Pacific Report

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

ncador Claims

lother Victim

mother wreck in January was led to the list of disasters on the amous Roncador Reef, in the IP, roughly three-quarters the y from Malaita to Lord Howe ind (also known as Ontong r a). lie 150 ft Japanese tuna vessel nkaichi Maru, with 27 men •ard, struck the reef about 9.15 i. on January 7, but the Japanese yernment did not request assist le until three days later. A sister p was able to rescue all but four sing men, but heavy seas pre yed small local ships from tak part in the search. . TAA DC3, which arrived in liara on January 11 on the mal flight from Lae, took part a search for the missing men, it saw nothing but some wreck in the area. : did not see anything of two er ships and the tuna mother p which were believed to be rating with the ill-fated vessel.

nch Minister

Visit Tahiti

i a message to the people of nch Polynesia on New Year’s r, French State Minister Mon ir R. Lecourt announced he ild make a personal visit to liti prior to a special July Paris ference of representatives of ific territories. he conference will be patterned that of July, 1960, and will be i so as to unite more closely the ulations of French colonies with mother country. [. Lecourt announced an in ised programme of financial aid ;he colonies and an increase in lit investments.

Meanwhile, a Papeete conf ident reports that the budget French Polynesia has been roved by a majority vote of the ritorial Assembly to the amount >ver 697 million French Pacific ics. f this sum, over 50 million will aised by direct taxation and 423

million by indirect taxation includ ing import taxes.

Biggest foreseen expenditures in clude social services, 238 millions; loans, allocations and contributions, 131 millions; community and other expenditures, 42 million and admin istrative services, 38 million francs.

To See Pago Pago,

Note This!

All travellers passing through American Samoa must now possess current smallpox vaccination cer tificates if they wish to step ashore for a look around Pago Pago while their ship is in port.

Failure to comply with this re quirement could be a source of dis appointment to round-trippers in the Union Company’s Islands vessels or in other ships.

Until recently such a certificate was only required for persons who intended to remain in American Samoa.

Suwarrow Copra

White-Anted

Reports from the coconut-grow ing areas of the Cook Islands seem to indicate that that Group has produced something really tasty for the Australian termite or “white ant” and has thus improved the breed since it was imported (or so it is alleged) from Australia many years ago in a load of soil.

Since the discovery of modern insecticides and more knowledge of the natural habits of the pest, white-ant damage in Australia has lost a great deal of its terrors.

However, in the Cooks these ter ra it e s are considered by one authority to be a menace to coconut palms “in some ways more formid able than the Rhinoceros beetle.”

The pest is now known to be present in palms at Suwarrow, Pukapuka, Nassau, and Palmerston, in the Cook Islands, according to

B. B. Given, the expert who has sntly carried out a study of in t parasites infesting various pro :e crops in this group, a a published summary of his lings in connection with the nites, which have been known to Jst Suwarrow since the beginning ;his century. Mr. Given says that uld this species spread through the nut-growing areas of the dfic, the problem of control or dication would be formidable. or years the termites have ctively killed the copra industry Suwarrow, but copra represents sole export of the other atolls itioned and a spread to the Is of Manihiki and Penrhyn Id mean a serious loss of earn -3 to the people there and to the aomy of the Group generally. [r. Given says that this particular ues of termite is very large and lot a mound builder. It attacks ig plant tissue and does not con its attention to coconut palms. ifestations usually begin with winged forms which are ilarly dispersed from established nies. The plant tissues are in ed both above and below ground

level, and a mature colony may ex tend from five or six feet below the surface to 80 feet or more up a palm trunk.

Mr. Given says that it is doubtful whether any palms over six years of age on Suwarrow are free. In extreme cases even young palms will collapse and fall on windless days.

The drop in yield on infested palms is considerable though it is almost incredible that heavily in fested palms should appear as healthy as they do.

He says that it is imperative that every precaution be taken to ensure that no chance is given these ter mites to spread to other areas.

Malaytown Shanties

Being "Investigated"

Rabaul’s Council of Social Ser vices has condemned the “shanty town” in which the majority of the town’s mixed race people live and has recommended to the Adminis tration that it “do everything it can to have this community pro perly housed”.

The Administrator of P-NG said on January 20 that he had the re port before him and that it was now receiving “immediate and full investigation”.

This is not before time. People and organisations have been saying the hard things about Malaytown,

Its area is called, for years and investigations have got nowhere dously. abaul’s Council of Social Ser s is a voluntary body to which i organisations as Rotary, Red ss, Apex and others, belong. council is composed of sub mittees which pick an out iding problem, study it to get the facts. One of these sub mittees has recently been en ?d, under the chairmanship of T. Daw, the Department of ive Affairs’ welfare officer in aul, on the problem of Malay a’s sub-standard dwellings, and report is obviously the result, ae report said that the sub mittee had visited 16 houses in aytown in which 89 people, about of them children, were living, re were no toilet facilities in of the houses visited and all onal bathing seemed to be done a “bucket and a pannikin”, le only water available was water caught in drums, and in dry season, residents had to buy ;r from contractors at 4/- per al. drum, omething about Malaytown and Kombiu Society appeared in

;mber PIM, p. 65).

Permanent Even

f's "A Blot"

: can be taken from me,” said adier D. M. Cleland, Admin tor of Papua and New Guinea, January 16, “that the Pacific ids Regiment will continue and develop.” 1 wa s making an official reply resolution passed by the Kokopo sory Council, New Britain, that Regiment was “a blot” on Army pline, bad publicity for New

COn JanuaJ-v ? b «n Sac f ked ‘ tSoos 7 nf thP 3 ptr h* i?° natlvea Tauramn f at Ut u° f in a More ? b y’

LpfThPv a l 6g(3d J^ y gr u lev l fnn na by i ab Co o nstabTha?S to PT^f?°? al P “ NG Ja ™] cleland s statement con- <<r ’ . . ...

I regret extremely that a re sponsible body such as the Advisory Council should take on itself the right to make the comments it did.

Regarding the pir there is a confU “TbP °rni t ? c mk f n f DTD nplpp rdb ff SLJr? 6 and th c RPNGC are totally different and must not be confused. Both have oV.^ ir f£ >arts S? play . m the Territory and they will continue to do so.

Any suggestion that the Regi ment will not be continued is based com Pletely on false premises. The incident which occurred on January 3 was extremely unfortunate. It in volved only a small body of the Regiment itself and the public well * nows that the culprits have been dealt with sternly and effectively, and without delay.”

D M iai c

Takes W. SdlDOan

■ j j ..

Independence Nearer

The Prime Minister of Western Samoa, the Hon. Fiame Mataafa, returned to Apia on January 2 after representing his country y at the meeting of the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York

when Western Samoa independence was under discussion.

High Chief Mataafa, in his address to the General Assembly, expressed the views of the people of the Territory and, as a result, the General Assembly has formulated the questions to be asked at the plebiscite which will be held in W.

Samoa, in May of this year under United Nations supervision, and which on this one occasion, will be under universal franchise.

The voters will be asked: (1) Do you agree with the Constitution, as adopted by the Constitutional Convention? and (2) Do you agree that on January

1, 1962, Western Samoa should be come an Independent State on the basis of that Constitution?

There can be little doubt (see PIM, January, p. 17) that both ques tions will be answered in the affirmative by an overwhelming majority of the Samoan people, though many of the untitled Samoans may have objections to those clauses of the Constitution as adopted, which restrict voting rights in future parliamentary elec tions to the matais (chiefs), There can be no doubt that for, the present at least, there is no strong tendency amongst the Samoans to alter the matai system and

abolish the privileges of the chieJ though the future may enforce gradual modification of the syste in accordance with democratic pru ciples.

It is well known, however, th the Prime Minister himself harbou modern and liberal views in tl matter.

The Hon. Fiame Mataafa on h arrival at Apia wharf was welcorm by the Hon. Fautua, Tamasese ar Malietoa, by Cabinet Ministers, tl High Commissioner, Heads of D< partments and a large crowd. At cocktail party in the evening at tl Casino Hotel the Prime Minist was officially welcomed by the Ho Tamasese, who paid tribute to tl important service Hon. Fian Mataafa had rendered to tl Samoan people at UN hsadquartei

A Wire Across

The Pacific

A section of the 8,700 nautic mile cable that will link Austral and New Zealand with Canada wi be completed by July, 1961. Th first section is between Sydney ari Auckland, and work at both tern inals is already in hand.

Cost of the entire cable will I over £22i million and this will t borne by the Governments ( Britain, Canada, New Zealand an Australia. It will have 335 sut merged amplifiers along its route.

Two UK firms. Standard Tele phones and Cables Ltd., and Sut marine Cables Ltd., have won cor tracts for the job. Raw material will be supplied by Australia an Canada.

The Pacific cable will connec via Canada, with UK over a simila cable to be laid this year across th Atlantic.

When complete, the Pacific cabl will have 80 telephone channel! public telegraph, phototelegraph an

Prime Minister Fiame Mataafa.

: circuits, plus leased private [its for telecommunications ser i of all kinds and for broadcast ramme channels.

S Gets More

i Hospitals

stralian Territories Minister Hasluck, in January, signed papers for the start of a new 000 general hospital for Lae, Guinea. The new building will •porate the present European ital—which was built only a years ago, and which will tually be used for sisters’ ters, training school and native lanwhile other hospital work Ding ahead in the Territory, mg’s new hospital will be ready pril, and Wewak’s new hospital be completed in August.

\ Medical Project

hs Good Results

e project to defeat the filariasis se problem in the Cook Islands owing good results in its initial is. u was selected a year or so to be the first island in the 3 for attention. e entire population was ex ed and, except for very young is, has been receiving monthly doses of the drug Hetrazan. the initial survey of the situa it was found that 70 per cent, le population over 20 years of :ave positive blood findings and ir cent, under 18 years of age lad micro-filaria in their blood recent survey has shown that

[?]s a real event in Lae in 1956 when [?]wn got the hospital it had been waiting [?]r 10 years. The only hospital the town [?]as one of rusted tin and tar paper left [?] by the Army. These photographs, [?] just before the hospital was opened, [?] the main building and native staff [?]rs. Now, a contract has been signed [?] further new building worth £600,000, [?] will become the hospital proper. The [?]gs above will be used for quarters and training school. See report below.

adult infection has been reduced , mere 2.6 per cent., and the rate those under 18 years to only per cent. owever, the treatment will have ontinue for at least another year »re the result can be expected to >me permanent. s it is not possible to completely ite this island from other in ed islanders arriving, the treat it and its effectiveness are some ,t complicated. will be necessary for all new vals, or Atiu residents who go y on visits to infected islands, to e under Hetrazan treatment n for a time to ensure that they not reintroduce the mosquito le disease after the main project Dmpleted. re treatment is not in any way iful or objectionable, but a good of medical supervision will be Ived in seeing that infected new /als do in fact receive the treat t. new drug with the trade name Vlel-W has also been recently essfully tried for the first time le Pacific at Atiu. iven by injection it kills the t worms in the bloodstream :h are the cause of the more meed elephantiasis manifesta s. lis drug was first used to attack )ing sickness in Africa, is intended to extend the pro by stages to all the islands of Cook Group. is unlikely that the disease i ever be eradicated by ordinary luito control methods, fective control methods, such as erial dusting or spraying, would >eyond the financial means of s islands.

Rarotonga Has

Another "First"

Inter-island communications in the Cook Islands through transistor transmitters are possible. Late in November a transistor transmitter with a portable aerial was used from Mangaia in a two-way contact with Rarotonga, 110 miles away.

Although signals were not strong, the occasion had some historic significance as it was a transistor transmission “first” in the group.

With the development of new transistors capable of more powerful operation as transmitters, it is likely that all present communications gear in outer islands will be re placed.

Only a few days later at the agri cultural show at Rarotonga the local station, ZKIZA set up a studio to demonstrate radio broadcasting.

Tape recordings were played but were not being broadcast.

On the next stand the Rarotonga Radio Club had on display a minute transistor transmitter, small enough to fit inside a matchbox.

The two were combined, and the small transmitter was fed from a tape and picked up on all receivers on display, and on a number of portable transistor receivers about the grounds.

The club’s miniature transmitter thus became a. real broadcasting station for the day—almost certainly the smallest transmitter in the world ever to broadcast a radio pro gramme.

They Can't Dynamite

Their Whales Any More

Tonga has taken a closer look at local whaling activities, and as a result Tongans are going to use a lot less dynamite in catching their whales in future.

Tonga has had a whaling industry for many years, but it has never been really organised.

Local inhabitants have used sail and oar-propelled whale boats equipped with hand harpoons and lances.

They haven’t worried about the finer items of equipment such as harpoon guns, explosive harpoon heads or air compressors to help in the recovery of the carcasses.

The design of the local boats still follows that of the whalers com monly in use in the 19th century.

Two years ago the Tongan Gov ernment took a look at all this activity and became alarmed at what was becoming a rather ex-

DEPARTURE. Colonel R. W. Foubister recently relinquished command of the Fiji Military Forces and returned to New Zealand on retirement. Here are Colonel and Mrs. Foubister and some of the many friends who saw them off. From left, Mrs. Foubister, the Mayor of Suva, Mr. Charles Stinson, the Deputy Mayor, Mr. Bruce Lawlor, Mrs. Stinson with her son lan, Colonel Foubister, and Mrs. W. Walkinshaw.

Photo: C. L. Cheng

pensive misuse of dynamite by whalers, who were attempting to increase their yearly yield. The Government set up a Whaling Licences Committee in October, 1958, to control the issue of licences to whalers.

The committee was “to bring some control to the indiscriminate killing of hump back whales”, and “prevent the haphazard dynamiting of whales” and “insist that certain equipment be carried by the whalers and that stand-by boats are always within easy reach”.

For the 1960 season a limited number of licences were allocated to each of Tonga’s provinces, and the committee carefully selected the applicants.

Tongatapu was given five licences (the biggest holder was given a

quota of 20 whales and one man was given a quota of five); Haapai was given eight licences, each with five whales, and Vavau four licences, with eight whales each, The total whales caught in 1960 was 53, 36 of them in the Tongatapu district.

A recent Tongan Government statement says that these new self-imposed restrictions (Tonga is not a signatory to any international whaling agreement) should finally provide an adequate safeguard against indiscriminate killing of whales. (Tongans kill their whales mostly to supply meat for the locals. Only a small amount of blubber is occasionally processed into crude oil).

Separate Mormon Mission

In Cooks Now

The Latter Day Saints (Mormo Church of the United States 1 now established a separate bran of its overseas missions in the Co Islands, which since 1954, when t first Mormon missionaries came that territory, has been under t jurisdiction of the Samoan Missi( President Joseph R. Reeder, w served in Tahiti from 1934 to 1£ and from 1958 until now, has be appointed to take charge. He v, officially installed at a ceremony Avatiu, Rarotonga, conducted Elder John Longden, Assistant the Council of the Twelve Apostl At the 1956 census there were 1 Mormon followers in the Cooks a total population of 16,680.

NZ Helps

Samoan Education

As another gesture of goodwill Western Samoa, now hea d i r towards independence, New Zealai has provided three married teach couples to staff three model distri schools.

Houses for the teachers have bei built at the expense of the NZ Go ernment, and the salaries of t] teachers will also be paid for by tl Dominion.

The schools will be used as mod* to promote modern educational d velopment in Western Samoa.

The three couples are Mr. ai Mrs. G. W. Walters, who will go Poutasi District school; Mr. ai Mrs. D. A. Olliver, who will go Palauli District school; and Mr. ar Mrs. G. L. Buxton, who will be i Fagamalo District school.

W. Samoa Gets

Direct UK Ship

The refrigerated motor sh Amalric, of the Crusader Line, new ship of 8,000 tons, built : Western Germany, called recent at Apia, Western Samoa, on h( maiden voyage from Englar through the Panama Canal. Ap: was her first port of call, where 3f tons of general cargo was discharge The Amalric has a speed of ] knots. She is the second ship of tl direct line, following the Mysti which called at Apia a few montl ago. The new direct line should t of material benefit to Wester Samoan importers, as direct shii ment represents an appreciable sa\ ing in time and cost and the tram shipment at Suva is cut out.

Honiara Up In The

Air Over Aviation

Honiara people were still up i the air about their latest aviatio developments in January.

A correspondent reported the

e getting discouraged locally ause of the non-appearance of A A Fokker Friendship in Janu and the non-appearance of any ouncement that Fiji Airways ild begin regular flights with ons between Fiji, the New •rides and the Solomons.

AA had announced in December t Friendships would make their at in P-NG on January 17 on Lae-Honiara service. he Friendship, a popular pas ser aircraft in Australia, would e been the first turbo-prop air t to operate internally in P-NG the BSIP. It was to include a ;ess service. schedule was announced. How ', three days before the flight due to arrive at Honiara it was celled and no explanations given, Honiara people felt they were ig to have to stick to their DC3’s a long time. P-NG also did not the Fokker, but they didn’t seem yorry as much. ji Airways made a proving it to Honiara in December, but e was still no announcement it a regular service by early ruary. Although BSIP people I’t know it, this was because Fiji yays had decided not to start service until navigational aids 3 made satisfactory in the New rides. ne BSIP government chartered eron from Fiji in December, and n in late January, to bring in onnel from Fiji and the New rides. lid PI M’s Honiara correspondent: th the setting up by the South ific Commission of a Fisheries ining School at Tulagi, and with already established SPC Litera- Production Centre at Honiara, Boat Building School at Auki, need for an air-link to Fiji is ntial.”

Automation for P-NG S

rOSt Offices

fw ,. , , .

Two automatic postmarking machines went into operation at Port Moresby and Konedobu post offices, in Papua, at end of January.

Each machine can do the work cfcirv> P° st 7 iarkers —that is wbfrh^PATY^ 0 uw 1 o 6l i?S eS f a mi P ute > Jn lot ° f envel °P es m any machines language.

One hundred letters a minute seems a lot of letters in any man’s language for that matter, but that is what the official statement says, If these two Port Moresby machines don t run hot or fly apart

at letters per minute under tropical conditions, then other post offices in P-NG can expect to have machines of their own in due course. urn ■ .

lOnga Will Operate A

c* *• c

Broad Casting Station Soon

Swift progress in January was being made on Tonga’s new broad casting station, which has now been allocated a call sign—ZCO on a frequency of 1020 kilocycles.’

For the last couple of months the Tonga Government has been looking at various imported samples of transistor radio receivers, with the object of importing them in

[?]RED. Recently retired from Burns Philp [?]after 31 years with the firm, Mr. A. E. [?]lingham has taken up cane, bee and [?]ry farming. He is at Vuna Point, Nadi, Fiji.

so that they can be passed on rongans on a low profit margin, ongans are not likely to com n about that step, although it the local stores think about night be another matter, iropean personnel for the station now beginning to arrive in ga and others are due. [ready in Tonga, in January, was H. J. Chapman, who is to be ion engineer. Mr. Chapman, 45, New Zealander, who has been i the NZ Broadcasting Service e 1934. He is on secondment to ga. ne station manager, Mr. Ronald Haggett, and the programme ctor, Mr. Ross MacDonald, are i due to arrive in February from Zealand. They also are on ndment from the NZ Broad ing Service. r. HaggeVt, 43, an Englishman, ed the NZ Broadcasting Service 947, and Mr. MacDonald, 39, a Zealander, has been with the dee since 1948. He is a keen ician.

Police Change

ir Uniforms

) the relief of all, no doubt, ees are no longer to be worn by )’s and constables of the Solomon ids Police Force. They will, ever, continue to wear black lals —to which nobody has any ctions. :her changes approved in the mons’ uniform are for sub

inspectors. Future uniform consists of a beret, a khaki bush jacket and khaki drill belt, khaki shorts and stockings (the stockings with blue wiS sh0 K S iV The T will wear Sam Browne belts only on fo A?lal 1 2r < v^?f 10 - ns ’TD at • Meanwhile, in Papua-New Guinea, there has been a change in the °/f Y- arderB ir ? Cor " re^i ve Institutions (gaols, to you). fv. T^6 is B l n b d^ r P-NG s Constabulary, except that the piping on jumpers and lapr a P®. 3S m aroon and the cap badge 18 different. • * lip m °st important difference is that the warders are now wearing maroon berets, which give them the appearance of Army commandos.

See the photograph.

r I j • / f* x

New Caledonia S Got

T L * //L r • #/ I Hat DBS rTdncaiS An attack on the low g ra de of French spoken in New Caledonia has beeil m ade by a writer in the roneoed sheet of the Public School Teachers’Association. Results of ex aminations in primary schools at the end of 1960 were “near catas trophic”, according to the writer (less than 40 per cent, passed). They were due mostly to failures in French language and French com position.

The New Caledonian child is said to suffer from a disadvantage; in France, when a child presents him self at school, it is assumed that he already has a useful knowledge

[?]w sight in P-NG —maroon berets which are [?] of the new uniform for warders of P-NG [?] The berets remind many people of [?]"red devils"—the berets worn by British [?]d Australian commandos. See below.

Photo: M. R. Hayes

Over the years the standard of French spoken has been greatly lowered—being now a bas Francais due mainly to the fact that the New Caledonian has always found it necessary to lower his speaking standard so as to be understood by the coloured labour with which he has always been in contact.

Teachers find it difficult to get over the fact that, out of school hours, the child reverts to bad grammatical French common in his own environment.

New Guinea Ex-Servicemen

Worry About The Future

The Rabaul sub-branch of the Returned Soldiers’ League, at its annual general meeting in Rabaul in January, passed two resolutions expressing concern should the Fed eral Government hand the Terri tory back to the natives.

Fears were expressed that should this happen the natives may not accept responsibility for safeguard ing ex-servicemen’s jobs and in vestments in the Territory.

The two resolutions, which were

forwarded to the State Branc asked the Federal Govemme what steps were being taken guarantee soldier settlers’ inves ments against loss, and what ste were being taken by the Fedei Government to cover ex-servicemi landholders and jobholders agair possible adverse circumstances ari ing from a change in the Ten tory’s status.

BSIP Regulations

Make Too Much Work

New Customs Regulations intr duced in the BSIP last year ha received a “very poor response according to a correspondent, w] says that the main public complai is that they make too much pap work for all concerned.

The staff of the Customs Depar ment has had to be substantially i] creased to handle the extra wor and the BSIP Chamber of Cor merce has repeatedly made cor plaints about some aspects of t] regulations.

Recently appointed chairman the Chamber (in place of Mr. E.

Lawson) is Mr. E. A. Evans. N« vice-chairman is Mr. W. Quan, ai secretary is Mrs. M. Falconer.

They'll Hatch You

Some Americans

In a Rabaul Native Affairs cou] in January, stood a basket of sma green daubed eggs which, accordii to native superstition, could hate out into a squad of Americj soldiers.

The eggs were submitted as evil ence at a hearing which led to native named Tolangoran beii sentenced to three months goal £ spreading rumours dangerous to la and order.

Tolangoran was arrested follow ing a visit by police and Nati 1 Affairs officers to gloomy Wato Island, seven miles off the Ne Britain north coast, near Rabaul.

The party was in search of native gaol escapee named Tandj Tandy, who was serving a thn months sentence for tax evasio was believed to have crossed I canoe to Watom Island.

Investigating officers on the islar were told that Tandy and Tolai goran had been instrumental in ax ministering mystic rites to tl Watom natives.

Magic charms had been dii tributed and the eggs had been pr< duced, a spell cast over them ar given to the natives as a “mear of producing American troops shou] they be required”.

The officers were unable to fir Tandy, who is wanted for questior ing in connection with other supei stitious native disturbances.

According to Police Superir tendent J. Carroll, of Rabar Watom Island has long been potential trouble spot and breedir

ound for native unrest.

“They can see a pinnace coming r miles from the island’s high aks and when police get there erything is peaceful and the mblemakers are kept in the sh”, he said.

stive Election

ocedure in P-NG

:n P-NG, in January, arrange nts were proceeding for the elec n of the first natives to the pua-New Guinea Legislative uncil. election day is March 18, when total of 364 P-NG native repre itatives will cast their votes on mlf of nearly half a million icrs. l total of 220 representatives will appointed by the 39 Native Local vernment Councils in the Terri er, and 144 representatives will be ninated by 33 special electoral ups, ’he electoral groups cover ad iced natives in areas where there no Native Local Government mcils, but where preliminary •k for the formation of Councils ; started. fative Local Government Council resentatives and electoral group resentatives to vote in the elec is will be appointed at special ive meetings. Areas with a ater population will have a ater number of representatives. *wo or three days before the :tion on March 18 all native rep mtatives will attend a conference their electorates, here they will hold discussions mg themselves, and will be ressed by Legislative Council didates. n election day the represent es will cast their votes for the didates. or the elections there will be e than 285,000 natives covered Local Government Councils and e than 208,000 covered by elec .l groups. i January, 36 specially instructed ves were travelling around the ous electoral groups explaining election procedure to natives, giving details of the operation he Legislative Council, i the Native Local Government ncil areas, election procedure is ady familiar to the natives, be >e of their own Council elec s.

erican Samoa Doesn't

nt To Unite

tie of American Samoa’s district ernors, High Chief Tuitele, said Honolulu in January that ;rican Samoa “would never e” with an independent West toa. 3 said American Samoans ted no part of the fighting and tbbling that went on among the lation of West Samoa. He said

squabbling had asked for t nr Y e , ars ag 9- „f „ Wa A S m 5£ wai J .Pacific Area Travel Confererice. His remarks were ren a I ° n olulu newspaper.

Sam oans f-fV an *? ng other things, that u the two Samoas umted, American Smnoan chiefs would be outranked and there would be disruptive land cla i™f- ... „ Tuitele said he was a Coleman man •

This last comment is a reference to moves going on inside American Samoa and in Hawaii to have David Trask, of Hawaii, nominated as Governor of American Samoa in place of Mr. Peter Coleman.

Governor Coleman got his support from the Eisennower admimstia tion, and in the usual way of Amsri can politics, some people think there ought to be a change of governor ship in American Samoa following President Kennedy’s election.

David Trask’s brother, Bernard, lives in American Samoa,

iin and Potatoes

me Together

'lew Caledonia in the last week January received two items that re much needed—rain and Aus lian potatoes. [Tie rain, which was widespread, >ke a long drought, which had *n especially serious on the west ist. The rain brought with it some the hottest and stickiest days in w Caledonia for years. [Tie potatoes arrived aboard the lynesie. There had been a great irtage in Noumea, and housewives ;cended “like wolves” when 700 js from the first shipment were ced on sale.

w Hebrides Makes

i for Tourists

l company called Societe Hoteliere ifate (SHEF) has been formed the New Hebrides with a capital 10 million Pac. fcs. (£A50,000), luding the value of a 30-acre block land, with the object of build a tourist hotel near Port Vila. legotiations between the new ipany and an Australian motel ipany are also in progress and the outcome of these is favour e, the capital may be raised to equivalent of £ABO,OOO. t is proposed to build a “Poly ian village” type hotel on a site the lagoon of Erakor, two miles m Vila. It will consist of taurant, bar, dance floor, as well sleeping accommodation. Enter iment will include water sports, f and war dances performed by 11 tribes. One of the principal at stions is expected to be the in poration of the New Hebrides b, with a casino-type gambling nee, in the grounds of the hotel, er plans are for a swimming pool I a 10-pin American bowling alley.

HEF is working in close partner p with Coraltours of Sydney, ich company will have the job assuring a flow of tourists to the v Hebrides. It is expected that proposed Fiji Airways air rice, Fiji-BSIP via New Hebrides, ich will fill the missing link be e e n New Guinea and the omons on the one hand, and the v Hebrides and beyond, on the er, will also feed in tourists from main North America-Austra a air routes.

'he promoters point out that the

New Hebrides has a lot of unique things to offer tourists—the unusual Condominium form of Government itself; the famous Big Nambas natives of Malekula, and the equally extraordinary Pentecost natives whose 100-ft dives from bush towers, while tied by the leg with bush vines, have been pretty well publicised by now all over the world. t

Suva Plans a Big

New Civic Centre

The Suva City Council was asked last month to approve in principle a long-term plan for a new civic centre, to cost between £300,000 and £500,000.

It would incorporate a new town hall, council chambers, various offices, an auditorium, a restaurant an information centre, a sea baths, aquarium, art and exhibition galleries.

The centre is planned for ground between Suva’s present Cable and Wireless building and the Boys’

Grammar School Hostel. One side of it will face Victoria Parade, and another on a new road to be built along the seafront on a reclaimed area.

Suva’s Mayor, Cr. C. Stinson, told

the council that it could provide a 15-year building programme for the entire centre.

The council would possibly have enough money in hand to start on the first stage of construction by the end of this year.

Stage 1 would be a new two storey building containing accommodation for offices and the council chambers.

The architects’ sketch below gives a view of the fine new centre from the Suva harbour, showing the town hall, a restaurant in the centre and the council chambers.

Air-lift of Chorus

Girls for Noumea

As a sort of coals to Newcastle gesture, the Sydney Tivoli revue company took the Plaisirs de Paris to Noumea in February.

A company of 30, including eight chorus girls, went over by air while scenery, costumes and technicians travelled by ship. The stage of the town’s most modem cinema was enlarged for the show, special sketches in French were written and patrons professed themselves satis fied to pay 30/- each for seats.

It was the first time a revue com pany of this nature had visited Noumea from Australia.

A Korolevu For

Port Moresby?

An American travel agent, M James Walton, of All Worl Tours, San Diego, Calif., wg back in Port Moresby in early Fel ruary on a second visit. He is tryir to interest a group of local busines; men in financing a tourist hot project.

Our report is that although tl interest is there alright, so far the) have been no promises of solid cas!

However, Mr. Walton is still hopefi He says he could raise the money i the States but wants local peop in it.

The kind of hotel planned is tl Fiji-Korolevu Beach type—detache bungalows in native materials bi with all mod. cons. Several sit have been suggested—but the firs Idlers’ Bay (“away to billy-oh pa Hanuabada, the Tatana causewg and Vabakori”), has been scrubbe< another selection, 12 miles out c the Laloki River has been looke at; but the piece of Crown lar that Mr. Walton fancies for his pi is on a saddle of Tuaguba Hill, fro: which there are magnificent vie\ over Port Moresby.

Mr. Walton says that the Admii istration is interested in his schen and will give him what help it ca Steamships Trading Company hi planned a big hotel on the sectic opposite the Hotel Papua since bi fore the war; last year it wi rumoured that Ansett-ANA wou go into the scheme to help ST complete the project. But nothir more has been heard of it.

{Editorial Note : The Plai

in Port Moresby to build a slap-i tourist hotel is on Ela Beach, eve if some of the messy-looking buil( ing already there have to be move to do it.]

All The Joys Of

Rarotonga

PlM’s Auckland man, Jim Shorta! couldn’t agree more with new N Island Territories Minister F. L. j Gotz, when he said ( PIM , Jan., ] 16) that tourist trade for Rarotong should be promoted because the] was “great potential”.

Shortall reports: There is no more attractive islan than Rarotonga, whether in natun beauty, in climate —it is only just ir side the tropics—in sporting fact ities from mountaineering to yacht ing, tennis, cricket, football c golfing.

It has what many other tourist promoted places have not got— delightful sandy sea-beach wit shady picnic grounds within eas access of the main township.

Above all, too, it has a warm hearted, friendly population and n racial bickering.

What it has not got at present and perhaps does not need—is mud

irist accommodation. What really wanted are passenger shipping mections which would let tourists ye perhaps a week at the island.

Jndoubtedly hundreds of New danders alone would go north on ind trips in the winter months, h only a couple of days at Raro iga, if they could obtain berths a suitable ship.

Jany feel that the Government’s v Moana Roa should have been ligned to carry a hundred pas igers instead of 40. ind if it really is impossible to ry passengers at a profit under w Zealand conditions, then the p should have been manned lost entirely with Cook Islanders Cook Islands rates of pay. 7here are Cook Islanders in New hand who have been waiting for irs to take a trip home as soon they could be assured of a round i booking. rhere is no indication that the v ship will cater for more than rery few such passengers, if any. e will always be overbooked in ' direction at least, and usually both directions on present in ations. lowever the south-bound calls by i Matson liners will present some lortunities. It will be possible at les for tourists—a very few—to north in Moana Roa and pick up ; Mariposa or Monterey for the urn voyage after a short stay at i island.

Vhat is now wanted is for the v Minister to persuade one of the ier passenger shipping lines that lorth-bound call at Rarotonga— route to Papeete and Panama — aid be worth while, not only in >senger revenues between New hand and Rarotonga, but, much re important, as an added attrac a on the New Zealand-UK route.

Jatson have found a call of eral hours off Rarotonga—with

no harbour dues involved—to be de cidedly worth while from both points of view. Regular north-bound calls would benefit both the shipping lines and bring tourist money to Rarotonga.

It would greatly boost the existing curio industries there and encourage new ones. Adequate accommodation for tourists, not of the super-duper variety but good enough for the average New Zealand or Australian tourist, would soon be found.

No one envisages Rarotonga as a dine-and-dance type of tourist re sort, but as a place for a quiet holi day on a beautiful island with a near-perfect winter climate.

Nobody Turned Up

For The Big Ball

A hospital ball which fell flat was described as “shameful” in January- The ball was a New Year festivity for Norfolk Island, an event which has usually been regarded as one of Norfolk’s most important and enjoyable social functions of the year.

Describing this year’s “dismal failure”, the Administration’s official weekly news-sheet, Norfolk News, said the ball attracted only a small attendance and “was

notable for a marked absence o representative and leading citizens’

The band did not arrive, and th few expectant dancers sat around ii desultory fashion waiting for some thing to happen. Finally at a lat hour, volunteer pianists came to th rescue so a start could be made.

Norfolk News pointed out that th ball was arranged by the Hospita Board to give residents “a painles opportunity of supporting th hospital” and also to give an oppor tunity for the community t celebrate the New Year together.

It adds, “Most communities wouli be ashamed of the miserable effor made on New Year’s Eve, and thi paper suggests that Norfolk Islam and all its citizens should be too’

Kuru Quarantine

Breaks Down

A Papua-New Guinea Adminis tration scheme to isolate the myster disease, kuru, to an 884 square mil quarantine area in central Guinea is breaking down.

An informed source said in earl February, that scores of native were leaving the area and driftin back to the Territory’s majo centres.

Many already have gained employ ment in the main Eastern Highland towns of Goroka and Kainantu. Th Administrator, Brigadier D. N.

Cleland, said on February 6 h would have the matter investigate immediately.

He said that without usini force, it was extremely hard t police such a scheme.

There is no apparent known cur for kuru and the victims die with in six months of contracting th disease. In May last year the Ad ministration announced that to check the spread of kuru, whicl appears to occur only in the Fori region of the Eastern Highlands quarantine restrictions would b brought into force.

Announcing the details, thi Assistant Administrator, Dr. J. T Gunther said statistics indicatet that kuru had killed half the womei and one-tenth of the men in th( Fore area.

In some villages the men out numbered the women by more thai two to one and many had left t( seek employment in other districts.

“This leads to the possibility o: kuru spreading throughout Papus and New Guinea,” he said.

To prevent this, the Minister fo] Territories, Mr. Hasluck, had agreed that the Fore people should be re strained in their tribal area.

About 30,000 natives of the Fort tribe are involved.

Many tribesmen who held re sponsible positions with the Admin istration in all parts of the Terri tory were sent home. They included policemen, clerks, soldiers and plantation workers.

An officer of the Department oi

ve Affairs said recently; ‘But scheme hasn’t worked out. The ; men have found that job open in their own district are ex lely limited. In the last two or e months, scores have just :ed out of the quarantine area, re is virtually nothing to stop ti and unless they actually have i they are hard to trace.” eanwhile, details of a “mercy ect” to aid the Fore people have to be announced.

Gunther announced last year vould make these details avail “in the near future”, le project, reportedly will give Fore people all the amenities ivilisation that are found out their quarantine reserve, senior Administration officer at that time that schools, roads, »itals and good houses would be Agriculture would be developed nable the Fore people to have and crops, and that just be e these people are afflicted with i they should not be barred from progress afforded the rest of the ve people.

ks Commissioners

ew and Old

e Cook Islands new Resident missioner, Mr. O. Dare, reached )tonga on the Moana Roa in lary. He replaces Mr. G. 11 who retired in December, so travelling on the Moana as official guests were Sir John Lady Collins, Australian High mission in NZ, and Mr, ener-Clausen, Danish Charge ffaires.

The party was met by the Deputy Resident Commissioner Mr.

L. K. Pitt, walked through a guard of honour formed by students and were challenged in the traditional Maori manner with a ceremonial spear on the steps of the Admini stration building.

In welcoming Mr. Dare, Mr. Pitt said he was bringing “relative youth, great energy and a very active mind” to the position and “we feel sure under your leadership these islands will forge ahead”.

Mr. Dare in reply said he and his wife had great pleasure in re turning to the Cooks after their pleasant stay in 1954-56.

He said he had some firm con victions about the Cooks. One was that in time the people would be able to stand on their own feet completely. There were oppor tunities in industry and agriculture.

Mr. Nevill had left Rarotonga on the Moana Roa on Christmas Eve.

He had been nine years in the Cooks.

He said that in those years many old grievances had been remedied and the two races, Maori and European, were now in much closer harmony.

Mr. Nevill was given the OBE in the New Year Honours List.

Ansett and TEAL

"Talking Business"

Speculation in January about Ansett-ANA taking over the Syd nev-Norfolk Island service from Qantas was followed by a newspaper story that Ansett-ANA was also

[?] a farewell function to the retiring Resident Commissioner, Mr. G. Nevill, in Rarotonga, Mrs. Mary McQuarrie, signs the official visitor's book. Mr. Nevill is standing.

Photo: R. D. Moore

contemplating “buying out” Tasman Empire Airways—and this was just as smartly followed by a denial by the Australian Minister for Civil Aviation that anything of the sort, so far as the trans-Tasman service was concerned, was likely or pos- Talks between the Australian and New Zealand Governments on the possibility of NZ acquiring Australia’s interest in TEAL will begin end of February. The possibility of allowing its jealously guarded TEAL to fall into private hands—and Australian private hands, to boot — seems remote.

The Sydney-Norfolk Island service may be a different matter. Qantas now receives a subsidy for running this service, but at the same time is forced to retain Skymaster aircraft in its fleet for this service alone. Some difficulties are foreseen on this score, as PIM has reported several times in the past.

If this service were taken over by a private company there may be some difficulties with TEAL because as matters now stand, Qantas on reaching Norfolk Island, becomes TEAL (or goes under charter to TEAL) and continues on to Auckland and back to Norfolk, before becoming Qantas once more for the Nl-Sydney part of the journey.

A storm blew up in Washington in February when South Pacific Airlines, which is at present operating a service between Honolulu and Papeete, protested vigorously to the US Civil Aeronautics Board on what it said was a secret agreement between CAB and Qantas that the latter should have landing rights in Tahiti on its US-Sydney service.

SPA said that if the agreement were honoured it would amount to a giveaway of traffic which SPA had developed, unsubsidised, at a cost of $2 million.

Qantas, in Sydney, would not comment on the complaint “while the hearing before CAB was still going on”.

Wallimn thp

•■cinvmy me

Lsncl ROV6T HoiTIG

Tapini, in the Goilala sub-district of Papua, has had a tractor, a motor cycle and two bicycles for some time. By now it has probably got a Land-Rover as well, The vehicle was bought on the coast, dismantled and most of the parts flown in to Tapini, piece by piece. The body was cut in two and airlifted to Tapini, where it was welded together again but the chassis of tubular steel defeated the experts because it could not be so easily cut and put together again, Aircraft big enough to carry the whole chassis cannot land safely on Tapini’s airstrip, so eventually a team of natives set off carrying it the 40 miles from the coast over 8,000 ft rugged mountains to district headquarters.

They were expected to do the job in eight days and they were due in Tapini with that last piece of Land- Rover on Sunday, February 5. Every one at the station was expected to turn out to give them a welcome. p m an J r nn n uar rro dnu Lon uver Ciii/a'c Aimnrt JUV<li Miipun Some eyebrows with long memories shot up in Suva late January at an unexpected protest from Mr. W. G. (Tui) Johnson against the proposed airport at Suva Point, to replace the one right out at Nausori.

At least, the protest was obviously unexpected by Suva’s Mayor, Mr.

Charles Stinson, who also happens

to be chairman of the Suva Region Airport Committee inquiring ir the project.

Voicing his surprise at Mr. Job son’s attitude, his objection that t airport would “blight” the pea and tranquility of the residents Muanikau Ward and devalue tin properties, Mr. Stinson said: “As far as I recollect, the lai companies of Suva were in favo of an international airport at Su when it was suggested some yes ago.” (Mr. Johnson is managi director of W. R, Carpenter a Co. (Fiji) Ltd.) “There seems to have been no sn gestion of noise objection then, 3 that would have been an inti national airport carrying bigg planes and built in much closer 1 cause it was to have been sited the land, instead of reclamation our proposed aiiport will be.”

Mr. Stinson claimed that Mr. Job son would suffer less noise from a craft using the proposed airpi than he suffers now from RNZj planes using Laucala Bay.

“Where Mr. Johnson’s house aircraft landing in Laucala Bay almost directly overhead,” said I Stinson.

With this observation, Mr. Johns would no doubt agree. He stated his letter of protest to the Suva C Council, that the people of Muai kau, while appreciative of t ] RNZAF, would bless the time wb flying operations “cease by nig and by day at Laucala Bay”.

“Once an airfield is established

ROUND THE WORLD. When it was realised by the Navy of Uruguay that no Uruguayan had ever sailed a yacht around the world, it decided to send the 35 ton naval yacht "Alferez Le Navio Campora" on a world cruise. The yacht was in Suva in January, with the next stop the New Hebrides. Here are the crew members, all naval officers, as guests of the Suva Rotary Club in January. From left, Lt. Jorge Nader, Mr. A. J. Black (of the Suva Club), Lt. Carlos Costa, Mr. L. R. Martin, (president of Suva Rotary) and Sub-Lt. Jose Firpo.

Photo: Stinsons

anikau, it must be expanded and eloped,” prophesied Mr. Johnson. 3 ractice night landings and take would be certain and it is ally certain that in time regular 3-offs for Samoa, Tonga and jr islands as well as for Nadi will nade during the night and early rs of the morning, n the site’s claim to economy convenience, Mr. Johnson wrote: thout wishing to impugn any s motives, I suggest economy be mostly for aircraft operators the relatively few people using airfield every day.” ist how much ear-shattering the ients of Muanikau are likely to jrience will be tested in March, n soil, site and noise surveys are je carried out by two experts i Australia. r. Stinson thinks the noise will much diminished through the esition of right-hand circuits in d of left-hand circuits which Id mean no aircraft would cross any land, but would take off the sea and approach from direction. ’he RNZAF today with their hand circuits fly over the whole Suva Peninsula. Therefore, it ly contention there will be far noise than there is at present.” . one final comment on Mr. ison’s letter, which is to be re -3d to the Suva Regional Airport imittee, Mr. Stinson disagreed . Mr. Johnson’s argument that elds were usually sited away i densely-populated areas be le they were a plague to the flation nearby. t is simply that other cities have the good fortune we have in i to be able to build one so lenient to the city,” said Mr. son.