Do You Remember?
p. 89 · Read in the full issue
From PIM of 20 Years ago
In the Pacific in November, 1938, the news was concerned with small, but significant, events —Burns Philp’s new Bidolo had arrived from England for the Australia-New Guinea run; a radio transmitter on Pitcairn seemed to be working well; Fiji and Samoa were importing beetles as enemies of the common house fly.
The news from New Guinea looked bad —as this editorial summing up showed: “All NG commercial interests are in a state of suspended animation, awaiting a four-months-overdue decision about the site of the new capital and the Morobe road; Germany is carrying on a fierce, insistent demand for the return of her colonies, among which NG is listed as among the richest undeveloped tropical territories in the world; landhungry Japanese are snooping around its northern borders, placing upon Australia a clear obligation to develop and defend the Terri tory; public meetings are being held all over NG by exasperated residents wanting a clear-cut announcement of policy in re lation to the future of the Territory.” * * * From Samarang. in Dutch NG, came a report that oil had been found after drill ing to only 120 ft. * * ♦ Port Moresby’s Hotel Moresby. or “Bottom Pub”, was officially opened for business in mid-November. * * * Tahiti began a pineapple canning fac tory, operated by the Societe Industrielle Agricole de Tahiti. There were hopes that
the new industry would be “a deciding factor in the future welfare of these islands”. * * * In Fiji they were reporting that Viti Levu now had a road that went right around the island, but the postal system was still ‘‘hopelessly inefficient”, ‘‘lt still takes practically a week to send a letter from Suva to Lautoka and get an answer,” said a correspondent.
West Samoa was busily being “horrified” at the recent re-election of a Labour Government in NZ—and the Cooks and Niue also regarded the re-election as a “calamity”. West Samoa was still rank ling over the fact that it had lost its Chinese labourers—repatriated following a visit by a Government mission. * * ♦ Mr. F. T. Goedicke, writing from Haapai, Tonga, said the Foa islanders, of Haapai, were undergoing a food short age. The trouble was, he claimed, that Foa, with an area of five square miles and a population of 900, had to support 15 churches, six ministers and 88 lay preachers, and “thus I am afraid our natives work too much in God’s vineyard and too little in their own yam patches .