Remember ?

Do You Remember ?

Twenty years ago this month, Britain was alarmed at increasing losses to her merchant shipping at the hands of German submarines ; Mr. Churchill announced that 14,000 civilians had been killed by air raids in Britain since the war started; in America President Roosevelt was returned to office for the third time. And in the Pacific this is what happened, as re ported in “PIM” of Novem

ber, 1940:

A fund had just been opened in Papua to provide a memorial to Sir Hubert Murray. A polished granite obelisk was suggested 25 feet high, and it was “felt by his friends that this should be undertaken as soon as possible”. It was eventually unveiled —but not in the form of an obelisk, but as a drink ing fountain (and the occasion was this year—2o years later!) ♦ ♦ * In an address to the Pacific Islands Society in Sydney, Captain P. G. Taylor looked forward to the time “when all the important groups in this great Pacific Ocean will be linked by aerial services”. Air transport is going to be the obvious means of moving about the Pacific.

“Distance can be eliminated only in this manner”. * * * A three masted American schooner “Director II” which brought an American Museum of Natural History expedition, led by Mr.

Sheridan Fahnestock, from the United States to Brisbane, struck a reef off the Queensland coast and was wrecked. Mr. Fahnestock re ported that all of the expedition’s equipment including $20,000 worth of hydrographic material, was under water and ruined. * * * An Apia correspondent said it was a pity that a newsreel camera wasn’t in Samoa on Flag Raising Day so that the world could see how that old game of cricket had been adapted to Samoan conditions. 42 teams of Samoan cricketers, each with 20 players, turned up for a two days competition. It was “im possible to describe the method of play”. However the proceeds of this mighty cricket game made a substantial contribution to West Samoa’s fund for buying fighter planes for the RAF. • * * With a budget deficit of about £4,000, due to the effects of the war, West Samoa was making recommendations for drastic changes in the Government’s financial policy. The moves were made through the Legislative Council, which apparently wasn’t too happy at the position.