Nutshell

In A Nutshell

\ reception at South Pacific

tnmission headquarters at

umea on February 5 marked 16th anniversary of the SPC’s ndation. Hosts were the re

tig Secretary-General, Mr. T.

Smith, and Mrs. Smith, jrybody of note in Noumea mded the successful function. * * * l road now being built between o, in southern Bougainville, and Kara airstrip, follows for nine is an embankment of a wartime mese railway line. Road workers e uncovered many relics—includ one Jap landmine which, when [oded, turned out to be just above irge dump of similar mines. A series of explosions which Dwed blasted a hole in the new i 16 feet deep and 30 feet wide, nobody was hurt. The workmen uncovered a Jap gravel-crushing it, which is to be equipped with ;w motor and put to work by the ninistration. * * * rom February 1 Fiji people re— ing permits to enter New Zealand s been able to apply for them in instead of having to send to NZ them. $ $ lonours for the steepest airstrip in G—which is a country of jliarly sited airstrips—looks like ig claimed by a new strip at nteba, in the Gulf District of ua, 35 miles in from the coast. people are a branch of the :ukuku. The new strip is 1,600 long but one short section of it a 19 degree slope. Only Cessna raft can use it because they are orne within a few minutes. In ition to the steep slope the air > has a huge cluster of rocks ig one side of it, and until these blasted out aircraft have to keep he other side. * * * raffle control lights are being :ted in Georges Clemenceau Street,

and its intersection, in Noumea, as part of a road safety campaign. In a bid to prevent accidents more than 300 driving licences were suspended in New Caledonia in 1962—nearly twice the number as in the preceding year. ❖ * There was a near accident to a Heron aircraft operated by Transpac in February when a native passenger dropped a bottle of spirits of salts on the floor as the aircraft was taking off from Noumea for the Isle of Pines. The fumes flooded the cabin, almost suffocating pilot and passen gers, before the pilot was able to stop the aircraft. TTie salts were to be used by the passenger for cleaning sea shells. ♦ * * More than 20 miles of a 60 mile road linking Buka Passage with Kessa, on the northern part of Buka Island, Bougainville, have now been completed. In February the road was being continued in the Hahalis village area—scene of riots last year over tax troubles. The villagers had com plained, among other things, of the poor state of the road. * * A 120 ft. tubular steel span bridge —one of the biggest in P-NG—has just been completed near Talasea, in New Britain. It crosses the Kulia River, ♦ * * A second Administration broadcast ing station, VL9CD, is expected to be

opened at Wewak, in the Sepik district of New Guinea, at the end of March. The Admin i s tr a tion already operates a station in Rabaul and plans to put in a chain of

them. Mr. Roger Wilson, who established the Rabaul station, will be in charge at Wewak. The new station will be under-powered to begin with, says the P-NG Director of Information, Mr. L. R. Newby, but a more powerful transmitter will be bought in Australia. * * * Four Fijians were killed by light ning near Nadi, Fiji, on the same night. Three of the Fijians, two men and a 17-years-old girl, were members

Mr. L. R. Newby.

of the one family, who were sitti their bure when the lightning s and set it on fire. They were 1 instantly but other members oi family who were present esc from the blazing hut, despite si shock. * * * As the result of an anony] donation of £2,000 received on last day of the New Zealand Le Trust Board’s annual appeal, cash receipts for the first time to £lOO,OOO. Final day for the a] was January 31. * * * With the establishment recent] a new Local Government Counc Normanby Island, in Papua’s ft Bay District, P-NG now has councils—all established in the la: years. * * * An Australian Citizen Mil Force team of engineers from toria in January-February built bridges near Wewak, in the NG 5 district, for the NG Administra The engineers were flown to NG their annual fortnight’s camp. In same area the Regular Army’s Squadron is at present working or Wewak-Maprik road, building a airstrip, a new taxiway at We airport, brick houses for the ministration and is sealing five r of road between the airport Wewak. * * * Troops of the Pacific Islands I ment and of a visiting Austrs Army Special Air Service Comi caused a traffic jam in Port Mor< in February when they pan through the town en route to Kokoda Trail, where they eng; in large scale military exercises, SAS troops flew to Port Mon from Western Australia in t: RAAF transports. * * * Hundreds of Apia residents; February got their first inside T of what has become a local landm —a new residence for the New 1 land High Commissioner, Mr. J Wright, which has recently been c pleted after a long time builc Cocktail parties were given on evenings. The house is described “magnificent”, but what it cost not has announced. Most reports pu at between £30,000-£40,000. Be; Independence last year, the E Commissioner occupied Vailima,.

L. Stevenson’s old home, whicH now used as a VIP residence by' Samoan Government. The new ho for Mr. Wright, built by Sami

lesmen under the supervision of Ministry of Works officials R. :e and J. Rankin, is at Latava, a farther up the road from lima. ♦ * * mother new building in Apia, stern Samoa, is a roller-skating :, opened in February by an enter ing local businessman, Steve cival. Mr. Percival is a former r. Auckland”, who says he hopes rink is merely a first step in his i to give Apia youth a sports ? and a gymnasium. Mr. Percival soon erect floodlights on the rink t can remain open on week nights. ♦ * * patrol led by Acting Assistant trict Officer J. D. Fitzer in >ruary was endeavouring to find alley or pass through the towering estone barriers of the Star Moun ts area on the West New Guinea- JG border. The patrol included rol Officer R. W. Henderson, a veyor, 10 police and 50 carriers, left Kiunga in January. Official louncements said the patrol was rying out routine exploratory rk, but in fact one of its main poses was to have a good look the kind of border country that stralia will be sharing with Indo ;ia when the UN pulls out of West w Guinea in May. ♦ * * \ large area of parkland overlook ; the Upper Bulolo Valley, near m, NG, in May will be dedicated

[?]ILE LIBRARY: Two mobile libraries, [?]pped with several thousand books [?]with 16 mm movie projectors, which [?] presented on Independence to [?]oa by the US, have proved very [?]lar in the villages. In February the [?]ice was extended to the island of [?]ii. Here is one of the bookmobiles [?]g driven on to the "Rendy" at the wharf at Apia. Photo: Samoana.

as the J. B. McAdam Memo Park, in memory of the man v was P-NG Director of Forests tween 1946-59. Mr. McAdam d in office. The park includes Kj Lake, where a monolith will erected carrying a bronze plaque. * * * Work is nearing completion or hydro-electric scheme for Mendi, the southern Highlands of N Guinea. It will give a power sup of about 120 kilowatts. * * * Fiji had more than 18,000 visit during 1962—24 per cent, more tl in 1961. * ❖ * An American charitable as ciation, the Pathfinder Fund, \ donate £F3OO towards the foun tion of a Family Planning Associat for Fiji. The Government will a open up all its rural health cent as family planning units. Fi °* birthrate is a rapid 39 i 1,000. * * * Mt. Hagen Agricultural Show \ be P-NG’s glamour show t year—the Governor-General of A tralia. Viscount d’Lisle will attend The show has been specially ] forward to May 18 from early Ji to fit it into the Governor-Genen schedule. This will be his first v to the Territory.

He will arrive in the Territory May 1 and stay until May 22. Ap from his Mt. Hagen date the dels of his itinerary have not yet be worked out. * * * About 80 US ex-servicemen World War 11, members of t Second Marine Division Associate were to visit American Samoa in I: February on a chartered aircraft, “1 old times sake”. * * * At a meeting of coffee growers Wau, NG, in February, it was o cided to form a Coffee Marketii Board. Two executive officers, B Downs and Lloyd Hurrell, we elected to help make it a legal entii The board will have the job of ; ranging the orderly marketing of t!

NG coffee crop; it will be financed levy of one farthing a lb on all cofff exported, and will have six membe —4hree European growers, two natit growers and one administration a pointee. Board headquarters w probably be in Goroka.