Equipment

Valuable Radio

Rusts On Gardner Island

NEARLY ten years after VJ-Day a great deal of valuable radio equipment and other machinery lies rusting in its buildings on Gardner Island, Phoenix Group—a part of WPHC territory.

The equipment is a complete Loran radio station, with several diesel generators to provide power and other camp equipment, includ ing several big refrigerator units Loran—or long-range radio navi gation—stations operated in groups of three, emitting signals from which a ship in the general area could accurately fix its position without recourse to star navigation methods. The companion stations to Gardner were on Atafu, in the Tokelaus and Bikati islet, Makin atoll, in the northern Gilberts. They were established by the Americans at the height of the Pacific war when the area was alive with American shipping; personnel with a rudimentary knowledge of celestial navigation manned them.

Whether the Americans wished the stations to be left intact in case of future trouble; or whether their disposal has been tied up by red tape may never be known. The Atafu station was finally purchased by the New Zealand Government and dismantled by a team under

the supervision of the Apia radio superintendent about three years ago—by which time much of the radio gear had suffered weather damage through neglect.

Bikati station may still be intact. The Gardner buildings are no longer weather-proof, and thousands of pounds worth of valu able dollar-source equipment appears likely to be left to perish.

Ea ,l te s 19 ? 5 * Mrs - Gardner Hales (better known to radio listeners as Hilda Morse) will marry Mr. Lee Johnson, of New Caledonia.

Mr. Johnson is the elder brother of the present British Consul in New Caledonia,