The Editors' Mailbag

atery Land of the

pik No Longer "Dry"

1 friend who lives in that land of wodiles and XXOS mosquitoes, s sent us this piece of thirst zncing information from the oik, NG: Lngoram reverberated to the jplng of champagne corks and an asional pistol shot (read feu de z), when the first pub on New inea’s mighty Sepik River —Engd’s Hotel —was opened on March District Commissioner Elliott ith having cut the ribbon and ned the door, the savage Sepik des (all the local residents, plus plane loads of enthusiastic sts from Wewak) trooped into lounge and did their part, s somebody remarked to licensee I England: “You’ve got a pub r, Mum!” hey weren’t kidding. To coin a ase: a good time was had by

/v the Lisp Got

) Fijian

mtors to Fiji frequently give up struggle when they find that is inexplicably pronounced ’, and ,( d” as “nd” and “b” as etc., but they are usually in sted in how this came about, he original story was that the y missionaries used spare letters their type fonts to reproduce e unusual sounds ; later this ry was discounted. Now it bobs again, with all the marks of uenticity. Reader A. J. Sheat es: le Rev. John Hobbs (1800-1883), of the first Wesleyan missionaries ew Zealand (1823)—did a lot of ting between the years 1833 to , when he was transferred to ?a. He appears to have been of the first of the missionaries ?t up the scriptures in type for n converts. Mr. Hobbs resumed on work in New Zealand in 1838 wrote his reminiscences while g in retirement in Auckland.

Tonga he printed not only in Tongan language but also in san and Fijian, where the eyan missionaries were seeking erts. Writing of his difficulties spelling he set down this fact: next printed a leaflet for Fiji.

Cargill (a pioneer missionary to said that he wanted me to some Greek thetas.” (The Greek of our English sound Th). said that the sound Th in n is flat and that I was not 3e founder; but to take one of ;pare letters and make that do.

In a short time I got the thing printed, giving C the sound of Th.”

This information comes from Page 23 of a book dealing with the life of John Hobbs, written by Mr.

T. G. M. Spooner, MA, and pub lished by the Wesley Historical So ciety of New Zealand, in October, 1955.

Do Islanders Stammer?

An old resident of Fiji, Mr.

Arthur Robinson, who always has something entertaining or amusing to say when he writes to us, has now come up with the suggestion that stutterers amongst Pacific Islanders are rare or non-existent. There are, he says, plenty of deaf and dumb Fijians (we don’t know whether he means this in the metaphorical sense) but goes on: “It had never dawned on me until I met a European a few days ago who stuttered rather badly, that during my 50 years in Fiji I’ve yet to meet a Fijian, Solomon Islander, Samoan, or Tongan who was affected in this way. I wonder if there are any natives in the Pacific who stutter?

“And the only native I’ve struck

who could not swim was S grown man from Vunldogoloa, a coastal village in Natewa Bay, who could not swim a stroke. He worked for me when I was in the Yasawas Group—a place where the natives learn to swim almost before they are born.”

If Mr. Robinson is correct, the psychologists probably have a reason for it. . . stammering can sometimes be attributed to tempera mental maladjustments or un certainty in infancy, so maybe native children just have a more stable life than European children.

NG Natives in Coal-to-

Newcastle Drill

Maybe the Army has its reasons, but as Brisbane reader, Sydney H.

Chance, writes it seems completely crazy that New Guinea PIR soldiers have to come down from the jungles of P-NG to Australia to do some basis jungle training at Canungra training grounds near Brisbane.

To prove it he sends along a photograph of two NG native sergeants who had just arrived by air from Moresby to go to jungle training school.

Repeating: there may be reasons, but we agree with Mr. Chance—it seems mad.