hake-Up

Pacific Report

The month’s round-up of news and pictures of people and vents, from PIM correspondents in the South Pacific.

lokwari Gets

hake-Up

me minor damage was done to iings and installations in the okwari area, northern Nether s New Guinea, which experienced vere earthquake on March 2. le earthquake was registered as away as New York’s Fordham rersity observatory, ockery and glassware and lar objects toppled and were en in the town area, and part le town’s electricity supply was Iced out due to short circuits, le sheet-piling of the new small s’ landing stage was bent 12 es out of alignment, and the nd behind it showed cracks. The tremor occurred at 1.22 a.m. lasted three minutes; it was wed by several others of less isity. acks occurred in the local air i; shops and office buildings i slightly damaged.

ts More to Airmail

ers in BSIP

rmail postage on letters from British Solomon Islands Pro late to overseas destinations been increased—by Id per half ;e to Australia, P-NG, New Zea and other nearby territories; d to the United Kingdom, and o the United States. The local Msland airmail charge is now Instead of the former Id per ounce. (This makes postage to iralia and P-NG, 1/3; NZ, 1/6;

3/9; Usa, 3/8).

srogrammes have increased by to 9d). ircels go up, too. To Australia t was previously 8d for the first .nd 6d for each additional lb, now be; Up to 3 lbs, 3/4; 3 r lbs, 7/4; 7 lbs-11 lbs, 11/4. has been stated that the bump s necessary to take care of Aus an terminal charges. Could be, ough there has been no increase lustralia recently, irface mail has gone up, too. lin the British Commonwealth, increased id for the first ounce king it 3d); and for foreign,

. . _, +v? e nc £ ease 18 from 5d to 7d for the first ounce.

Inter-BSIP radio telephone calls are more: Up 2/- to 7/- for a 3minute call, each additional minute now 2/4.

Only people to benefit from the new order are local shipowners who were previously obliged to carry mail free within the Protectorate. They will now get 2/- per bag carried, which is little enough.

Says PlM’s Honiara correspondent: “The increases did not altogether

come as a surprise as, since the salaries revision last year, the Gov ernment has been conducting in vestigations into all services rend ered, in an effort to find ways of increasing revenue.”

W. Samoa Strikes A

Blow for New Harbour

A real harbour for Apia, Western Samoa, talked about for years, is £510,300 nearer reality. The Legis lative Assembly, in its current session voted that amount for the purpose of a preliminary engineer ing survey of harbour development in the two main islands of Savaii and Upolo, and particularly for a deep-water wharf for Apia.

A deep water harbour is con sidered part of the necessary economic development of Western Samoa and has become more urgent from year to year, particularly with the recent remarkable increase in banana exports.

The proposal to undertake an engineering survey was submitted to the Assembly beginning of 1958, but was at the time defeated owing

This slipway at Monokwari, Netherlands New Guinea, did not suffer any sever damage in Manokwari's recent earthquake (see above). The slipway can take vessels up to 3,500 Tons, says our Hollandia correspondent, Which makes it (unless there has been a slip of the type- Writer somewhere) quite the biggest thing of its kind in the South Pacific Islands. Most islands slipways can accommodate vessels of up to 300 tons, but 3,000-tonners are really getting into the big stuff. in 1958 and 1958 several small-ships from NNG went to Madang, NG, for slipping, but we have not heard of any going recently so doubtless our correspondent's figures on Manokwari are correct. Shown on the slip here is the Netherlands Royal Navy

he precarious financial position ihe Samoan Government.

iy Take Their

k—Dutch or Malay

ie Government of Netherlands Guinea has installed equip t in the Hollandia Advisory ncil meeting place to permit of intaneous translation from :h to Malay for the benefit of six native members of the ncil. is the same method used in the ;ed Nations sessions and other [•national meetings. . ve of the six native members jrstand Dutch, but can more y follow discussions in Malay, Lingua Franca for the people g the northern coastal regions, ie natives use earphones, con ed with an amplifier, into which the translator’s microphone Is ged. While debating, the words translated instantaneously in iy. ie job, which requires a perfect nand of both Dutch and Malay, one by Mr. P. J. Merkelijn, of Bureau of Native Information ollandia.

Coming South or

fbe Heading North

» one knows which way it’s [ing, the Thing they have in Moresby at the moment, but as been identified as a virus, ns of sufferers are currently be treated in and out of hospital ort Moresby. has symptoms like a mixture severe influenza and dengue *, it begins with loss of tite followed by pains in the des, and Port Moresby Health . officials think that it might ; from one of the new “echo viruses” which have been :ified in Biak and Hollandia in erlands New Guinea. x>d tests from the Territory’s ms have been sent to Australia identification.. e recorded incidence of the se suggests that it was probably ght from Hollandia by aircraft ie, and then on to Rabaul then ;s to Port Moresby. It could id to Australia, then again, rding to the experts, it could come from there.

ier Control in

us Industry

ro official notices issued by the ; Islands Department of Agri ire recently indicate a drive for jher standard of export oranges a firmer action against owners lots, who fail to control pests diseases, ie notice urged growers to be

most careful in packing only mature oranges. The Department intends to keep a close watch on exporters and will insist on this requirement to establish a good name on the New Zealand market.

The other notice noted that plots which were ill-cared for were breed ing places for pests which attacked adjoining well-tended Scheme plots.

The cost of spraying the latter could be cut by half, it was esti mated, if the untended plots were also regularly sprayed. At the pre sent time it was costing plot owners £4l per year to carry out the neces sary spraying of a standard sized 90-tree plot. While some growers

were doing the necessary spraying others were not because they do' not believe in it, do not want to believe in it, cannot be bothered, or can not afford it, according to the notice.

For people in the latter category the Department was endeavouring to arrange loans, but for others they intend arranging some legal inter vention under the powers provided in the Fruit Regulations 1954 which have not always been fully enforced in the past. At the present time there is no prospect of eradicating certain pests, but with the full co operation of all growers this situa tion may be changed. (Over)

en Sukuna Was a

Jat de France

>ituary notices last year on the h of leading Fijian, Ratu Sir Sukuna, barely mentioned his ce with the French Army dur- World War 11, although a iat de France” article in a ,ch newspaper after that war, fuller details than seem to be able from British sources, e article says that Ratu Sukuna in Paris when war broke out ugust, 1914. He had left Oxford ersity a month earlier intend ;o study French, and was doing •urse at the Sorbonne at the war was declared, at once returned to England made all the demarches possible Din up there, without success, e returned to France and pre id himself at the recruiting 3 at Les Invalides, Paris, joined the Foreign Legion, and a brief period of training at Darracks at Reuilly, went to the : with the 2nd Regiment de ;he.

May and June, 1915, he was le trenches near Arras, a part le line soon to be taken over he British, and he took part le fighting around Carency. r a while his regiment was with irmy Corps commanded by one id General de Castelnau. His >any was led by a gallant jr named Captain Leroy, e regiment next went south to >rt, then to Thann, and then returned to Champagne, where were rejoined by the captain had recovered from his wounds, t Ratu Sukuna in turn was ided. Fighting at Souain he re d wounds in the head and ;; these kept him out of action

for many months, which he spent at the Pre des Clercs hospital in Lyons.

But when he was ready and anxious to rejoin his regiment, the British Foreign Office intervened.

The Fiji Labour Battalion was be ing organised and London wanted him to help in its formation. So Rata Sukuna went back to Fiji, but returned to Europe with his country men, landing at Calais in July, 1916.

The French cutting of the old article, uncovered last month in Sydney, says that he asked to be allowed to rejoin the Foreign Legion, but was unable to obtain satisfac tion, and remained with the English for the rest of the war.

When peace came he went back to Oxford to take his law degree, and then returned to Fiji. The sug gestion was made that he should be given the Croix de Guerre “since France had a duty to recognise the service of this noble Fijian.” (He was awarded the Medaille Militaire).

They've Got TV

On Midway Now

Midway Island, in the North Pacific, now has a TV station, according to the US Armed Forces Radio and Television Service, which operates similar stations at Eni wetok, Okinawa, Guam, and many other military posts outside the Pacific. .

The new Midway station, operated by the US Navy, is one of a new push-button type developed for military entertainment purposes.

The units cost $15,000 to produce and have a power output of 100 watts and a very limited normal range. , .

Units of the same type will be m stalled at other US military stations overseas.

£l7 Millions Spent in

Year by P-NG

The total expenditure by the Ad ministration of Papua and New Guinea in the year 1957-58 was £15,516,000, including £3,479,000 on capital works and services and £1,446,000 on maintenance of works and services, according to a state ment in the Australian Parliament.

The Commonwealth grant pro vided £11,283,470 and the balance of £4,222,530 came from local sources of revenue.

In the same period, the Common wealth Departments of Civil Aviation, Works, Interior and National De

velopment spent approximately

£1,400,000, of which £500,000 was on capital works.

Exports in the same year were worth £12,404,100, and imports £20,238,770. , The estimated population as at June 30, 1958, included 1,804,790

[?]a —as he was with the Fiji Military Forces.

genes; 23,628 Europeans, Asians others; total, 1,828,418. d accurate estimate of popula in, say, 20 years’ time, can be e, mainly because of lack of c data and the limited area in ;h population trends have been rved, but an increase is expected. : the total land area of the itory of 117,465,600 acres, only 1,686 acres have been alienated Administration use, European ement and other purposes, leav -114,228,914 acres of native ed land, is estimated that about 15 cent, of this land (or about )0,000 acres) is arable, but be le of the shifting agricultural iods followed by the natives it »t possible to estimate how much his arable land is unused and lable for native settlement.

Flies "Almost

und The World"

ihiti’s position in the Pacific as ourist attraction, mainly for iricans, was further emphasised larch when Mr. E. Wallut, the esentative in Fiji and Tahiti for French airline Transports •ie n s Intercontinentaux an iced a new air service from iti to the United States, via olulu. r. Wallut, who is stationed at i, said that until the airport at jete is completed in about two s time the service would land Bora Bora. Connection with jete would be made as at pre

flyingbboafndrmgham four ‘ en g ined

service TvJ 1 have ,s

frm pi uiTLS 6 wO - ld irom fans, ihe present service tp?mi^ r tS Ce f fl Tf S th £ ough Nadi and t6 nm? nates -2? Bora ? ora - Tins rapidly growing French air- Ime is beginning to cash in on the tlfr I pac?fic a toS?fs 1 t t fast gettine biLer and bilir fast g 11 g Dlgger and bl gger. ■ if c c „

W. Jdmod Joiis

x~ iai~-x r

LOpra TO West uermany

T . , Western Samoa copra prices went up in March, and for the first time the local Copra Board sold a small

consignment to Western Germany, , °, f the estimated 1959 copra pro duction> 7.000 tons are under con tract to Unilever UK and *?nnn tons under contract to New Zealand.

This leaves an estimated 2,000 tons uncommitted and available for sale on the open market. -J he P r °spects for 1959 are con fidered very good but efforts must oe maintained to produce only good quality copra.

The Board recently expressed it self in favour of strengthening the copra stabilisation fund to meet the possibility of a drop in the copra price; of an intensification of the rhinoceros beetle campaign; and of replanting and new cultivation of

mt trees as the present planta are far too old and well past mum yield. 3 Copra Stabilisation Board has )00 invested in New Zealand ng an interest of £12,387 a The amount available for in lent from the year 1958 is 18. The 1958 net profit was 16/14/-. pra production in 1958 had led to 9,683 tons from 11,964 in and 17,154 in 1956, due purely w prices. ces paid by the board were ased in March by £S6/3/2 per (old price £S6I/2/6 per ton Apia), as a result of a new it agreement with the Bank some time ago. (Bankline it rates for carrying copra be i most Pacific Islands and pe were dropped from 13/10/- per ton £Stg.B per The Samoan rise in f.o.b. copra is partly attributable to the prices that have carried into Tew Year.

a Busy Life

Whales and Whalers

3 Antarctic whaling season, i opened on January 7, closed arch 16 and when this is read, eets, like the surviving whales, >e heading north, is north movement of the 3s is the signal for the opening tie Australia-Norfolk Island- Zealand season. The Norfolk d and Byron Bay Whaling Co., i has purchased the two-year nsuccessful whaling station at t Barrier Island, near Auck- NZ, will commence operations on May 1 when the season illy opens. >ults will be watched with in ; from Fiji, where whaling ties have been under survey le past three years, it score reached by the former rs of this New Zealand station 10 whales per season, but the owners will be using two ional chasers, still building at n.

Last year the full quota of 120 whales was taken at Norfolk Island —and the quota has now been raised there to 150 whales.

No quota is fixed for the Great Barrier Island station and no limit will be set by the authorities on the catch for this season at least.

The northern run, when the whales are fattest, usually ends about mid-July. There is a lull then until early September when the whales head south again from the tropics, in poorer condition now and accompanied by the calves which were born in the warmer waters. No female with calf may be killed.

The southbound whales will all have passed this station by the end of October when the official season closes, and those that have escaped the harpoons en route will be left in peace until the Antarctic season opens again early in January, 1960.

P-NG Loses Another

Top Public Servant

One of the people who won’t be caring whether they get income taxation in Papua-New Guinea or not, is Steven Ainsworth Lonergan— Steve to most old Territorians —who this month retires from the post of P-NG Director of Civil Affairs.

Mr. Lonergan has been a Terri torian for 36 years, a period that contained two stretches of peace

and one of war (1942-45, when he served with the rank of Lieut- Colonel).

He was born in Hobart 60 years ago, served in the First War, 1914-20. with a period at the end as Officer in-Charge of the Repatriation Trades School at Launceston. He went to the Mandated Territory in 1923 to join the New Guinea Public Service, and by 1940 was Assistant Government Secretary.

He went back to the new Terri tory of Papua-New Guinea at the end of 1945 in the same job. In 1949 he became Acting Government Secretary, and in 1951 his appoint ment was confirmed. When P-NG Government Depts. were reorganised, he became Director of Civil Affairs, which is a new name for Gov, Sec.

Some people thought that he would go even further than he did, but the story is that in recent years he managed to displease some of Canberra’s Czars. A couple of high executive posts seemed to be ready made for Steve Lonergan, but he was passed over. That is the way life goes, in the P-NG Public Service.

He married, in 1929, Miss Irene Mitchell, of Norfolk Island, who also has become a well-known Terri torial Steve Lonergan is a quiet, unassuming man, with a dry wit and a modest manner—which latter was sorely tried at the end of the March meeting of the Legislative Council when every member got up and sang his praises. As one local reporter put it: He fiddled with his pencils for half an hour while he listened self-consciously.

The Giant Snails

Have Nearly Had It

Planters in the Gazelle Peninsula district of New Britain reckon that Senior Agronomist Leon Bridgland, of the P-NG Department of Agri culture, should get an OBE for his work in removing the menace from the giant snail pest.

The Japs introduced the giant snails into New Guinea during the war, and when planters returned to their overgrown plantations after it, they found these voracious pests an added cross to bear.

They ate everything in its young

Mr. S. A. Loner gan, retiring after 36 years in Papua- New Guinea.

and succulent stage, including youi cocoa trees and kitchen-garden and after rain they swarmed o in millions over the roads to crunched under the wheels trucks and cars. Today you scarce; ever see a giant snail on the roas round Rabaul, crushed or u i crushed, and the efforts of U Bridgland and his boys have virtt ally administered the coup de grcn to those on plantations.

Mr. Bridgland’s formula is a coc conction of tepol, mataldehyde an Flintcote ( a proprietory bituminoc preparation used to spray td undersides of motor vehicles).

Strips of cardboard, about foe inches wide and as long as require are dipped into this brew and whd impregnated they are dried ox* They look something like brai linings. They are then placed ♦ the ground and the ends fastem together to form a small fenr around the seedling tree or gard'J plant.

The Flintcote presumably pn tects the strips from the weathu and the mataldehyde first attrao the snails then kills them. Mataldt hyde is an ingredient in those con mercial snail-baits that look liJ green sawdust and are popular wii home gardeners. This type of sna;j bait is effective against giant snaj also; but it is expensive and areas of high rainfall has to be n newed constantly.

Mr.. Bridgland recently attend*! a cocoa conference in Acer Ghana, and on the way there as tended another agricultural confe ence in Suva, Fiji.

W. Samoa's Bank

Begins Functioning

The new Bank of Western Samo which began functioning on April J has two directors appointed local and three appointed by the Bar of New Zealand.

The two local directors were a:j nounced in Apia in mid-March ai are the Hon. Tupa Tamasese, OB J and Mr. J. B. Fonoti, well knov Apia merchant. Mr. Fonoti’s appoim ment is for three years but Hi}J Chief Tamasese’s term of office for 18 months to fit in with const; tutional developments, as he is member of the Council of State.

The three directors appointed the Bank of New Zealand—of whid the new Bank of Western Samoa . a development—are Messrs. J. Gri© son, R. D. Moore and J. Halligan.

They Won't Be Short

Of Pillows

It was the biggest wedding in tid history of Aitutaki Island, in tld Cooks Practically the whole isl a n (population 2,450) assisted in pn paring the wedding feast, whiii

rised 217 pigs, 205 chickens, goats and one bull. ; bridegroom was Joseph an, son of Mr. and Mrs. John an, of Mangaia Island, and the Mikara Abera, daughter of • of Matavera, Rarotonga, sr the ceremony and feast, a i was held at night in the Islands Administration pack led near Arutanga jetty, ts to the newly-weds included: lats, 21 patchwork quilts, nine ipreads, 99 singlets, 515 kapok r s, more than 1,000 lengths of materials, one live calf and ive pig.

Methodist Mission

I Takes Over

‘ new Chairman of the BSIP Ddist Mission, the Rev. George arter, has arrived with Mrs. r and their four children at ia. and Mrs. Carter have been ng with the Mission in Bougain for the last ten years, most t period at Teop. Both Mr. and Darter are trained teachers and er tr aining has been one of their il concerns during their years ugainville. Mr. Carter has also a good deal of translation in the Teop language and re r the British and Foreign Society published the Gospel irk in that tongue.

Carter made his first visit to Protectorate during the war he served with the RNZAF :al service on Guadalcanal for e. He was ten months with a riill unit, located opposite the Lean army hospital which be e Honiara’s first post-war tal.

Carter will attend the SPC jrence in Rabaul in April as

an observer on behalf of the Com mission on Overseas Missions and of the National Council of Churches of New Zealand.

Tarawa Deaths

By Misadventure

Two people died by electrocution at Betio, Tarawa, recently in un usual circumstances.

When the telephone at the home of the Electrical Superintendent be gan to ring continuously late on a dark windy night, he received a severe shock on picking up the re ceiver. He realised that there must

be a power line down across the for *the power have the power cut off.

But before he could reach there, Miss Noema Levita, one of two girls walking along the road in the dark, walked into a fallen wire and was electrocuted. The other girl, not realising what had happened, called for asistance and the first person on the scene, Mr. Tirae Roboam, father of four children, also walked in to the wire and was killed. At this point the Superintendent arrived on the scene and the power was then quickly cut off.

An examination showed that a power line had come down across the telephone line at a point where the power line’s insulation had been damaged. Even this would not have caused the fatality, but 250 yards along the road the telephone line bad also come down, and it was this wire, now electrified, which the two people had contacted. The breakages had apparently been caused bv falling coconut fronds.

As a result of an inquiry it was found that many private radio aerials ° ve^ tonrevmtdmUar

?i,SSS?L remoVea t 0 prevent similar

iragea es. . a

Developing A

"NG Menace"

A “serious potential menace” was developing in Papua-New Guinea through the large number of native schoolchildren not attending schools.

Rev DEI. Ure told the P-NG Legis lative Council in March, He said scores of children around Port Moresby were receiving no education. In time these children

resent most bitterly not hav hat Europeans regarded as a Ure said that in about 15 a menace would develop when children became aware that lad missed so much. He asked nvestigation be made into the tion of these children.

JNG Expedition

Under Way

at things are hoped from the pedition that gets under way s Star Mountains region of 'lands New Guinea this month, the end of March, the two s (Dr. L. D. Brongersma, ific, and Commander G. .F. la, technical) were in idia and by April 9 all 70 ers of the expedition were ex i to be in the Sibil Valley, to go. airstrip, to take twin-engined Pioneer planes, was corn last year and in the last reeks before the main party 1, the base-camp nearby was sy as an ant’s nest. A huge • barracks has been built and etc., have been erected.

Dutch freighter Musi Lloyd I about 23 tons of equipment landia in mid-March and this, ither cargo, was later trans d to Tenah Merah on the River. From there small craft will take the stores and nent a further 60 miles up 7 er to a point where East and Digoel Rivers form one main i. From this depot the cargo inish the trip to the Sibil in two Bell helicopters, expeditions’s equipment in everything from food to

trade goods; from Geiger-counters to mosquito-nets. One item is 1,200 litres of 96 per cent, alcohol. But it is for preserving specimens—not to drink.

The region that the expedition will explore is not large, but it makes up for that in ruggedness.

The distance between the Sibil Valley and the 15,000-ft high Antares Tops, on the border between Netherlands and Australian New Guineas, is no more than 16 miles, yet the expedition expects to spend six months in the locality at a cost of £A117,650.

Twenty Dutch Marines and 20 native police will provide cover for the main party as the area is still uncontrolled.

Apart from geologists and mining engineers there are anthropologists, a linguist, zoologists and biologists.

There are three pilots and two mechanics for the two helicopters.

A staff-writer and a photo grapher of Time-Life will cover part of the expedition.

It is anticipated that apart from new animals and plants, nickel, cobalt, wolfram and alluvial gold will probably be found.

In Netherlands New Guinea, a special stamp, marking the start of the big expedition, will be issued on April 10.

First Electric

Retro! Pumps

Mr. Harry Hazelwinkle, previously manager of the BSI Trading Cor poration’s garage, Honiara has taken over the workshop and allied facilities from the Corporation, and commenced trading on his own account under the name of Solomons Motors.

At present the garage is situ ated “down town”, but Mr. Haze winkle has leased land in the busi ness area on Mendana Avenue, and building of a modern service station, incorporating a showroom for car display, has already started there.

It will feature the first electric petrol pumps in the Protectorate.

Mr. Hazewinkle has been in the Solomons since before the war, when he was Lever’s Chief Engineer on the Kurimarau.

Bishop and Anthropologist

Share Outpost Drama

The Bishop of Melanesia (the Rt.

Rev. A. T. Hill) returned to his headquarters in the British Solomons in February after almost a year’s absence in the United Kingdom

five Sibil Valley natives, close to the Star Mountains of NNG, in March watch a Twin [?]er aircraft take off with a party attached to the big Star Mountains expedition. See story below.

and New Zealand—and by getti back when he did, probably saj the life of an American anthr pologist, Dr. W. Davenport, who t seriously ill at Graciosa Bay, Sa:j Cruz.

On his way home, Bishop I visited mission stations in the N Herides, Banks and Torres grox and just happened to call in, in Mission vessel Southern Cross, , Graciosa Bay. After his lo< absence he did not know that Devenport and his wife were Santa Cruz, but before the Sc had anchored, the headman £ gone out in a canoe to tell Bishop that Dr. Davenport was t conscious.

The Bishop took the anthr pologist and his wife on board i mediately and sailed to Kira K: where they were met by the CM Medical Officer of the Protecton and a sister from the Honii hospital.

The Davenports went to Saj about last November and I been in regular radio communii tion with Honiara until the rar bioke down. Early in February, Davenport developed a bad ath of malaria and had been seriou ill for two weeks before the arri of the Southern Cross. When was admitted to the Central H pital, Honiara, he was found to< suffering from pneumonia as w He has now recovered.

Bulk Fuel (Maybe)

For W. Samoa

An application has been made? the Shell Company (Pacific Islam Ltd. for permission to install a b: fuel installation in Apia, W Samoa, and invest in a capital penditure programme for that p: pose.

The project is to include handling of diesel fuel which shoe result in savings in fuel costs local launch owners and cheas freight and passenger rates.

Later additional facilities wa be erected for petrol, resulting: reductions of freight and passen charges for motor vehicles.

The Company is negotiating w the Western Samoa Trust Ests Corporation for an area of land Sogi, Apia. This area should even ally be declared an industrial Zk and would fit in with other devell ment plans.

The other major oil comp;' operating in Samoa, the Vacui; Oil Co. Pty. Ltd., is also consider! bulk fuel installations in Apia.

Honiara, Too, to Get

Bulk Petroleum

The Shell Company, which is c< sidering bulk fuel installations; Apia, Western Samoa, has alres; decided to build a bulk stom depot at Honiara, BSIP.

ee 25,000-gallon tanks will be at the Shell Co.’s present site lint Cruz; two tanks will be for dieseline and one for . They will be supplied from nstallations at Rabaul. re will be a bowser-type fill 3rvice for ships right at the and a road tanker will be or distribution in the Honiara To date all fuel has been ed to Honiara in drums.

i Storm News

Cook Is.

ther news of the three tropical s which passed through the i-Cooks-French Polynesia i January-February have been g in. The first of these de ans originated near Suwarrow passed south-east, causing weather in French Polynesia, second originated between liki and Pukapuka in the ern Cooks, moved first across is Samoa then backed south s close to Palmerston atoll and jh the Southern Cooks.

Palmerston, where the wind usting to 50 mph, heavy seas ?ed boat sheds, copra driers, ither builuings. One man lost is in the blow, as well as many ned coconuts. About 500 coco »alms were blown down and breadfruit trees destroyed or damaged. itaki, next in line, described Dlow as the worst for some Damage was mainly confined unches, canoes and whale though some native and ean-type houses lost their

roofs. Damage was worst on the west side of the island.

Atiu reported the storm as the worst since 1936. The cargo boat launching ramps at Taunganui and lotua-Iku landings were demolished, serious damage was caused to the roof of the LMS church. Planta tions, especially bananas, suffered badly.

The storm which caused all the damage at the Manua Islands and Niue did not pass through the main Cook Group but moved south from Niue,

And Niue Takes

Stock of its Damage

Meanwhile, in late April, little Niue was still taking stock of hurri cane damage—and noting, with a feeling of warmth towards fellow man, that its pleas for help were being heeded from dozens of dif ferent directions. .

Of Niue’s 770 family dwellings, 320 will have to be completely rebuilt and another 160 repaired. Damage to Administration buildings most of them were wrecked or partly wrecked—was £NZ6O,OOO, and total damage, including damage to crops, was something in the nature of £750,000, for a population of only 4,700 (see Magazine section).

Niue itself began picking up the pieces in a vast self-help programme (special housing and relief com mittees were set up, and the island council made it clear that it ex pected no able bodied man to leave the island for the next six months).

But outside help continued to flow in.

Public subscription lists were established throughout New Zealand by a dozen different organisations, including Red Cross, the churches (the London Misisonary Society on Niue retained intact only two of its 13 churches), the newspapers, the Territories Department.

The NZ Government earmarked funds for immediate rebuilding of Administration offices and sent senior Works Ministry Architect W.

Ponder to Niue to start right in (a mellow task for Ponder, who has been travelling to Niue for years, watching and helping the island solve its building problems—most of which it had beaten when the hurri cane struck).

South Pacific territories every where, and the Kingdom of Tonga,

is "dry training" for native students at the Lower Nautical School at Hollandia, NNG, [?]the lads are taught seamanship and elementary navigation to fit them for sea-going [?]on the local smallships fleet. This was the school that so impressed the Administrator of Papua-New Guinea when he paid a visit to Hollandia a couple of years ago.

food and clothing to Niue, and the big-hearted United States rnment, although faced with y of expenses of its own in r i c a n e - devastated Manua, >a, gave $2,500 dollars and eight of rice. e US Navy icebreaker Staten d went out of its way to de food and clothing it had picked NZ—creating at the same time thing of an historical event by a helicopter in its landing Ltions. The helicopter was the aircraft to land on rugged which is a coral outcrop and 10 airfield. lut half the island’s population at Alofi green to meet the Dpter when it first put down — ing in it Captain Price Lewis, lander of the icebreaker, and tect Ponder, who had been a passage on Staten Island. ;er the Americans made a 40circuit of the island, putting on each village green, and y landed at the Residency for noon tea.

lomists Are

?y About NG Cocoa

is anticipated that by 1963, a-New Guinea production of i will be equal to Australia’s rements 12,000 tons per m. is is not to say, of course, that 1 will be supplying all Aus l’s cocoa—the chocolate manu rers will probably have some : to say about that. Manufac s like to blend their cocoas at present Samoan, African New Guinea beans are used he purpose. eady individual producers of l in New Guinea are selling t to the United Kingdom e their product stands on its

me pts, and it is expected that this trade will increase.

The growth of the New Guinea cocoa industry in the past 10 years has been sensational. Cocoa was grown, mainly in New Britain, before the war, but the trees were virtually wiped out during hostilities an< + P^ a n^ ers started again from scratch after it.

Area under cocoa has grown from almost ml just after the war to about 40,000 acres at present. Some of this is interplanted in coconut plantations. Production for the year ending June 30, 1959, will be about 3,800 tons but within four years, trees already planted will

boost it by about four times this amount.

Native growers, particularly in the Gazelle Peninsula area of New Britain, have about 10,000 acres under cocoa and are producing about one-quarter of present pro duction, the beans being processed in central fermentaries owned by Native Local Government Councils, Long-term target set now for the New Guinea cocoa industry is 25,000 tons per annum. The Common wealth Bureau of Agricultural Economics, after investigations into the industry are satisfied about the prospects of an industry on this scale.

■ commodities still had their e idyll lasted rather less than nonths —that was ample time he cure. The only happy side all was that there were plenty ther mainlanders with satis ry finances who were clamour -0 be purged of the Island Bug there was no difficulty in dis ig of the unhappy mess at the paid for it. ink Hanley and his wife have ” their islands. “And I hope von’t mind me telling you this,” lid to a PIM representative in , “but it was the copies of PIM in the home of a Queensland d that really started it. Some the idea of an island seemed rery answer to the way we felt ie time.”

ra Boom May

Longer Than Expected

e average price for Philippines 1 on the London market dur darch was £Stg.94/7/6 c.i.f. and is the price that Papua-New ea Copra Board payments will lased on, when accounts are [y squared off. e average copra price for the three months of 1959 is 13/16/8 c.i.f. London, and hence, ts the Chairman of the Papua- Guinea Copra Marketing Board, 11 be seen that “an early ad lent in the Board’s tentative . ports purchase price is in ed”. the Board’s “tentative price” red to is £ASS per ton for hot jrade, this might be regarded slight understatement, e P-NG Copra Marketing d was meeting this month, so :ers can expect better things jafter. pua-New Guinea planters have

not yet been fully paid for copra delivered to the Board during 1958.

It is expected that the final ment will be around £6 per ton, which will bring the average price of hot-air grade delivered during 1958 to £A64 per ton In his report to planters at the end of March, the Board’s Chair man Mr. lan McDonald, reported that’the European m % k ®L w^ s onttr 0 nttr dull at the beginning of the montn, had showed I slight improvement bv mid-month, and at the end the month was /10/- “afloat” copra at around £Stg.92/iu/ per ton.

His report continued: “Reports have been received that

the official Indonesian Selling Agency has made sales of about 7,000 tons for April shipment, but that no more would be sold in that position.

In fact, it is presently rumoured that the Indonesian Government is temporarily banning the export of copra. This almost certainly in dicates a very short supply in Europe, with perhaps a price re action, although buyers are said to be expecting some unofficial In donesian copra to appear.

“Some European dealers are also beginning to feel that the copra shortage will continue longer than has been anticipated, and are ready to back their judgment by going long for the next few months.

s interesting to note that the Kingdom (and this, for all ;al purposes, means Unilever) troubled with where her copra ing from, as all her require are covered from British onwealth origins. imports into the United >m are around 175,000 tons per i, whereas exports from Com ;alth countries (excluding a, and Ceylon) amount to 200,000 tons, itracts entered into between er and Pacific Producers in and it is assumed that these astly still in force) accounted ,000 tons, and in addition, :ally all coconut oil produced jopra crushed in the Pacific :o the United Kingdom a r 75,000 tons copra equivalent, ter sources of Commonwealth include: Ghana, 5,000 tons: a, 5,000 tons; Seychelles, 6,000 Tanganyika, 5,000 tons; and ar, 6,000 tons.” article on page 20).

longress Discusses

srlands NG

president of the Papua-New i Branch of the RSSAILA, Mr.

Bunting, believes that it is utely necessary” for the i Islands Regiment, a unit of troops with European officers mior NCO’s, to be doubled in th immediately.

Bunting made his statement annual congress of the P-NG ti, held in Lae, New Guinea, ; week-end of April 4-6.

Bunting said that after serv th the PIR, natives should be ;ted to join the PNGVR, the nilitia unit, so that they were st to the forces.

RSL was continually remind e Commonwealth Government

of the inadequacy of the defence forces of the Territory.

“Though realising modern warfare would be on a major scale,” he said, “and that we would be under the wings of ANZUS and SEATO Forces, we nevertheless insist that the Territory could be attacked by man power using conventional weapons, so we need a strong unit like the Pacific Islands Regiment”.

Mr. Bunting is also in favour of the establishment of civil defence training so that Territorians would know what to do in the event of war.

The policy of the RSL in relation to neighbouring Dutch New Guinea had been recently stated by the national executive to the effect that it cannot agree in any circum

stances to Indonesia taking control of that territory, Mr. Bunting said.

The RSL maintained that should Holland decide to forego control of that territory, it should be taken over and administered by Australia.

Air Viti Lands

Float-Plane

A Cessna float-plane was unloaded at Suva from the Tofua in late March and will go into service for Air Viti, the company formed about a year ago by pilot Brian McCook and his associates to operate charter services in Fiji.

Air Viti already has a Piper Cub in Fiji and has undertaken crop

dusting work for the CSR Co. It is thought that the new float-plane will offer greater flexibility than a land plane in watery Fiji when landin IL strips a ,£ e ew * The small Cessnas, which will carry three passengers and their gear or an equivalent amount of freight, are popular in New Guinea.

They operate in the Highlands, and into the most inaccessible airstrips S e Pik- Western and Southern Highlands districts.

u^l4f T-*UU; HOW aniil bOT i*. rOmclOS Because in 1919 a passenger on a coastal steamer passing along the coast of Borneo gave the captain a hair-cut, Tahitians today can en joy the large and luscious fruits of a variety of pomelo which now grows widely there.

The passenger was the well-known explorer Harrison W. Smith, who

later settled in Tahiti. He offered the loan of a pair of clippers to the captain, but w the latter’s steward found he c: not use them, Harrison Si volunteered for the task.

In return, the captain presei him at the next port of call ' a case of pomelos. Harrison Si sent some seeds to the British Coc in Tahiti, who was able two y, later to hand him back t: seedlings. Of these only one reao maturity, but it was sufficient: propagation purposes, and toda: the pomelo trees of this variet: Tahiti are descended from it.

Fiji Pays More

For Foreign Postage

Like the British Solomons, also had some increases in s ; postal rates from April 1. Chai in Fiji affect surface, foreign i only, with the basic rate rising f 6d to 7d.

There will also be small incre; for postcards, printed papers, c: mercial papers, etc., to fort destinations.

Letter rate to Commonwe: countries is unchanged at a b rate of 2|d although there will increases in a number of pa charges, as a result of decision; the Universal Postal Union.

Fiji subscribers are also prom, an increase in telephone and t graph charges, but just exactly w and how much was not stated.

NG's Going to Have

A University—Maybe

What eventually will, it is hoj turn into a full-scale agriculti University got off to a modest s' recently when six New Gui natives commenced studies foi P-NG Diploma of Agriculture.

This modern version of pump into gold coach isn’t by favour the Fairy Godmother, but has U ister for Territories Hasluck dc

rand-waving. He conceived the n a year or so ago. ; college (or university) is to be at Kerevat, chief agricultural iment station in New Britain, cost of £120,000, and with amodation for 90 students. It be open to all races, and nts from Australia and other Lc islands may attend, to alise in tropical agriculture, college is to be completed by but who is paying for it (P-NG iistralia), is not stated. ere are already 11 native er-training centres in the tory with, in 1959, 480 natives ding them. The students take ir’s course, then they go back s to show their friends how :s are done back in the Big :e. 1961, it is expected that 1,000 es a year will be attending training centres.

Airstrip On

Dancing Ground

ien a P-NG Administration y team moved into the Southern lands, near Mendi, and started it down trees and knock pegs the ground to mark out a new Irome, they almost bought into bal war. The team had to be irawn under cover from four d police-boys. . J. K. McCarthy, Senior Ad stration Officer from Port isby, happened to be visiting area and was responsible for ig the team out. He said the ;y party was at fault for not ig permission of the natives to

go into the area, part of which was a ceremonial dancing ground.

Mr. McCarthy said that he had seen the survey team early in the morning, but by the time he passed that way again in late afternoon, he heard women wailing in the under growth, while the tribal elders watching the surveyors were pulling tufts out of their beards and haranguing the younger men and urging them to fight. The police on guard had warned him that trouble was brewing.

Interviewed later in Port Moresby, Mr. McCarthy said that the Admin istration was starting over again to obtain the land, on which there were several native longhouses, about five feet high and up to 60 yards long, which were used for ceremonial purposes. The Mendi tribe had been paid for damage to trees on the land and a wide range of trade goods was being sent in to show the natives the good faith of the Administration in adhering to any bargain struck. Mr. McCarthy said negotiations for the land might now take up to a year.

For Chimbus Problems

Come With Peace

A very different kind of land problem is occurring amongst the Chimbus of the New Guinea Eastern Highlands, where peace of one sort has brought war of another.

When Europeans first went to the New Guinea Highlands, they found the valley floors denuded of both population and trees. The natives lived on the higher ground and the grass lands below were used for a little mild hunting and as fighting lands.

Since the Administration brought peace to the warring tribes, these no-man’s lands have been able to be used for agriculture, but the Chimbus who are efficient though primitive farmers but who like to fight, have been wrangling amongst themselves and with neighbouring tribes as to the ownership of the land.

Several bashings have occurred and after one recent clash more

300 natives were gaoled for a ays.

Administration is consider mding a Lands officer to the ;o arbitrate.

an Oil Search Gets

lew Charter

iua, in March, was at last details of how the continued i for oil in that territory ;o be financed. ?he major partners BP ration Co. Ltd. and Vacuum o. Ltd. —will allow Oil Search to increase its interest in the ting companies (APC and by five per cent., to make per cent. )il Search will make a new at par of 11,340,000 ordinary lares, in the proportion of four ihares for every five registered. zoological surveys and other ical work will be carried out fear around the Puri-Kereru a, area; a deviated hole will rilled from Puri No. 1 well, /ed by drilling of a well at a, and then Puri No. 2 will rilled —although the order of ig might be changed according bat is discovered. » new financial arrangements zed last year’s off-again, on oil search schemes in Papua, at one stage it looked as if najor companies would com y abandon any further search

for oil there because of the dis

appointing results.

They did in fact last October announce that they would withdraw at the end of the then current drilling programme. Share prices then dropped virtually to nothing, despite a game announcement by Oil Search that that company still had faith, and that it would attempt to form a new company, raise ew cap ital and carry on.

But j ust before the proposed new com nany began to raise the new capital last November, there was breathtaking news from Pun—oil was fl ow i ng i There wasn’t much oil, but it was goon c j ear that there was enough of to ma ke the major partners change their minds. They agreed to stay on In p a pua and Australia most nponle honed that the big partners al Oil Search to take a w cent interest in the new financial arrangements, as a kind “ f reward f or its faith.

But 15 per * the are to get— , apparently big their re-th?nking of come so far m them the new set-up that they even

fardaslu cent,

let Oil Searcn nave ujc h mstead of the P - n Sydne y in A Pressn Co ?ivpaled these facts—

newT fS Oil

Search shareholders. . found in corn •lf there will

mercial quantities,

be ™ serious p engineering out merely

problem no worse than others that have been faced in other parts of the world”. • There is no worry about any of the recent—even high—prices of Oil Search shares representing an over-capitalisation of the venture — “a good field would wipe out all losses in two or three years”. • The oil from the Puri well had been a high-grade oil, called a sweet oil—“one of the sweetest oils ever found”. • Commercial quantities of this oil would reduce refining costs by the first £2-million of the usual expenditure needed to eliminate the heavier impurities. • Prospects exist of forming a commercial enterprise to exploit the huge gas deposits found at Kuru and Barikewa. This should entail substantial expenditure in proving the deposit.

APC and lEC are not the only companies exploring for oil in Papua-New Guinea. The map indicates the others.

Norfolk Is. Has

171st Birthday

Norfolk Island, which is just a few months “younger” than Sydney, celebrated the 171st anniversary of its settlement with its usual public holiday of March 6.

The Norfolk News published this paragraph to mark the anniversary this year: When the British Government was

the disposition of the various oil exploration companies in Papua-New Guinea. See below.

preparing to establish a com settlement in New South Wat Captain Arthur Phillip, who K been appointed First Governor, v ordered to secure Norfolk Island the Crown at the earliest opp: tunity. On February 14, 1788, shor after the foundation of Sydr Phillip sent Lieut. P. G. King Norfolk Island in HMS Supply w a small party, which included ni male and six female convicts, to t; possession of the Island and establish a settlement.

After five days search for a su able landing place, King dise barked his small party at the he of Sydney Bay, on the south of 1 Island, on March 6. This settleme Kingston, thus became the secc British settlement in the Pacific

Noumea Suffers

"Education Pressure"

Noumea has a record school ; tendance this year, and as a res classes are overcrowded—desp recent recruitment of 23 n teachers, and a whopping educati budget to help relieve the positi (more than £A500,000 was spent L year and £A750,000 is earmarked : 1959).

A Noumea correspondent says N Caledonia will soon be forced make greater efforts merely to hoi students, let alone instruct ther A Communist member of t Territorial Assembly recen criticised New Caledonia’s educ tion efforts on the basis that t territory was spending too mu (£A175,000 this year) on subsid for religious private schools —be Catholic and Protestant.

A New Industry Could

Make More Than Peanuts

Peanuts growing near Lae and Erap, near the old war-time airbs of Nadzab, are of the high* quality, visiting members of t Queensland Peanut Marketing Boa said in Lae in March.

The chairman of the Board, IV N. J. McAlister, said: “At Kingan Queensland, they grow the Virgir type, but the country here suits t types grown red, white ai Spanish.”

Mr. McAlister, together with IV J. A. Bond, a Board member, a] Mr. J. S. D. Nesbit, manager of t Queensland Peanut Marketing Boai made the tour.

At present, 2,500 tons of peanu are being shipped from the L area to Australia yearly. With tl present land available, this can lifted to 4,000 tons, but other lai may be made available for this ii dustry.

More and more NG people a taking an interest in peanuts, ai even members of the Lae Bowlii Club are growing them to help cIT funds (see page 20).

Jeep Will Wear

ew Uniform

Papua-New Guinea’s 8,000 • vehicles, only 2,737 are cars, from 600 motor cycles and less 200 farm tractors, virtually all est of that figure comprises nercial vehicle s”, including utilities that rank in popu almost with the cars. And a iratively large number of those es have always been jeeps— lean war-time jeeps, now mere *ed relics of the days of their jst glory, with their canvas and windscreen wipers miss beir speedometers—and seats — since gone; yet still identifi as the self-same vehicle that itionised a war for the infantry ; ranks of these old NG aigners have been closing up e last few years, for age is dng them, and there have been liars to spend on replacements, ntil last year, only one or two ne post-war models had found way to NG. ; at the end of last year, the Lory began to see new models

in greater numbers. They were com ing not from America, but from the Brisbane plant of Willys Motors (Aust.) Pty. Ltd., which is half owned by Australian capital.

Brisbane-produced jeeps

started off with an Australian con tntof 30 per cen t., which has now erown to 60 per cent., and will be f nrr p a c e d again bv the end of the y Ar d next mo nth Willys’ Brisbane factory aims to give the Australian nd Is i ands ’ markets something else t talk a bout—by introducing a new nd glamoU rised model To be known as Model CJ6, it dl have a longer wheel base (101 inches) than the 80 inches of the Model CJ3B. New payload ? apac ity is 15 cw t.

Rounded mudguards and other iterations to the bodywork are still functional, but probably more pleas mg. . , +Vip a full bench se^ t TO^ ep ( J^ es P! ,^ p . n bucketseats of the CJ3B, L space behind the seat is increas by about a third, And a major departure is tne cision to change the jeep s o U n „ r 0 P p n —from the traditional deep green to a variety °* retain the 4- The new model will retain me

cylinder F-head hurricane motor which develops 75 b.h.p.—with six gear ratios when the vehicle is in four-wheel drive. No grades up to 60 per cent, will stop the jeep.

As with the present model the CJ6 will have three power take-off points in front, centre and rear.

Samoan Airlines 7

Pilot Loses Case

SAMOAN Airlines pilot Captain Jack Gardner lost his court case aaginst the airline in Marcn.

Captain Gardner had sued the air 1i n e (whose director, Lawrence Coleman, is brother of American Samoa’s Governor, Hon. Peter Cole man) , in February (PIM, Feb., p. 143), claiming that Samoan owed him $7,000 dollars.

The amount, he claimed, included wages and other expenses due to him in East Samoa after he had been brought from America by the company.

Finding in favour of Samoan Air lines, the court allowed Gardner $1,260, for wages between No vember and January, plus a return fare for him and his wife to Cali fornia.

Meanwhile, Samoan Airlines’ chartered DC3 which was damaged on the ground in a severe blow in February, has been repaired and has made a successful test flight.

The new model jeep— longer and more rounded —to be pro duced soon at Willys' Brisbane factory. At left, is the jeep four wheel drive ambulance, also soon to be pro duced in Brisbane.

everyone, whose home is in oa, an equality before the law, human rights, and the treat t which all of us would like to to our neighbours, and of which hould like to be the recipients slves”. tere was a series of formal ings on March 31; and on April e Mission settled down to its of meeting and talking with lasses of the people, in all parts ic Territory. te Mission departs, for USA, on I 16. (See article on page 61).

Citizenship Rights In

The New Samoa

From a Special Correspondent number of resolutions on the jet of citizenship in the new oa, and related matters, have adopted by the Government’s ting Committee on Self-Gov lent; but the publication of a nary of the resolutions does i to allay the natural anxiety erning the future of the few peans and the 6,000 or 7,000 -Europeans who now are per ent residents of Western Samoa, leir ideas and proposals are for guidance of the UN Mission, and r constitution framers, now at le Working Committee appar r is trying to define the people are automatically entitled to mship, and the rights of that enship; but nothing that has been published shows whether the intention of the Samoans the person of mixed race, born imoa, shall have the same rights rnioan citizenship as the person r holly Samoan blood, would seem to go without say that the citizenship rights of former are the same as the r; but there has been such ig feeling shown by certain ;es of Samoans towards both »peans and part-Europeans in it times that anxiety and

suspicion will remain until this part of the new Constitution is definitely framed and adopted.

The Committee has said that “Samoan citizens will be those per sons whose allegiance is to Western Samoa and not to any foreign country”. As such they will travel abroad as Samoan citizens (under the protection of New Zealand); and have the right to re-enter Western Samoa and reside there any time they wish. Provision will be made for renunciation or de privation of citizenship, for citizen ship by registration, and for citizen ship by naturalisation.

The Committee has been giving much thought to the future Judiciary, under self-government. It has decided that a considerable time must elapse before Samoa will have educated Samoans with suf ficient training and experience to

act as judges; and, in the mean time, it recommends that Samoa continue to look to New Zealand for help in this regard..

The Committee thinks it essential that the Premier and Cabinet Min isters of the new State shall have competent help from qualified de partmental heads and other trained officials, and it recommends; • That all future vacancies in departmental headships (and other key positions concerned with the development of policy), should be referred to the Executive Council for an opinion on the qualifications to be sought in an appointee to any such vacant post. • That no appointment to such a post should be made until the Executive Council has had an opportunity of expressing its opinion on the suitability of the proposed appointee.

[?]sta Ben...

... and Buka