Do You Remember?

TWENTY years back, Pacific

Islands governments—like all

others—struggled with the dragon we

called Depression. But there was

some light in dark places—Britain

had recently gone off the gold stan

dard and this had stimulated interest

in gold discovery. In New Guinea,

the first of the BGD dredges began to take gold out of the Bulolo, dozens

of other small gold mining companies

were being formed, and in the Solo

mons optimists were assuring them

selves that there must be gold there, too. NG mining went on to save that

Territory from financial disaster but

to-day, 20 years later, they are still in much the same state of dither

over their problematical gold in BSI

as they were in April, 1932—but in

defence of that much-maligned Pro

tectorate, we can say that BSl’s

troubles in this direction have not

been so much lack of gold as too

much politics.

Here are some extracts from the

issue of April, 1932—some to make

you laugh; some, perhaps, will make you give up sighing for the good

old days:

Things that could have been better put!

We allow the late A. J, Vogan to say, in regard to the newly-appointed Adminis trator of Norfolk Island (C. R. Pinney, formerly an official in the Papuan Administration and son-in-law of Sir Hubert Murray): “The new Administrator is a particularly able bushman and a mountaineer; and took the first woman to cross New Guinea—famous Miss Phillipa Bridges, of Devonshire, authoress of A Walk About Papua—from Port Moresby to Buna Bay, a great feat of endurance for them both.” • • * “The Macdhui, which arrived in Sydney on March 29, brought mail from the' New Guinea goldfields, posted there just seven days before. Usually it takes 13 days for mail to reach Sydney. A plane flew the mail from Wau to Port Moresby.” * * * Our Thursday Island correspondent asks: “Will there ever be an end to the discovery of new synthetic products which threaten the great natural industries of the tropics? We fear that this is too much to expect from scientists who must justify their existence. Natural rubber at present Is sold at a figure below pro duction costs, but can now be under sold by a synthetic article manufactured by the du Pont Company (USA) out of limestone, coal, salt and water.” * • • "History was made in New Guinea on March 21, when the first of the Bulolo

Co.’s bi,? dredges was set In motion bv the Administrator. Within a few days the dredge was winning rich gold. A notable feature was that the whole of this heavy machinery was transported to the field by aerop’anes.” * • • • • • Drastic changes are intended m New Zealand Reparation Estates (Western Samoa) owing to a large deficit incurred during the current vear. A Government official stated recently that NZ committed a blunder in not disposing of the Estates years ago. Deficit for the financial year ending March 31, 1932. is £40,000.” * * * "Promoters of the Sangara (Papua) sugar-growing project have acquired 20,000 acres in N-E Papua, back of the deep-sea port of Buna, and propose to cultivate Badllla sugar-cane, 40 acres of which are already under test plantation.

The promoters say that conditions sur rounding their enterprise are so favour able that they can produce profitably and show a satisfactory dividend at present prices—on which sugar producers in other parts of the world are making no profits at all.” (History showed that the Sangara promoters were wrong and that the rest of the sugar-producing world was right.) * ♦ ♦ Under the heading “Copra Prices Rise 40 Per Cent, in Apia” we stated that copra in Western Samoa was bringing £B/10/- per ton. • * * We describe, with enthusiasm, how science has evolved a method "bv which efficient refrigeration can be maintained without electricity or gas.”

By this method, you heated up a freez ing unit over a primus stove for one hour daily, then plunged it into cold water to cause the "necessary chemical action” and placed the freezing unit in the refrigerator where "for 24-36 hours it will maintain a sufficiently low tempera ture to freeze water, if required, or keep the contents of the larder fresh and palatable.”

These contraptions, fore-runners of the übiquitous kerosene refrigerators of to-day, went under various trade names, but in the Islands were generally called "Icy balis.” Sometimes they were not so ipy, but they had one advantage over more modern refrigerators in that thev cost less than £3O. • * • Describing him as a "young man who is well-known in New Guinea, where he was employed In the Administration from 1922-1926,” we report that Mr. W. C.

Groves would be a passenger on the April Montoro to New Guinea and that "he has been awarded a Fellowship for re search in anthropology by the Austra lasian Research Council he will work from a special camp in the central dis trict of New Ireland." (Mr. Groves is now Director of Education, Papua-New Guinea.).