Service To

BSIP Round-Up

Internal Air

Start Soon

Captain Laurie Crowley, of

owley Airways at Lae, will

t the Solomons early in mary in a Piper Aztec aircraft complete technical formalities the inauguration of the HP’s first internal air service, e service will probably start ing the month. [R. CROWLEY will make trial I landings at Auki, Malaita, and Barakoma on Vella Lavella Island, ie is expected to discuss details of service with people who may use plane when regular flights begin.

Aztec may be available for sited charter flights in the first ;k of January. the Aztec, a twin-engine mono ne, which cost £32,000, has a top ed of 205 m.ph. and a cruising ed of 180 m.p.h. Its flight range 1,100 miles.

Five passengers plus the pilot can carried comfortably in upholstered :ket seats, or 1,400 lb of freight i be stowed in place of the pas ger seats. * * * A grant of £3,200 from Colonial velopment and Welfare Funds has ;n approved for the reconstruction Tetere Leprosarium.

Buildings constructed before 1951, Juding some that were built in 47 and 1949 from ex-American my salvage, are in need of early flacement, and priority will be r en to the rebuilding of the present I infirmary block and labour lines concrete block construction.

Although there has been some de itralisation in the treatment of leper tients through local government uncil leper villages, and mission spitals, the Medical Department nsiders that it will be necessary to lintain a central leprosarium at tere for some time. * * * From May to November last year, ; San Juanita had freighted and )zen about 25,000 lb of fish for the ikum Fishing Company and the momela Co-operative Society. Most the fish was sold in Honiara.

Announcing this in December, the Director of Agriculture, Mr. F. M, Spencer, said that the catches had been landed with old and damaged nets, but as new nets had arrived, future catches were expected to be much bigger. * * * Figures released by the Department of Agriculture show that total copra production from all sources in the Protectorate to the end of October was 19,709 tons. This was four tons more than in the same period of 1961.

Yaws teams led by AMO Kiri maoma, AMO Clement Ofai and AMO Fakaomea are working on a re survey of North Malaita, where some cases of yaws have remained since the WHO yaws eradication campaign, Spot c h ec k s j n the worst affected villages showed an incidence of about 3 per cent, of yaws infection; and the present intensive campaign is to try to wipe out these residual cases. On Guadalcanal, about 16 cases of fresh yaws infection have been found dur ing a re-survey of about 1,500 people on the weather coast.