[?]ught-Stricken Cooks

[?]ter Rationing In [?]ught-Stricken Cooks

3 crazy-weather pattern ex erienced in the Pacific in the ist 12 months has extended to lorthern Cooks. the 7 months up to the end ;ptember very little rain had on the northern atolls. At hiki and Rakahanga, drinking was rationed at a daily allow of 4 gallons per family and tained from the Administra anks. Brackish well water was for laundering and bathing ises.

Rakahanga, in mid-September, were only 2,500 gallons of ing water left. The fish pond, i contains the prolific breed ’ilapia Mossambica, introduced r. Van Pel, fisheries officer of

the SPC, was very shallow and registered 105 deg. Fahr. The fish which are not supposed to be able to survive at a water temperature of over 90 deg., were still alive, with the exception of a few dead found at the edges of the pond.

Rainfall figures for the northern islands are incomplete and appear is vary greatly at different atolls.

From May to August, inclusive, Pukapuka received 20.90 inches; but during the same period only 9.14 inches fell at Palmerston. Penrhyn and Suwarrow are also suffering from scarcity of drinking water, but at most of these islands sufficient water for laundering and bathing is obtained from the wells. —W H P

t Mr. R. W. Paine, who was formerly entomologist in Fiji, and who has been living in Scotland for the last 20 years, visited the Colony again last on a contract appoint ment to iind a parasite for the banana scab moth. He left for P-NG after three weeks in Fii, and pro poses to spend 12 to 18 months in the Territory investigating scab moth parasites and parasites for coconut pests. t Rima Kurariki, 26, found guilty of the murder of Mrs. Eiao Browne, at Rarotonga, in mid-September and sentenced to death at Rarotonga late October has been granted leave to appeal.