S'SsrL Sufi'S

Territories Talk-Talk

By Tolala

3ME rather caustic comments have reached me concerning the strines tied to the distri- :ion of Japlnese assets to civilian ernees by the official orgamsan known as The Citizens’ Innees Trust Fund Vidows of deceased internees ich as those who were lost in > Montevideo Maru) are subted to a means test; and internee Dlicants for grants must produce dical evidence of suffering from manent disabilities before their ims can be considered. have yet to learn that anyone 0 spent the war years as a Jap W or internee, has not been ected in. some way—and per-

S'SsrL Sufi'S

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' * , n July a large-scale suivey to ess the agricultural potential of ?Uf L'^ ew 11 1. *>? 8 nched under aegis of the IRO. And so P-NG goes uuder 1 microscope again, to be studied scientific theorists, keen to cole information-much of which 5 already been acquned through c l lca L expe £ ience I P hands, who would be only too ased to pass it on if asked.

Vhat will it cost. And how much 1 these surveys expedite the deopmept of the country? .heres no doubt but that New mea is the scientists playground i the politicians holiday resort. :: t was good news to read of the

proposed erection of a memorial to the Coastwatchers. who paid the supreme sacrifice in War n. a meeting was held in Melbournes in the middle of last month to decide on the location. . .

We owe to the Coastwatcheis fai more than is generally realised, They did a wonderful job. I re member well the gratitude ex pressed by Rabaul residents when each timely warning was received from young Con Page, on Tabar, of approaching enemy aircraft It’s to be hoped that Australian history books will give this band of gallants their proper place in the records. ; ; :; ;:

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murmured, “I told you so.” Even Doc. Deland’s forecast received some prominence. More recently Prof Bullen> of the Sydney Uni versity, expressed his opinion on the “smH” leader page that “a tectonic earthquake is almost equally likely to be centred any here y in N £ w Britain. ... The earthquake of April 24 is not in it sejf a SU fft C i en t argument for shift ing the site of Rabaul to elsewhere in & New Britain.” He then men tions the danger, in the event of major earthquake, of a lava flow on Ra fc a ul.

All of w mch leads to the belief that Ra b au ] i s not more dangerous than parts of New Britain, anc j s j te of principal town might just as well be on a natural harbour as somewhere else where

It would cost a few millions to con struct a harbour.

The reference in “Do You Re member?” column—and a very in teresting column, too—(PIM, April) to the “latrines built at the end of long jetties out over the sea,” reminds me of the often em barrassing questions by tourists when approaching Samarai whr|rf in pre-war days. “What are all those funny-looking little houses over the sea?” But, if I remember rightly, they were there before Dr.

Lambert arrived in NG, which was only in the early Twenties. A great cove, the Doc., running around ill his pyjama-striped pants and full of vigour. He certainly put the hook-worm where it belonged in NG.

I noticed in the April PIM (page 19) that the Rhinoceros beetle is referred to as Brontispa froggatti.

Quite incorrect. The rhinoceros be longs to the dynastid family, a large hard-baked beetle with a snout like a rhinoceros, while the Bron tfspa froggatti is a leaf hispa, a little cove of the weevil type, and found mostly in the sheaths of young palms.

It is named after W. W. Froggatt one-time NSW Government En tomologist, who discovered the pest in the BSI back in the early 1900’s and was always combatted by pre war planters in NG, owing to the

attitude adopted by Expro Board inspectors, who had received their schooling from the Chairman of the Expro Board (W. H. Lucas), a pre vious Island Inspector for BP’s in the Solomons, and the man who selected the BP properties in Bougainville prior to War I.

The late W. W. Froggatt was the father of J.L., who was TNG En tomologist for many years.

Last I heard of W. H. Lucas, hi was still going strong at Canberra where he had retired these mam years. When World War I broki out he was appointed by “Billy 1 Hughes as Adviser to the Govern ment on Islands affairs. A pity sucl an Adviser was not appointed aftei War 11.

Judy Tudor’s story of “Trans

•nation in Bougainville” gives a ry true picture of the situation, a transport in that particular ;ck of the woods has given small inters a headache on more than ie occasion. It was this headache lich caused the NDL Bremerhaven start copra-catching in the early lirties, and made Ihe Australian mpanies pull up their socks, ere there no BP plantations rung along the coastline of aigainville, I should say the ship ag position would be far worse.

Phe passing of Padre Freddie shop will be a loss to many of e old New Guineaites, especially □se who take a trip to England casionally, for invariably they iuld meet this lovable character, 10 always retained a soft spot in 5 heart for Rabaul, where he was e first C. of E. padre at St. (orge’s. He had an amazing pacity for partaking of afternoon is at the numerous homes he Ited, tootling about on his motor ce. Many a night he gave his rvices at a dance, playing his irionet with the local orchestra, s, a good fellow was Freddie shop and held in high esteem,

ly he rest peacefully.

A.nd so our RPNGC contingent 1 its spectacular march to the dney Cenotaph and has sailed r the Coronation. Their idierly bearing impressed the jctators—a fine showing they ide. There is no doubt but they 11 arouse favourable comment, *n in dear old phlegmatic London. \n old Islander summed up the uation very truly the other day len he remarked to me: “The ison why the old hands take a n view' of sending these lads ay from New Guinea is because debunks the white man and the iys’ find that their masters have ly feet of clay after all.”

Vly thoughts went back to the ys—some 40 years ago—when the lite man w r as an omnipotent be l in the eyes of the native, when did such things as making fire im a box of matches, pressing a ch button for light, bringing isic out of a box and often curing o them —incurable diseases. In 3se days w r e tried to live up to r reputation as demi-gods, and my of us succeeded. But now — m with an* travel, wireless and nicillin—we have lost our fame • omnipotency. Neither do we empt to preserve it. And the adulum swings the other way. \.n interesting little book con ning 32 stories of legends of the ands —17 of Fiji and the re linder of Polynesian islands —was blished in Suva in April. Entitled lies from the South Seas, the per-covered book sells at 2 - per ?y.