the Fold

[?]Stralia’S Most

Estern Territory

Cocos Comes Into the Fold

USTRALLAN administration of l Cocos (Keeling) Islands came into effect on November 23.

Lets ratifying the change over m UK to Australian administra n had previously been passed the two governments. !h\ H. J. Hull, an officer of the Pal Australian Navy, has been >ointed Official Representative of stralia to take charge of local ninistration. He left Australia, h an officer of the Department Territories, early in December, locos has been the home of the nies Ross family for over 100 rs, and Singapore has had its rsight. However, Qantas Empire tvays established a base on st Island (one of the half en that makes up the atoll) a pie of years ago when they igurated their Sydney-Johannes ?. air service, and since then islands have been in process transfer to Australian admini tion. The Qantas community is far the largest in the group, ustralia has, however, had Jr associations with Cocos that .further back than the air ice. It was here that HMAS ne V sank the German cruiser ien in World War I. 3 a consequence of the transfer ;he Cocos (Keeling) Islands to traha, the operation and ilopment of Overseas Telecom ucations Services on Cocos imes the responsibility of the rseas Telecommunications Com mon (Australia). OTC (A) will lire the Cable Station at Cocos i Cable and Wireless Ltd. ) obtain first hand information local requirements, Mr. T. A sley, Assistant General Manager ie Overseas Telecommunications imission (Australia), arrived at )s by air in early December. >cqs Cable Station is situated Direction Island, seven miles i the air strip at West Island, is a 24 hour regenerator on. That is, its important non is to “boost” the strength

of the signals passing through the two cables from Perth—one via Rodriguez, Mauritius and the Cape to the United Kingdom: and the other, via Djakarta to Singapore This Cable Station on its remote Indian Ocean atoll has played a dramatic part in’ both world wars. In World War I “Emden” put a landing party ashore to destroy the cables. But they cut the wrong ones and the cable station was able to transmit the vital message to Sydney which was able to sink the German cruiser.

War 11 the Japanese shelled the cable station at close range, and were led to believe that the equipment was completely destroyed. But the staff quickly restored communications, which played a vital part throughout the rest of the war.

The cable station, which occupies 40 acres of land, also possesses a small radio station as a supple ment to the Cable service in cases of emergency, and for communica tion with cable ships and the handling of port and distress messages, in addition to limited public correspondence with ships. t The body of Petty Officer Lelei T. Tuitasi, who died in Hawaii recently, was shipped back to Eastern Samoa, and interred with full military honours at the family cemetery at Malaelio, Tutuila.

t The p-NG Administrator denied on November 28 that there was any a g y dne y newspaper report tnat the newly-developed anti-TB drug, Verazide, would be tested first on New Guinea natives before being distributed to TB sufferers in Aus tralia. He said that the Adminis tration had never been approached on the matter and knew nothing whatever about it. t A mannequin parade was staged m Madang, New Guinea, in November, when local models dis played fashions from establishments m Port Moresby, Lae and Madang Money raised goes to the building fund for a Country Women’s Association restroom in Madang