The Editors' Mailbag
p. 20 · Read in the full issue
Only Women Wear
Job's Tears
In describing the cover photo graph of February PIM, we said that the old Tari chief had a bon net trimmed with Job’s-tears. The photographer thereof, Brother J.
Delabarre, writes to correct us. They are tiny shells, he says, for in the Southern Highlands of New Guinea, Job’s-tears are strictly for females.
Which is probably appropriate enough: Br. Delabarre says that he has seen widows in this area loaded up with up to 20 lbs of Job’s-tears, strung as necklaces. (Job’s-tears, as PIM understands it, are small seeds of an unexciting greyish colour, used all over the SW Pacific for native decoration).
The Family of
Goedicke van Asten
The PlM’s plea for information about the origin of Count Goedicke van Asten (formerly a resident of Tonga, who died in Auckland last year, aged 91), brought an interest ing letter from Mr. Ferdinand von Schwedler, a resident of Denville, New Jersey, USA, and a notable genealogist.
We suspected that Mr. Goedicke (he inherited the Dutch title of Count van Asten only a few years ago) was of royal blood, because he spent much of his childhood with the Hohenzollern family, and long maintained a correspondence with the ex-Kaiser and his sons.
But Mr. von Schwedler says Mr.
Goedicke was the son of aJ3 man pastor; and that his bnc John Goedicke, who also w pastor, was a year younger, am born in Thuringia on Augun 1865. There appear to haves' a number of old Goedicke fae" in this part of Germany.
Mr. von Schwedler has but he cannot find any I titled van Asten family amorr. records of Holland and thath of Germany near The Nethen But there are a few areas Asten ,and a minor titled 1 might have its origin there.
A Government of
One's Own
A Territorian from far-off T says that he is looking forwsv seeing PlM’s reaction to “thisai ness of Local Government!: towns in Papua-New Guinea..: He says also that it is ne: him that Mr. Jack Winders isi sidered a local government © as he remembers him as a waie clerk in the Rationing Commm He comments sourly thattjs Queensland Labour Govern; must have more experts ttf square foot than any other t on earth, and so far as he pq ally is concerned, local govern; for P-NG is fantastic. (Mr. Winders was time ago by the P-NG Ad:b tration, to survey the Territono advise whether local govern were feasible. His report h;ri cently been released to the puq see elsewhere this issue—andbi ister for Territories Haslucfefc sequently announced that reao of P-NG, native and oth«ri would be given a chance too] their views.
In arriving at any opinion local government for P-NG, oio to take into consideration a nn of conflicting facts, two of theri important of which are; • No individual Territorian w ing to want local government is going to cost him cold caswa of course, it will, through rat • On the other hand, TerritY who now complain that they le no voice in the Government of \ realise that they are never r to have it until they show c selves ready to assume some fimf responsibility by conducting own Town Councils.
Darwin will elect its first !< Council (Mayor and 12 Counon at the end of June. Accordbi Mr. Hasluck, the people of II have “demonstrated their w ness and capacity to undertaed management of their civic a;e With this fine example o thusiasm before them, surely cd of Port Moresby will not ! themselves to be of lesser fibric the Darwinians!