the Pacific Islands Year Book.

The YB, describing commercial developments in German New Guinea prior to World War I, says: “ . . . the New Guinea Company flourished. A little trading station, established by Hemsheim in the Duke of York group in 1876, grew into a large and powerful Hemsheim & Co., which later amalgamated with Forsayth & Co., (‘Queen Emma’s’ organisation) about 1882. and became the Hamburg South Sea Company, and ranked in importance second only to the New Guinea Company.”

Writing on October 22, Mr.

Wahlen says that that is not correct; “I myself, and some friends, founded in Hamburg the Ham burgische Sudsee A. G.; and this company bought all the interests of E. E. Forsayth. At the same time my own firm, carried on in my own name, amalgamated with Hambur gische Sudsee A. G. . . Hemsheim & Co., continued to trade, alone. I personally took over the directorship of Hamburgische Sudsee A. G., whilst I resided at Gunantambu, near Rabaul. I left for Germany shortly before the outbreak of the Great War, after a stay of nearly 20 years in New Guinea,”

When later on expropriated, the recognised claims against the German Government amounted to:— Gold Marks Millions New Guinea Co 42 Hamb. Sudsee A. G. (called “the Wahlen concern”) 45 Hemsheim & Co 13 Thus, a somewhat important section of German New Guinea history, now becoming ill-defined in the mists of time, is re-stated accurately. . , „ J The name of Heinrich Rudolf Wahlen was very well known in the New Guinea islands before World War I, and his strong personality, industry and shrewd foresight had an influence on development there between 1890 and 1910. It is interesting to know, after all these years, that he is alive and, judging from his letter, in first class physical and mental condition.

Herr Wahlen arrived there originally as a clerk in the service of the New Guinea Company; and he visited many outlying, almost unknown places. Then he left the company’s service; and, a few years later, he was the far-famed “king

of the Western Isles”—Ninigo, the Anchorites and the Hermits. On Maron, one of the 14 islands of the Hermits, he built a very fine, large bungalow of hardwoods, and there he lived magnificently, like an Eastern potentate. Even to-day, after 50 years of time, and two great wars, his colourful establishment and his picturesque hospitality are vividly remembered.

It WAS for Wrapping !

fITHE Islands trader’s most con- J. ‘sistent and painful headache is connected with the wrapping of his goods. In Sydney, a million people buy at least one newspaper per day, and throw it away. In consequence, there always is some thing in which to wrap a cabbage, or a shoe, or a bottle, or an un trained pup. In the Islands, they also carry bottles, and vegetables and pups; but there is no waste paper there.

The storekeepers buy bales of it, South, and pay freight to the Islands. It doesn’t matter what it is, so long as it’s paper.

Not long ago, a Bougainville planter, trained to hate Reds, found himself face to face in a Chinese trader’s store with a collection of Communist pamphlets. When he recovered from his horror, he re ported the matter to PlM—adding that the offensive material obviously had come in as wrapping paper.

But the trader, Wong You, of Buka Passage is unhappy about it all. He says he has been in the Territory since 1912; that his loyalty to the Administration has never been questioned; and that the material really did come in as wrapping-paper.

The paragraph never was in tended to cast doubts upon Wong You, who is one of the best of the old traders. It merely was published to show the sad fate of some well planned Commo, literature.

A Mixed Race in Guam

WE are scolded severely by Mr.

J. F. Coshman, of East Mel bourne, because, in a recent article on conditions in Guam (page 117 of June) we refer to “natives, and the way they have become “Americanised.”

Mr Coshman reminds us that all the natives of Guam, except a few of the more personable females, were exterminated by the Spaniards; and the present population of 27,000 are a rather extraordinary and very sophisticated mixture of Pilipinos.

Chinese and Japanese, with the original Spanish-Chamorro cross.

They have no culture or tradition that could be called “native.”

He is quite right. But the 27,000 have to be described somehow, and even if their origin is so mixed, they still are Guamanians natives of Guam.

But there is no need to don anthropological mourning over them.

They were completely ready for American culture even before the Americans arrived there.

More Memories of RLS

BY a singular coincidence, there arrived on my desk, in mid- October, a new book by J. C.

Furnas, “Voyage to Windward,” which is a remarkable biography of Robert Louis Stevenson; and a letter from Isobel Field, who is a step-daughter of RLS, and lived with the family in Samoa. .Furnas is now in the top rank of American writers; and a first glance suggests that this biography will add further to his fame —and his income. It bears evidence of great industry in research, and of Furnas’s outstanding literary craftsmanship. We shall write about the book, after closer read ing.

Mrs. Salisbury Field’s letter is dated September 23, and that day she was 93 years old. Mrs. Elsie Noble Caldwell had gone from Pasadena to Santa Barbara to see the famous old lady; and the latter remarks, whimsically, that even at 93 a woman who is properly en dowed can get a real kick out ol a gift of food delicacies, and a pink satin bed-jacket trimmed with pearls.

Mrs. Field defends her step-fathei against a charge made somewhere that he was careless about his dress She says RLS always was particu larly well dressed. “He himseL wrote somewhere,” she says, “tha a man is careless about his dres;; when young, but grows more par ticular about his appearance as h« grows older.”

Mrs. Strong knew Hawaii when ii had a king, and Samoa before ii became a German colony. She car even remember the American Civt War,

Low Tide at Levuka

ALEVUKA (Fiji) reader has sen us a drawing of tlje loca Cession Day celebrations o;< October 8. , , ...

It consists of a ruled square, wit: nothing in it, and is entitle; “Worm’s-eye View.”

He says: “Cession Day celebration were marked by the usual Why Worry attitude.

“Not a flag was flown nor an addresses made to school children as in days gone by. Why there : such a poor public spirit now ic

oika is hard to understand re must be over 500 school chil n attending local schools.

We have no European officials to iertake this sort of task and this ms to suit the local residents as y are all suffering from malua.” /ell, that is what one Levuka dent says about the other Levuka dents . . . maybe they can take t. Outsiders criticise Levuka dch one daring soul has described ‘something the tide left when it it out in 1882”) at their peril.

yal Hawaiian—

liars Not Pounds

R. John C. Fischbeck,

manager of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, Honolulu, ostulates about the paragraph published in our April, 1951. e concerning the tariff at hotel. We stated that a double n cost about £3O per day and i meals were extra and, on our idards, expensive, e says that rates at the Royal raiian range from 18 to 28 ars for a single room and for ble rooms, from 28 to 38 dollars iese rates include three meals ay and entertainment, dancing, ;h service such as towels, urn las, etc. seems that we must have got pounds and dollars mixed, and apologise. lit paragraph was more in ow than in anger, anyway, re are few of us who would not to see how things are done in raii and with planes shuttling : and forth like express trains ould be easy if it were not for exchange-fixers and the dollar rollers. ssidents of Fiji (as well as Aus a and New Zealand), would be ?y to avail themselves of holi » Up North rather than on the beaten routes Down South, of them, unfortunately, could :d it, even if the rates are in irs and not in pounds. This is the fault of tourist organisa -5 in Hawaii, it is just that the estic economies of residents of South Pacific and the Americans lot seem to meet at any point. ic engagement has been 3unced of Miss Elizabeth Row daughter of Mr. and Mrs. ffrey Rowley, of Rarawai, Ba, to Mr. William Newman, of the ■ Company, Fiji. ‘ar Admiral John G. Moyer, ’ (Retd.), a former Governor of rican Samoa (he retired in 1943 ike a sea-going post), was taken lospital in Auckland when the mgi berthed there on October He became ill soon after he and wife joined the ship in olulu. They are to spend six ths in NZ.