Authority

[?]W Move Towards

[?]Dern Controls

Fiji to Get a Port Authority

NOTHER of the slow steps towards more efficient control of Fiji’s ports has been taken. ?he Governor, in mid-December, eived a report on the subject m Mr. A. C. Clarke, general man ;r of the Auckland Harbour ard. He was commissioned by the vernor in 1956 to make the reand he inspected Fiji’s ports t February. r iji’s ports, for many decades, ve been under the control of the stoms Department. The system ved when Fiji’s shipping needs re limited; but Fiji outgrew the item long ago, and merchants aftd powners for long have been cry -5 out for greater efficiency and ire modern methods in both port itallations and the movements of ids across the wharves. >ir Ronald Garvey made the first ive towards modernisation in >5. Two years have been absorbed finding an expert to report, and getting his report, vlr. Clarke, of course, has recom mded the creation of a Port thority, to assume control of the rts of Suva and Lautoka, and to ie charge of other Fiji ports as paired.

Organisation and machinery are paired to (a) reduce the time ten up in the unloading of goods d their transfer from the wharves; i made provision that wharf sheds all not be used for indefinite >rage; (c) shorten the turn jund of ships; (d) make provision • adequate finance for both capital ;eds (installations) and the icient management of the ports.

The report makes it clear that le charges at present levied are t adequate to cover capital and erating expenditure at present y levels”. In the past, the short e has been bridged by Govern snt grant. Mr. Clarke apparently inks that port operations should self-supporting. Thus merchants

and shipowners may expect bigger charges in Suva and Lautoka.

So far,’there is only a report. This must now be studied; a plan de veloped for the creation of a branch of the Government which will pro vide a Port Authority; another plan developed for providing finance; another plan made whereunder the port organisation and installations now operated by the Customs De partment may be transferred smoothly to the new Authority; and then the whole thing must go through the Legislative Council for discussion, re-shaping where neces sary, and final approval.

It’s a slow business—but it’s pro gress. t Mr. I. R. Anderson, aged 49, Town Clerk of Otahuhu, NZ, during the past six years, has been appointed Secretary-Accountant to the Gilbert and Ellice Is. Government at Tarawa.

He was to take up his appointment in January, and was to be accom panied by his wife and two young daughters. His four sons will remain in New Zealand.

In the 1880's, when brass bands were more popular than they are to-day, this band Rotunda had a place in the social life of Papeete, Tahiti. The larger photo shows how the Rotunda looked in its youth; the smaller photo, as it is to-day, aged around 70. The Rotunda has been de clared an historic monument, but is to be moved back about 80 feet to make more room in the park.