Tropicalities

Magazine Section

Dispatch From Suwarrow

A THREE-MONTHS’ diet of coco nuts, fish, birds’ eggs and an occasional rooster and a paw paw was interrupted for Tom Neale, sole resident of Suwarrow atoll, on February 28 when the English 80ton yacht Sorengama dropped in for a few hours. Only imported stores remaining at that time was some tea donated by the yacht Be yond which called a year ago.

Sorengama departed for Samoa and the Solomons with the Suwarrow mail aboard.

The mail reported that on Feb ruary 13, with little wind locally, heavy seas from the north swept the island, destroying the old jetty which Tom had been re building, and leaving in their wake scores of dead frigate birds and many others exhausted along the outer beaches—presumably the victims of heavy weather elsewhere.

Other news: “Cats are well —still have three —drowned the young fe male; sent young male to the sur gery and named him Sparrow— short for Suwarrow. Don’t think I’ll stay beyond the end of this year.”

Pap-You-A And Mal-Ek

You-La!

SOME time ago a protest against frequent ABC pronunciation of Papua as Pap-you-a was queried. It was pointed out that many people do use the latter pro nunciation. Now the ABC’s Bris bane short-wave Island Service station announcers are frequently heard referring to BP’s Malekula as Mal-efc-you-la! In the Islands weather summary many island pro nunciations, which surely follow some rule, are hopelessly mis-pro nounced. Or are they? “Ooodoo” for Udu (pronounced Undu in Fiji) is understandable —but “Neeoo” for Niue can satisfy no one.

It was understood that Fiji, several years ago, decided to adopt rational spellings of Fiji place names, dropping the “q” and in serting the “n” where required.

Recent maps and Government pub lications there have adopted the phonetic spelling—but Fiji’s Public Relations Office still clings doggedly to the old spellings; so does the leading Suva daily newspaper.

Surely the correct pronunciations, however the spellings, are the native pronunciations, and surely the ABC should make it its busi ness to find out at least the accepted

local pronunciations, especially when using the words in programmes directed to the Islands. —JPS.

Japs Nostalgia For Rabaul

A PPARENTLY Rabaul has some sort of fateful allure for the Japanese—which may explain why their fishing vessels are call ing in there with sick seamen.

This extract from The Ceylon Ob server of last December 31, needs no comment: • Hollywood has not been send ing us, recently, any fiilms depict ing the glorious lives and deaths of G.l.’s —no epic since Errol Flynn re-conquered Burma for the Allies.

But the craze for war films has just started in Japan. For years, on top of Tokio’s Hit Parade has been a number called “Farewell, Rabaul” and slated for release next month is a film of the same name.

It tells the story of a tough ace pilot of the Imperial Japanese Navy, who bids to defend the Naval Base of Rabaul from attacking US planes, and lays down his life for his Emperor and country.

The film relates the tragic ro mance between the pilot and Kim, a beautiful girl of a Kanaka tribe who too, helps her Emperor, coun

try—and the box office —by com mitting suicide.

Kim is played by one of Japan’s most beautiful actresses, Akemi Hegishi — Pin-Up Girl No. 1.

Samoa To Become Gilberts—

For Movie Purposes

IT now appears fairly certain that Western Samoa will be the locale for the shooting of a British Lion film based on Sir Arthur Grimble’s A Pattern of Islands —a book on life in the Gilberts, Film company representatives, after looking over Fiji, travelled on to Samoa in February and were to go on from there to investigate Aitutaki. However, after viewing Samoa the film men cancelled their Aitutaki trip and let it be known that they were in favour of Samoa.

Final decision will be made in Lon don.

One of these days the film-men will make an island film on the island about which the story was written. That will rock the box office.

How Wrong Can You Be?

COMMENTING in March PIM on the fact that recent numbers of the Papua-New Guinea Gazette were taken up by pages upon pages of regulations for sewer ing the towns of the Territory, and for canning and quick-freezing crayfish-tails and tuna, it was said that these regulations were forward looking as no sewering or canning were contemplated.

It seems that was wrong; it is expected that parts of Port Moresby will be sewered “within a year.”

We are now waiting for our first can of tuna, (Over)

Kenneth Houston Dalrymple

HAY first arrived in the British Solomons in 1929, after serving in the First War, and joined Levers’ plantations. He be came manager of Banika plantation, where he remained until 1939. War broke out while he was on leave in Sydney, and Ken tried to enlist, but wasn’t wanted and returned to the Solomons, this time to work the rubber trees which had been planted on various plantations belonging to Burns Philp.

Two years later the Japanese began their drive southwards. The islands were partially evacuated of their white settlers, and only the hardiest citizens and Coast watchers stayed behind. From then on. for 12 months, Guadalcanal made history, and Ken Hay was in the middle of it.

The 12 months were divided into three parts—the first three months of increas ing air attacks; then three months of Jap landings and consolidation: and, finally, six months of the American counter invasion and wearisome mopping-up.

For Ken, the year was divided rather differently. The first five months were spent at Berande plantation on the coast of Guadalcanal, and at Goldridge.

Theodore’s gold lease in the mountains.

This house proved too visible from the airfield the Japs were building, and they made things too hot for Ken to remain.

He retreated over the mountains, after having witnessed the edge of the Battle of the Coral Sea, and he spent 40 days in the wilderness. By the time he got settled on the far coast the US forces had landed and great naval and land battles had taken place within sight of his old post, while the fighting ranged up and down the coast. Ken walked back to Goldridge, and was made an official Coastwatcher, with a commission in the

Ranvr.

After the war Ken returned to the Solomons as a plantation inspector for Levers, and became their general manager in the Solomons before leaving them again to branch out on his own in 1948.

He started the Hotel at Honiara, to which is attached the butchery, and also a bulk store for general trading. He has leases of Tetere and Tetipari, owns Lofung plantation, and is vice-chairman of the Tenaru Timber Company. His aerated water factory is about to open, and a picture theatre is under construction.

ls2^“^ Ad.isorj Board, and

Brett Hilder.

The Egg Was Added

ANOTHFR rnnic hnv ctnn/ thic j\uiMhK cook boy story this time from Sister Mary Veron ica of Guadalcanal, via the Marist Missions magazine: See if you can make that cake,” said one of the Brothers once, put ting a recipe book into the boy’s hand The boy was glad that his English was good to tackle Th P A p d aff °i?f c e fw Sai n * ecl P®; The egg was there all right. It was found in the middle of a rather cake, hard baked with its XX dents know where the towns

Carollnls wlth popufatfon

Extremely fertile, with a rainfall of a mere 300 inches, Ponape was the centre of considerable Japanese agricultural enterprise. Most of this was wiped out during the war.

Colonia 400 milps tn thP

wSSTta’ cSgtal^Y^p'an/ldl

ministrative centre of the 85-islands Yap District; population 5 000 Both names still in usp datp back to pre-World w£ I German times and no one seems to have a satisfactory explanation as to how one came to be spelt with a K and the other with a C