The Editors' Mailbag

»ling Brook . . .

Donald for Ever

m a London reader comes an clipped from one of the dailies 1 thoughtfully marked by our r. “Not from Daily Telegraph cerning the incredible Mr. dm MacDonald, currently High lissioner in India and lately •nor-General of the Malayan i.

I readers do not have to have id out to them that what goes SE Asia is of vital concern ;m and that no less so are the •inations of the MacDonald, s the clipping: il at the prodigious tale of Mr. i MacDonald. for a single instant since 1931 has JcDonald been out of a Government >r 25 years, in all the wash and swirl ic life, he has bobbed up corklike in lush public office or other, nal, Coalition, Socialist, and Tory es have come and gone. Mr. Mac is still in there, pitching. resounding list of his appointments; mentary Under - Secretary, Dominions Colonial Minister (twice); Dominions ; Health Minister; High Commissioner ida; Governor-General of the Malayan Commissioner - General for South - East nd —now —High Commissioner in India.

I that while Mr. MacDonald has done e some service, the State has certainly ’. MacDonald some service in return, the public purse during this quarter he has picked up in salary and ex llowances a trifle under £200,000. interesting to note that while W. Robson, publisher of PIM, London last year he addressed hering of Conservative MP’s iring the course of the address 2d to Mr. MacDonald, in so words, as one of the British ities in Asia. It is recorded he MP’s didn’t like it.

itive Stammerer

former Commissioner of Lands Solomon Islands, Mr. A. H. i, sends an interesting note in r to an item in the Mailbag y: eply to Mr. Arthur Robinson s “Do Natives Stammer,” say that, in almost 3a years issociation with natives in all of BSI Protectorate, I en ired only one instance of a stammering. This was one i, of Ugeli Village, on the Coast of Rendova Island. y in 1919 I recruited Bakalu of a squad of native axe-men rk with me as Government r6r. At the time he was 25 years of age. and of m»ost al appearance, in that his

. . ... features were distinctly Semitic.

Also, unlike other natives, he was rfprumfj 1 n„ hlrl' and of a Although my medium of speech

SfIeSSTM informed M

his stammer was equally pronounced when speaking his own native language. He remained in my employ about four years, during which period his stammer did not vary. ...

Tahiti S Flag:

A . . i.i

Origin Unknown

Wtrv Hrv rp 0 y- • i.■ I s f P P i T ® hltl . u f the Austrian flag—red, white and blue, in parallel as their 4 visitor to that desirable isle. Cannot they get a flag of their own?”

Not knowing the answer to that one, we sent it along to Oscar Nordman—he knows everything.

Replying, Oscar uses the Tahitian equivalent of “Slowed if I know.”

He thinks that it may have been wished upon Tahiti, long ago, by some early navigator of Austrian nationahty.

“Anyway, there is only one flag that we want here, and it is the blue, white and red, the famous Tricolour of France,” says Mr.

Nordman. “Tahiti is an integral part of France—so what do we want another flag for?”

Daru Club—One

World or Two?

In the last mail, somewhat de layed, comes a flea-in-the-ear from the Western Division of Papua: “In the February or March PIM we read of the Daru Club. Don’t get any false ideas about that— there are only two Europeans push ing. that and both should have more sense. Like all these others who come and go, they start off these new ideas leaving behind only trouble and discontent. I smiled at the words: ‘Europeans may attend.’

On Daru, unfortunately, at times there are Europeans we could do better without. The old-timers are all shocked at a certain government man who, it is alleged, told his wife she must dance with the natives in their Club. Haven’t they enough sense to see that far from pleasing the lads, it only embarrasses them?

Poor old Papua!”

We stand corrected—the author of the letter is an authority on Western Papua and if he says that the Daru Club is not all sweetness and light, then we certainly take his word for it. At the time that the offending item appeared, the Daru Club was presented to us (by PRO, Port Moresby), as a most in teresting and encouraging experi ment in race-relations, and we wished it well.

The fact of the matter, of course, is that social relations in the Pacific are probably more confusing these days to the unfortunate wayfarer who (to mix a metaphor) has a

foot in several camps, than ever before.

The female portion of the Editors represented in this Mailbag, once— let her confess it—trod a measure with a Fijian in a taralala and feels none the worse for it. Certainly, she was pushed into it, under cir cumstances beyond her control, and felt a confounded fool while per forming—but this was not because said partner was a Fijian but simply because the gathering-nuts-in-May jog of the taralala is about as futile a pastime as anyone could imagine.

However, while knowing that dancing a taralala in Fiji does not necessarily damn one socially, she does know that if she tried the same sort of thing at Daru she would probably be crossed off the social-register. It is just one of those things. And while there is no valid reason for these nice dis tinctions, it is well to remember that local usage and custom is not purely a matter of European pre judice our correspondent would probably sum it all up neatly by saying that although the Fijian was not embarrassed, the Daruan cer tainly would be. Both sides have to be educated to it before social in novations are accepted.

Which just shows that the Pacific is not yet—in the words of the late Mr. Wilkie—One World.

Missed Opportunity

In Suva

“Why does not someone give Suva a highclass restaurant and dance-floor?” asks an old friend, recently in the Fiji capital.

“Apart from a little drinking and storytelling in the Grand Pacific Hotel Lounge after dinner—all very gentlemanly and ladylike— there isn’t a darned thing for any one to do in Suva in the evenings.

It’s like a tomb!”

We agree heartily—and we do not know the answer. Why does not someone establish a good restaurant and dance-floor in Suva, through which passes a steady and growing stream of traffic, from north to south, and especially between the islands east and west?

In Noumea and Papeete—which, compared with Suva, are w x ell aw r ay off the tourist traveller’s beaten tracks—there are various places where people may dine and wine and dance under very good condi tions.. and keep it up until 2 am it desired. Noumea is well equipped, m that respect—excellent food and service, and happy dancing facilities. • In , there is absolutely noth kms- Yet the demand is theie, there should be no difficulty m providing the accommodation— i^ n f®d not be within the city; and the Fiji-Indian community can pro vide first-class waiters. One of those enterprismg French restaurateurs could do very well in Suva