You Remember ?

From PIM of 20 Years ago

mber, 1936, Administrative

in New Guinea was be -1 d to be deplorable (as

:here was much arguing

ropo s e d airline, pri

erprise encountering the

.mount of bureaucratic

m; but all this was for

ecause, as PIM said,

r had returned to the acific with the London copra rising to over £2o— in a generation, e some other extracts from of 20 years ago: :ader appeared on the "Effect of itrol in New Guinea" and the Ad was accused of having no plan ng, directing and stimulating the normously rich resources. * * * iting copra record over the pre 'ars was published which showed the Sydney price was £l3 per ton. n and 1900, the price remained ly between £ll and £l3 per ton. it began to rise slowly and in i £22 per ton. In 1914 it was nearly £37 in 1919 and in 1920, —in terms of real money probably price copra has even been. It is ver, that the price of £l3 in good, and probably better, than 1956 price of around £6O. There antations" in those days—most of

the copra coming from native groves through South Seas traders. * * * Although more than a year had elapsed since the signing of an agreement between Pan American Airways and the New Zealand government for a trans-Pacific air service, there was no indication of when such a service would begin. PAA were objecting to a reciprocating clause which would give a British company similar landing rights in America should any British company ever desire it. * * * An American scientific party, commanded by Mr. Frederick Crockett (no relation to Davy), was on its way to Dutch New Guinea where it would "study the natives". * * * The Fiji Government's decision to introduce so-called phonetic spelling of Fijian words in official documents came under fire in the Legislative Council. A senior unofficial member introduced a motion that the Government's action was an "infringement of the Council's rights".

Under the new system such place names as Beqa were spelled Mbengga; Nadi as Nandi.

The Government, of course, refused to take any notice of the motion—and as a conse quence the two different styles of spelling per sist in the Colony to this day.

Unofficial members have been proved right in one thing, however: the newcomer to Fiji finds the phonetic style of spelling just as confusing as the old spelling. How many find it easier to pronounce "Mbengga" correctly, than they do the old-fashioned "Beqa"?