Yesterday
p. 78 · Read in the full issue
What was happening in the
South Pacific 20 years ago this
month? Here are some extracts
from “PIM” of June, 1942-
Fiji was strictly enforcing the ban on production of photographs of military significance in the Colony, and a well known Suva chemist was fined £25 for having printed off some old negatives.
It was not suggested his action was deliberate or had ulterior motive. ♦ * * News from Tahiti was late in arriving, but the latest batch brought a report of the death of M. Georges Bambridge, head of the famous family and a leading businessman. * * * News that the Japanese had established a sea-plane base at Tulagi, capital of the BSIP, came as something of a shock when it was announced in an official communique on May 30. Until then nothing had been said of strong Japanese penetration of the Solomons. * » * The copra situation in the South Pacific is “almost fantastic”, said “PIM”. Normal copra price was around £2O a ton but in Sydney sales had been recorded at £24 and £3O. “PIM” said: “The outside market now will pay almost any price for copra”. * * * A correspondent in Suva said there had been a “marked change for the worse” in the Fijians, especially around Suva, with an increase in drunkenness and petty crime. * * • “PIM” published in full copies of two proclamations issued by Japanese military and naval com manders in New Guinea. Among other things the proclamations warned all “citizens of New Guinea” that there was a night curfew, that there could be no trading without written permission, that citizens would be ordered to work for the Japanese when re quired, that every house would hoist a Japanese flag, that all would bow whenever they saw a Japanese soldier and that every one would be required to learn the Japanese language. * * • Burns Philp’s quarterly “BP Magazine” ceased publication be cause of war difficulties. It had first been published as a travel magazine 14 years before. And it was. said “PIM”, “one of the finest periodicals produced in Aus tralia, giving substantial en couragement to South Seas writers, artists and photographers”.