The Editors’ Mailbag

50 Little Bits of Tahiti

Friends of kindly Oscar Nord lan, of Tahiti, keep bobbing up i different parts of the world. The Id ex-sailor makes a hobby of oing little kindnesses for anyone i need of help.

A letter from a friend in USA de jribes how the American Geo raphical Society of New York, 5-operating in the world-wide ‘arch for anti-biotic drugs, sought elp in obtaining 50 samples of ahiti soil. Someone gave the Irectors the name and address of tr. Nordman; and they asked him he could do anything.

Oscar waded into the job with Ls usual energy. He and his lend Captain Aitken, of the Bank me (there on a visit), went right round the beautiful island, re- Loved six inches of topsoil in 50 ifferent places, and from that level >llected 50 small samples of [other Earth, Tahiti variety, fithin a few weeks of the Society’s iquest, the 50 samples, travelling 7 air, were in the hands of the ew York scientists, with a written rayer from Oscar that some of lem might contain a special anti otic drug, of real Tahiti potency.

They have told Oscar that they ave a special medal waiting to be inned on him, when he makes lat long-considered visit to New ork.

Vhat Gold Means

o Governments

Looking at the accounts of Fiji’s mperor and Loloma gold-mines iblished in December, and noting le large sums which the Fiji •overnment gets out of their irnings, a correspondent’s mind aes back again to the extraordin ry folly of the British Socialist overnment, which prevented the ctension of this successful enter rise to the poverty-stricken Solo ion Islands.

The Fiji gold-mines have taken lany millions out of the Tavua ills since the late E. G. Theodore ad his friends launched that en srprise in the mid-thirties. Last sar, in income taxation and gold >yalties alone, the Fiji Govern ient got just on £lOO,OOO from the vo mines; while in indirect taxa on it must also have benefited sry much. Emperor’s operating rofit for the year was £272,233; oloma’s, £169,789.

“Just imagine what gold would lean to the British Solomon Is nds, struggling along with copra reduction as its only means of irning overseas exchange,” writes ir friend.

“Yet, in one section of Guadal mal, the indications of good gold re just as strong as they were in

Fiji before Emperor came in and proved the goldfield. In the late thirties, Mr. Theodore earmarked a substantial section of Fiji gold mines’ profits for exploration and development in Guadalcanal, and was proceeding with his plans when the war came.

“After the war, Emperor got ready to follow up the gold signs in the Solomons. Immediately, the Colonies Minister in the Attlee Socialist Government made it known that all laws which hitherto had operated to encourage gold seekers to take a long chance in spending their money in unknown places had been reviewed, and mining concerns would enjoy no privileges and be taxed as heavily as any other enterprise. There upon Mr. Theodore, after one spirited personal protest in London, cancelled the whole BSI scheme.”

Now, BSI is willing and ready to give any encouragement within reason to gold-seekers; but, so far, there have been no takers.

To Eradicate Peetles

A German friend who lives now in Methler, Germany, and who was a prominent resident of Samoa until 1914, has sent this along for publication: “Ven I reed dem PIM I emm

grately imbressed vit der Messers taken in der fiet agenst der Rinoz eros peetle. Bleese gif mee a dschanz tru yuhr Montlee to meke der vay non how I eradiketet der peetle vit too bricks, ven I lifted in Samoa 40 jeers ago. I late one brick on der dinner-table, denn coht one off fem nasty peetles. I put him on der brick, denn I takes up der udder brick and hit der peetle vit it on der het. Denn i rupp der brick like a millstone four ten seckends, ent der peetle is dann stohnded.

“Bleese yuh dry deeze rezeepee on all dem peetles, larven, ant egs in der Sout-Sees ant somm day yuh will tank me—Yuhrs drooly, FRITZ—now in Dschermanny.”

Soviet Salmon for

Pacific Islanders

“In theory, this idea that Aus tralia should help the poor old Mother Country by contributing dollars to the Commonwealth pool is beautiful”, writes an “Islands Trader”, nastily. "But it does not work out very happily in practice.

“For example, there is a big mar ket in the Islands for canned salmon, and we in Sydney do our best to supply it. But what has happened? We are being forced by the Australian Government to buy Russian salmon, which we do noc like, and which costs about 60 per cent, more than Canadian

salmon, which we do like. We can not buy Canadian salmon because there are no dollars available.

“A good many Islands products are good dollar-earners and seL readily in America. If this trade were left alone, to balance itself we could easily buy all the North American products we wanted.

“But, no—all our dollars from our American allies are grabbed by the Australian authorities for the Commonwealth pool, while we are forced to buy the products of a country which is regarded as the enemy of the Western world, and carries on the Cold War against us; The thing is fantastic.”

Hotels and Robbers

On the subject of hotels and robbers in Apia and Papeete (see recent issues), we have a persona!, letter from Henry W. Kinney, long time resident of Tahiti, internation ally-known journalist, and now settled in Honolulu. An extract: “We had a very pleasant trip— except for the fact that the hot© in Apia had only three beds in each room, and a wooden shelf, and ab solutely nothing else. At that, we were lucky in being there, as at the other hotel a burglar broke in and stole the wallet of an airman, and his trousers—leaving them all empty on the road —and fellow travellers Bennet lost £l5, Donald £l7, and a young Australian couple £50.”

Which seems to add up to the facts that (a) Papeete is not (as Chief of Police Biesel has already pointed out) the only place with hotel robbers, and (b) the Apia hotels, in the eyes of American tourists, are no better—or worse— than we originally said they were;