Tropicalities

Magazine Section

Ople In Glasshouses . . .

HE party held in Rarotonga for residents leaving for New Zea land was in full swing with the sicians competing with the ghter and noisy talk. Suddenly hail of stones and small rocks shed on the iron roof, bringing udden silence. lore rocks smashed on the roof, I some of the guests rushed out t to try and catch the hooligans 5 were causing the disturbance, jody was seen, so the police were >ned for, while rocks continued rain on the roof.

Ine guest sneaked outside, and h low cunning, hid in the bushes f waited for one of the rock ,vers to put in an appearance, lore stones hit the roof, and the aching guest saw a figure Iking in the shadows. He grabbed tone and hurled it at the figure, ling happily as an angry yell Icated that his aim was good, de le the whisky he had consumed, [is glee changed to consternation hi the man rushed over and tied out to be an irate policeman t promptly arrested him for pwing stones.— W.H.P.

Refrigerant

IE education of children in far [flung outposts of the Empire is always a bit of a problem and respondence courses, supervised parents are often used here in Territory of Papua-New Guinea, •n one such outpost, Daddy was ing an emergency order for rt-shipped kerosene, when mmy and his two Hopefuls ived. The Hopefuls, aged six and r, looked over his shoulder to cl the typed words. Both were ked by the long word until mmy said: “Come on. You must •w that word. What does Daddy in the Fridge every night?” ;ir little faces lit up with joyous wledge and both answered at e; “Beer.”— DAIKA.

Dn Two Wheels To The

Highlands

a recent issue of the PIM you stated that vehicles making the trip from Lae to the New Guinea hlands seemed to be getting iller all the time until the “baby” kswagen did the trip, ow a vehicle even smaller has done last week I did the trip by motor le, a BSA Bantam. I left Lae at i a.m. on Saturday, October 27,

slept at Kainantu that night and reached Chauve, about 45 miles west of Goroka, about 3 p.m. next day, the distance from Lae being about 240 miles.

I took my time going back, having a holiday, and arrived back in Lae early afternoon Sunday, November 4, having covered about 520 miles.

Fortunately, the weather and roads were dry all the way and I found the trip very interesting, except for the Markham Valley, which is very dusty, hot and dreary.

Mine was the first motor-cycle to go through from Lae to Goroka; and in fact I was one of a party of four motor-cyclists, just two years ago, who were the first to do the trip from Lae to Kaiapit on two wheels.

Assistance is needed to cross two big rivers in the Markham Valley; Mr. Bill Robertson supplied natives to carry the bike across the Leron; then Mr. Haviland, Patrol Officer in-Charge at Kaiapit, organised village natives to help with the

crossing of the Umi. All streams on the main roads in the High land have bridges.

The people who live up there have many travellers passing through, and my holiday was made possible only by the ever-willing hospitality of these folk. °n my way back I met at Kamantu, Mr. Noel Butler, of the Commonwealth Department of Works, on his way up on a big Harley Davidson motor-bike. He had left several days after I did and was having a holiday along the

way.-

Don Barnes.

Slips That Pass . . .

WE all know that the Navy’s drink is rum when they “Splice the Mainbrace,” and that junior Naval officers drink gin because it’s cheaper. But the mental vision of Sir William Slim —a hardy old soldier—standing on the sidelines “ginning” is a bit too much.

Anyhow this is what the South Pacific Post’s columnist had him doing in the issue of November 14.

It was obviously off-beat on this occasion. More so when it went on to say, “The Admiral probably re garded such candour as strange but darned refreshing.”

We find it hard to swallow. —A PM Correspondent. (This intriguing item had us dashing to our copy of the Post in quick time to see what Sir William really was doing. It happens to the

Battle of

the Churches

One of the "most churched" landscapes in the world surely must be Western Samoa, where village prestige is reckoned on the com parative magnificence of the village church.

This £30,000 edifice was recently completed in the village of Falelatai (pop. 1,200).

It will seat 1,000 and probably puts Falelatai somewhere near the top of the competition for the time being.

Photo: R. F. Rankin.

best of us, at times, what the Reader’s Digest calls “slips that pass in the type.” The story concerned a local man who visited the Britannia while she was in Moresby. He hob nobbed with an Admiral and a Field-Marshal while there and told them what he thought of their Eng lish beer—while “Sir William Slim stood on the sidelines ginning.”

Pardon, Sir William—did you grin?

—Ed. Pim).

Language Of Colours

WHAT happens in Africa to-day, could well happen in the Pacific tomorrow. We were therefore interested in receiving lately from a Gold Coast friend (native) the copy of their propaganda, or information, sheet that carried in full colour the new flag of the new nation of Ghana—which the Gold Coast will be called when it receives independ ence in March next year.

The flag is in horizontal stripes of red, gold and dark green, with a black five-pointed star superimposed in the centre. It is stated that the red stripe commemorates those who worked for the independence of Ghana;. the gold represents the wealth of the country (a cocoa bean, rampant, might have done it more accurately); and the green, the forests and farms of Ghana.

The black star represents the “lode star of African freedom.”

We do not know upon what exact science this interpretation of colours is based—but for us, we’ll stick to old Dr. Schultzenheimer’s book on The Interpretation of Dreams.

POP” JOHNSON, of the British Solomons, now smokes the pipe of peace. He was born in 1878 at Wandsworth, Surrey, and, accepting the Queen's shilling, joined the regular British Army in 1896. After serving throughout the Boer War in the Field Artillery, and seeing no chance of advancement in the Army or in England, he retired with the rank of Sergeant and set out for the Pacific.

In 1904 he arrived in the New Hebrides with a friend, Sarginson, and engaged in trading for a few years. After the Condominium ad ministration was established "Pop” joined the British service as Inspector of Labour, and acted at intervals as Commandant of Police.

In 1911 he married Miss Cronstedt of Mele, becoming the father of three daughters, one of whom is now Mrs. John Lotze of Honiara.

While living in Vila he got to know Fletcher, who wrote "Isles of Illusion", and Edward Jacomb, who wrote three books on the Con dominium. The three men left the New Hebrides together in 1919, Fletcher to resume school teaching in England, and Jacomb to get a medical degree there.

"Pop" was transferred to the Solomons, as "Frederick England Johnson, APIA, Treasurer and Collector of Customs"; he became quite an institution there. He was made a member of the Advisory Council in 1927, and was awarded the ISO in 1932. He was Acting Resident Commissioner for periods in 1938, 1939 and 1941. During the war he was in Sydney, holding the fort and keeping the books

for the BSIP. After the war he made i visit to the Solomons before retiring in at the respectable age of 69, with the faction of long years of good service.—

Hilder