Two Pearl-kings of the Northern Cooks

Northern Cooks

LOT of the post-war wealth of the Cook lslands has flown through the hands of these two mother-of-pearl shell barons of ! Northern Group, though in the end it has >n distributed widely amongst the many ers and assistants who win the irridescent alth from the lagoons of Manihiki and irhyn. three score years and more of gazing out oss those sun-bleached beaches and glaring oons, and perhaps some anxiety as to the ure of this industry which has had little back into it in research and development, ; graven its mark in the lines round their

;s. There is talk of i valuable Manihiki oon again being sed through 1958.

On the left, Abela lliams of Manihiki, Island Councillor for past quarter-century, Commissioner of the lh Court since 1955, I Clerk-in-Charge for iods since the death his father who held t post to 1933. He s also been Court erpreter for many irs. He put into iration the first chine diving unit in 7 following the war e close-down of the dustry. Third eration member of of the best-known them Cook Islands lilies, he has been ociated with the

shell industry at Manihiki and elsewhere all his life.

On the right is Phillip Woonton, who might be described as King of Penrhyn. Resident Agents come and go, but Phillip is always there—when he's not over at Manihiki keeping an eye on his diving teams there, too Friends say he was born aboard his father's schooner which regularly traded through the Cooks and to Auckland over half a century ago. When the American troops came to the atoll in 1942 Phillip's home was the social—and pearl trading—headquarters of Penrhyn. We can safely say that many an American woman— that crop are past the "girl" stage—is wearing a ring, brooch, or ear ornament mounted with a pearl from the Woonton collection, and many a serviceman, and peace-time visitor, recalls his hospitality.

f A NZ Civil Aviation Bureau DC3 aircraft, which had as a passenger from New Zealand, Mr. E. W.

Lascelles, officer in charge of Island Territories Dept.’s Auckland Office, was to make two charter flights from Rarotonga to Aitutaki on behalf of TEAL on December 7-8.

Photos: J. P. Shortall.