Public Servants

[?]Ave £’S By

Rociding—

Buses for Rabaul Public Servants

• From Our Rabaul Correspondent F the Administration subsidised a \ bus service in Rabaul and re- I stricted the use of Administra jn vehicles to the demands of duty would save thousands of pounds mually. A bus service has been Iked about for years but appears to ■ as far away as ever.

Replying to the statements made iring the Rabaul TAC meeting, in nuary, on the lack of Government jnsport, Council Chairman, Mr.

Nth Cummings, offered the facil es of his own taxi service to trans rt late working telephonists home. (Mr. H. Lewerissa had said that lephonists refused to work late ifts because they were afraid to ilk home after 9 p.m. The District ficer had replied that no govern gnt transport was available for em).

He remarked caustically: “I could imd up, around the town, half a zen Administration vehicles not ing used on Administration busi ss?’

No one challenged his statement.

Ihe functions of the Administra m Transport Pool in Rabaul are Bcult to assess.

Ihe strict interpretation of a pool a common stock or fund from lich members draw their require snts —does not apply. Outside busi ss hours, the only vehicles kept the pool are heavy trucks and hter vehicles needing minor re irs.

Certain officials should have their icial transport handy at all times ;he District Commissioner, the strict Officer, the Harbour Master, jdical Officers, and officers living tside the town area—because their ties are not restricted to normal siness. jenerally, however, official vehicles Duld be used only for official duties t here the contrary appears to be i rule.

Dutside clubs and pubs, at parties d week-end sporting engagements, m as distant as Keravat and ikopo, one sees Administration licles. They travel out from ibaul or come in from outside 5 town without need of official ;use. They are generously loaned non-Administration friends and Jised for the family shopping— at the expense of the taxapyer Australia.

Meanwhile, the private citizen lose finances do not a 1 low him purchase his own transport rspires his way on foot because ;re is no bus service in the town.

At present a local Chinese re sident has tentative plans for a bus service. His greatest competitor would be the Administration, whose vehicles now obviate the need of a great proportion of the townsfolk to pay for their transportation.

Fiji Broadcasting Commission has now put into operation a trans mitter on 840 kc/s as a stand-by and alternative-language programme

outlet. This transmitter and its aerials are located near Broad casting House in Suva. The other existing transmitters on 930 kc/s and 3980 kc/s are located at Tama vua, some miles out of town.

A new District School was opened at Nalota, Ba., Fiji, in January, built from earnings totalling £2,000 made by the young men of the dis trict who took cane cutting jobs to raise the money.