Nutshell

In A Nutshell

IE story is that employees in Ithe chief post office in Apia, ;t Samoa, have been working it and day overtime to meet thousands of orders for first covers of the new stamp ss.

'he issue, which was to be re ed in early July is of eight ti-coloured stamps of denomi ons from Id to 5/-. It is a iplete new set and all the old es will be withdrawn and de

yed.

lie outgoing orders for ips will be the largest mail jr ever handled by Western loans themselves as, in the

es before Independence,

ial orders from overseas were

cted through New Zealand.

* ♦ * wporal Koria and Constable ano, of the BSIP police force, n a training course last month the Fiji police in riot drill and Hirers’ duties, including the main ice and repair of firearms. At snd of that course, they will be bed to a motor transport section raining in the driving and main ice of vehicles. ♦ * * ;w Guinea drivers from Goroka Lae, including two women, re y began using a wartime Allied er-bomber strip at Nadzab, in the kham Valley, 10 miles west of as a go-kart racetrack. In this, have followed the example of Moresby drivers who have been ? Ward’s Strip, seven miles east >ort Moresby, for the last two s. * * * illage constables from Northern la and Southern New Guinea re ly attended a school of elementary at Mendi, 300 miles north-west

of Port Moresby. Among the things they learned was how to carry the ancient shotguns that go with their office. The constables are appointed by the P-NG Administration to keep law and order in their areas. * * * The Commonwealth Gazette, in June, listed the names of about 300 Papuans whose bank balances have been transferred to the depositors’ un claimed fund because they have not claimed money in the Commonwealth Savings Bank. Many of the accounts are local village community accounts; the largest, for £265, is in the name of Mainaua village. Most of the ac counts are in single names such as Manki, Nalep and Boiya; the biggest private account, in the name of Gailol, is for £132/16/3. * * * An abattoir to be built near Lae, New Guinea, early in 1963 will see the start of large-scale beef killing in New Guinea and, in particular, in the Morobe District where large cattle herds are being built up on several grazing properties and plantations.

These cattle are said to rate favour ably with North Queensland cattle where Australia’s best are bred. * * * The Cook Islands Medical Depart ment has now completed its pro gramme of immunisation against poliomyelitis of the entire Cook Is lands population between the ages of three months and 60 years. Sabin oral vaccine was made available by the New Zealand Department of Health and the Canadian Govern ment. It is believed that the Cook Islands is the first territory in the Pacific to have undertaken a pro gramme of immunising the whole population with Sabin vaccine. * * * Professor Bernard Geze, President of the French Committee on vul canology and President of the Palaeo vulcanological sub-committee of the International Association of Vul canologists, arrived in Vila, New Hebrides, in June for a month’s stay.

During the visit he planned to visit a number of places in the Group by ship and plane. * * * It was announced in New Hebrides recently that for the time being no more green snail shell, which is used in the manufacture of high quality

buttons, will be exported to France as the market there is saturated; small quantities will still be sent to Aus tralia. * * * According to the 1961 Annual Re port of Samoan Police and Prisons, prepared by the Superintendent of Police, Alphonse Philipp, there was an increase in the total number of offences in that year amounting to about 15 per cent, over the 1960 figures. Increases were noted in all categories of crime with the most notable rise being in disorderly be haviour (237 cases up on the pre vious year). * * * A Colonial Development and Wel fare grant of £11,150 Sterling has been approved for the improvement of the coconut industry in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony. The grant will pay for a new Agricultural Officer, three agricultural assistants, poison for killing non-bearing coco nut palms and fertilisers for demon stration plots. * ♦ * More teachers are needed for Papua - New Guinea schools, the Minister for Territories, Mr. Hasluck, said recently. Applications have been invited for at least 55 teachers with certificates to teach to intermediate and preferably to matriculation stan dard. Successful applicants for the positions will attend a four-week orientation course at the Australian School of Pacific Administration in Sydney before they leave for the Territory in early 1963. ♦ ♦ * Another plan—the umpteenth— to build a hotel with a casino is under way in Noumea. It is planned for a small bay on Noumea harbour just across from the Naval base, but it’s unlikely that the Navy will allow such a project to be carried out there. * * * In the second inter-Territory Rugby League match of the season, played in July, New Guinea defeated Papua 50-13, creating a scoring record. The match was played at Goroka, 6,000 feet up in the Central Highlands of New Guinea. The teams were led by former Australian Rugby Union inter national Brian Johnson, New Guinea, and Kerry Larkin, Papua. Earlier in the season, at Port Moresby, New Guinea accounted for Papua 23-21.

Wallis and Futuna Islanders are to be called up for French military service, according to PlM’s Noumea correspondent. He says the Com mander of French Forces in the Pacific (Colonel Barboteu) recently v/ent to the Wallis Islands to super vise the recruitment of 200 young men for service in New Caledonia.

He * * A party of experts left Noumea recently for the Loyalty Islands to investigate the possibility of reducing the cost of copra produced there.

The Loyalty Group is the main centre of copra production in New Caledonia, and copra is almost the only source of income for its islanders. PlM’s Noumea corre spondent says the present cost of shipping copra from the Group to Noumea is “enormous”.