Extending Mop Beds In
p. 52 · Read in the full issue
Cook Is.
IN post-war years, mother-of-pearl shell has become a valuable source of income to the Cook Islands and some tests are in pro gress to transplant shell from Mani hiki and Penrhyn to other Northern Group atolls.
At the last Legislative Council meeting a request was received from Aitutaki, in the Southern Group, that some experimental plantings be made there also.
The Director of Agriculture said, however, that the South Pacific Commission’s Fishery Officer, Mr. H. van Pel, considered that this lagoon would probably prove too shallow, although it might still be worth a trial.
Mr. Van Pel had also recom mended that the minimum size of shell permitted to be fished in the Northern atolls be increased from 41 inches to 5 inches, and that a square mile of the deeper waters of the Manihiki lagoon be pegged as a shell breeding area.
Appeals against the en f ire closure of the Manihiki lagoon during 1956, with the alternative proposal that the minimum size be increased in stead, were set aside for considera tion until Mr. Van Pel’s report and recommendations, following a visit last year, are received.
The Manihiki people claim that
complete closure of the lagoon will result in hardship. t The next air shuttle service be tween Aitutaki and Rarotonga by NZ Civil Aviation Bureau’s DCS under charter to TEAL is scheduled for the first week in June.
fl Mr, Paul Mow, son of Mr. Thorm Mow, Chinese businessman Rabaul, New Guinea, has passed I final for the degree of Bachelor Economics, at Sydney University. 3 is believed to be the first Chine! resident of New Guinea to has graduated in Economics.