[?] Classics

[?]A Finds Samoans Just [?] Round the Clock [?]t No Ear For [?] Classics

puty representative for the alasian Performing Right iation in New Zealand, Mr.

Mackinnon, the man who i Fiji and Western Samoa in June (June, PIM, p. 145), the object of making everyone pay more for listening to , got back home safely and re attended the APRA confer in Sydney. had some quite interesting ; to tell the conference—and iece of additional information hat Fiji has had an APRA whose job it is to collect fees, 1923, and that that agent is nown Fiji solicitor, Mr. R. d, who is also chairman of the Broadcasting Commission.

Mackinnon said that in Fiji d run into a snag with cinema tors over the basis of payment is, but finally agreement had reached which should work itisfactorily. The cinemas, he ire mostly run by Indians for is; they screen Indian films, vhich APRA is not concerned, ir or five nights out of seven. thing that surprised Mr. nnon about these Indian films lat often they introduced five vocal pieces which held up ;ory and seemed to have no :tion with the plot.

"Surprised"

lA, of course, claims perform ghts on songs and music in Liropean films that are shown ; remaining two or three days week.

Mackinnon was surprised to > many as five cinemas operat i a place like Nadi, with a al population of only 5,000. e had a look at their books, :ound that the audience at performances was as low as 20 to 30. it struck him in Fiji was the mce of the cinema run by 'Jew Zealanders in Suva as rtable and efficiently run, he is cinemas in Sydney or Auck and an example to other

is capitals.

Samoa he found a “peculiar” ). rt from the one cinema in most of the screening was in small village halls or in pen air. Four people controlled

these shows; one of them served 17 villages with a travelling cinema.

As for the radio set-up, the Samoan Broadcasting Service was controlled by a member of the Executive Council. The Apia station had Mr. C. H. Turner as station manager with a European and native staff.

Islands Music

In a village of perhaps 60 houses you might hear 10 radio sets tuned up to full volume, said Mr.

Mackinnon. Hawaiian-type music and rock ’n’ roll was very popular, but Samoans, he said, seem never to have heard any classical music until the other day, when excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” were put on as an experiment.

With a European population numbering no more than a few

hundred perhaps the neglect of classical music was not surprising however regrettable: Samoans themselves certainly had no idea of classical music at all.

That’s what Mr. Mackinnon said, anyhow.

The first of 16 large-scale map sheets covering the Vanua Levu area of Fiji will soon be on sale there.

On a scale of a mile to an inch, the new maps are being printed by the Directorate of Overseas Surveys in London. They are being prepared from aerial photographs and from field surveys by the Fiji Lands De partment. The first sheets cover Nadogo, Rukuruku Bay, Labasa, and Saqani.