Long Drought in Vila

Prom Our Own Correspondent

Vila, N.H. Oct. 15.

ALTHOUGH September and October are usually dry months, accompanied by a water shortage, the present season Is the driest Vila, New Hebrides, has known for years.

To date, no rain worth speaking of has fallen for almost seven months. And until the mooted water reticulation scheme begins to operate in the town area, Vila residents must still remain de pendent upon the rain to fill their household water tanks.

Unless you possess a truck of your own, or can borrow one, plus a

tank which you can take to a fr water river and fill; or can sci up the necessary £lO or equivalent, to have a load deliv( to your house, you just go with Having a bath out of a sauce is not the same as the real thi One of Vila’s most attrac features is the brilliant greennes its wild, unchecked foliage, and this time of the year, the dram scarlet of the poinsettias which g at random. All this should tx its peak now, but it is not.

Even the town’s telephones wl work (?) on the “earth reti system have pretty well given the ghost. The ground is so as to no longer be of much usi a conductor. When you wanl ring someone, you pour a bucke of water over the earth-pin, fir!

If you have no water you g< your jeep and see the person want to talk to.

At Toburuai, South Bougaim where the Methodist Missior developing agriculture proj good work is being done by O a Fijian agricultural instructor.

Rev. A. H. Scriven, of NZ, visited Bougainvile in Septen said that in addition to gi valuable instruction to Bougainville mission natives, station would probably be abl grow enough food to solve the problem of that Methodist mn district.