Do You
p. 78 · Read in the full issue
Remember ?
The “grimmest Christmas that the British people have known for hundreds of years”—that was the
prediction for Christmas, 1940,
according to a “PIM” editorial of December that year. The unhappy prediction turned out to be right.
Here are some extracts from that issue of “PIM” of 20 years ago : “Is There Oil In Papua? Drill Soon Will Give the Answer.” So said a heading in that issue—echoing exactly the Aus tralian newspaper posters of 20 years later.
Today, the question revolves around the drilling at lehi, and everybody’s hopes are with it. In 1940, drilling was just about to commence on a site on the Vailala River, and hopes of a successful find were high. “If there is actually commercial oil in Papua it should be found on this occasion,” said “PIM”. * * * Pitcairn had a new issue of stamps, which brought comment from the experts.
They liked them, but some took umbrage over the title on the stamps being given as “Pitcairn Islands”, rather than “Island”. Somebody pointed out that if the four small islands in the Pitcairn group had to take their names from the largest island, why shouldn’t the Gilbert Islands be named after the chief island of the group, and be called “Ocean Islands”? * * * Fiji was asking for the return of the threepenny piece. The Legislative Council was told that when new coinage of Fijian design was introduced in 1934 to replace British currency in use for 60 years, the threepence had not been included because the then Governor, Sir Murchison Fletcher, believed that coins of smaller denomination made for cheap prices, small profits and quick turnover. Sir Harry Luke, Governor in 1940, reminded the Council during the discussion on the threepence that the matter of coinage was one for the Secretary of State, and he didn’t think the Council could do much about it. But the report of the debate would be sent to London. * * * A Rarotongan reader, Ralph Ingram, wrote to the editor complaining that a recent cold spell there had awakened memories of better days. Oldtimers were insisting that sweaters and blankets were once unheard of and that in the last few years the weather had been going to the dogs. * * * Considerable quantities of cocoa from the New Hebrides and coffee from New Caledonia were going into the Australian market as a result of the war. The French colonies had been given the same tariff concessions as British Empire countries. * * * A cutter, “Wing On” was found wrecked on a reef off Vanua Levu, Fiji, containing an emaciated young woman, barely alive, and the bodies of a man and a woman.
The cutter had left Seattle a few months earlier for the Marquesas, with four people aboard. It had blown off fts course and had continued for 5,000 miles without sighting land. The master had also died en route and had been buried at sea.