Letters To The Editors

Pacific Historical Material “Should Stay In

SIR, —1 was interested to read in PIM, July, p. 37, of the

Colonial Record Project being

sponsored by the University of

Oxford. [ln a letter to PIM, Mr. John Tawney, a member of the project, asked Islands residents to supply the university with any material likely to be of value to future British colonial historians. It would be given a permanent home, or copied if necessary.] The Rhodes House branch of the Bodleian Library, where it is pro posed to preserve records received in response to the present appeal, has served British colonial historians ad mirably for many years. However, re latively little work on the history of the British territories in the Pacific has been done, or seems likely to be done, either in Oxford or elsewhere in England.

As one who taught British colonial history in the University of Cam bridge (and worked considerably in Rhodes House Library) before coming to Australia, I make this statement as one of fact, not merely of surmise.

Research on the history of the Pacific Islands territories is carried out mainly in Australia and New Zea land. Therefore, if the owners of Pacific material are interested in its being effectively used, they would do better to deposit it in one of the major libraries in the area.

The National Library of Australia in Canberra, the Mitchell Library in Sydney, and the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington, in particular, have facilities for caring for histori cal records in no way inferior to those available in Oxford. In addition, they already possess large Pacific col lections and expert knowledge of Pacific records.

These facts, like the existing in terest of local scholars in the Pacific, make it certain that they will remain the most important centres of histori cal research relating to the Pacific.

The Department of Pacific History in the Australian National University,

of which I am head, would always be glad to advise the owners of Paci fic material on its preservation and possible deposit in an appropriate library.

We should also be glad to arrange for its preservation in the Australian National University, if this should be preferred; but we regard our own function as being primarily that of offering advice and assistance and are happy to leave responsibility for per manent preservation in the hands of those Australian and New Zealand libraries that already possess major collections of Pacific material.— Yours, etc.

J. W. Davidson

Professor of Pacific History, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, Canberra.

New Hebrides Copra Sir.—A number of us in the New Hebrides would welcome a move to prevent poor quality copra being accepted by some local firms.

A great loss is incurred through shrinkage by diligent copra produ cers when their copra is shipped in bulk and contaminated by carelessly prepared copra, which is sold “on the beach”.

This carelessly prepared stuff is only partly cooked and its high water content results in rapid fer mentation in ships’ holds, so that finally the copra is reduced to a pulpy, putrid mush. The good copra surrounding this mass of decay can not hope to escape this contamina tion.

Some local producers have perse vered to establish a steady market in Japan where copra may be shipped independently in branded bags. This measure is proving satis factory, with an insignificant loss on shrinkage. The Japanese are mindful of “low acid value—high oil con tent” and will not accept rubbish.

Only a handful of “free men” in the New Hebrides are able to have business with outside firms. Unfor tunately, the remainder are held down by local firms on account of out standing debts incurred during harder times (still hard!) and these cannot take advantage of any progressive venture. Some may have regrets; others are probably past the stage of caring, anyway. However, this attitude does not help promote the

New Hebrides’ good name for which some of us care.

Copra grading, undertaken by some unbiased local person (to save expenses of an imported inspector) may be the best way to help all those in present difficulties.—Yours, etc.

Planter.

New Hebrides.

Behind Scenes With Tonga's Hotel Plans Sir.—l note the widespread interest resulting from the article by Sydney sider on Tonga that appeared in your issue of January, 1963. I see you have printed several letters you have received from interested persons, the last being from Mr. M. Finau, which appeared in June.

In view of the fact that my nego tiations to construct and operate a hotel in Tonga are being continually mentioned in these articles, I be lieve the following very brief ex planation of the facts by me should be made known to all interested parties.

I first visited Tonga in 1959 and was appalled by the economic plight of the people of that island Kingdom.

While there, several Tongans sug gested that I consider constructing and operating a first class hotel in the capital of Nukualofa.

After giving these suggestions my serious consideration I concluded: Firstly that inasmuch as there were no hotel facilities in Tonga such an investment could, with the proper know-how, be a profitable operation.

Secondly, the construction and opera tion of a hotel would not take any thing out of Tonga but would, on the contrary, bring considerable foreign money into the country, re sulting in the economic uplift of the entire Tongan population who are very poor and in bad need of assistance.

For me this accomplishment would be very pleasant, desirable and humanitarian. There are ample in vestment opportunities in my country that comply with the necessary first consideration of operating at a profit. However, most investments here do not offer the personal satis faction of having a profitable busi ness and at the same time having so many needy people benefiting thereby.

In view of the foregoing I com

menced negotiating with the Tongan Government to independently con struct a hotel there. This resulted in a counter proposal by Tonga that I construct and operate a hotel jointly with them.

We proceeded to negotiate on the basis of 40 per cent, ownership by the Tongan Government and 60 per cent, by me.

About this time I ran into trouble, under the Tongan Contract Act, with Messrs. L. and M. Finau. Inasmuch as Mr. L. Finau was an official of the Tongan Government I became quite concerned about the situation and made a very determined, but unsuccessful, effort to resolve the

matter. This failure resulted in my breaking off the negotiations with the Tongan Government for the con struction and operation of a hotel at Nukualofa.

I had previously submitted to the United States Government the ques tion of my making an investment in Tonga and therefore found it neces sary to make a full report to my Government outlining the reasons why 1 had terminated the negotia tions.

Mr. M. Finau in his article refers to me as an alleged millionaire.

Suffice to say that I had sufficient cash on hand to construct, equip, stock and operate the hotel inde

pendently, and operating in conjunc tion with the Tongan Government would have required 40 per cent, less capital.

Please note Mr. M. Finau’s fol lowing statement is certainly incon sistent to say the least. In the one single paragraph he states that the matter was put before the Privy Council and was not approved. In the following sentence he states that there were no restrictions imposed and that I could go ahead with the project if I wished.

In reply to this I can only say that I would reconsider the project if Tonga removes the cause of my terminating the negotiations.—Yours,

etc.

Lewis A. Crank.

Cranks Road, Culver City, California, USA.

P-NG "Crash" Trainees SIR, —In your July issue, the ar ticle “New Guinea’s Education Sys tem is in Gear —At Last” misrepre sented several facets of the Papua and New Guinea educational scene.

Your reporter is misinformed as to the general educational programme and has failed to check readily avail able facts and figures. One illustration covering a major section of the article will serve to show this.

It was reported that there was a 35 per cent, wastage of the Australians trained for six months in the Terri tory for service in primary schools.

The actual position is that 172 have completed training to date. One hun dred and sixty-three of these —that is, 95 per cent. —remain in the service, as of now. The wastage rate is thus 5 per cent., less than the Public Ser vice as a whole, and much less than would be expected from such a scheme. There have been many appli cants for each course, enabling a very good selection: not as reported, “many obviously unsuitable persons were recruited”.

Your journal does less than justice to a group of men who, by and large, have come to Papua and New Guinea with a sense of service and a willing ness to accept isolated conditions un surpassed anywhere else in the Public Service. Most are serving under con ditions others, including patrol offi cers, do not have to put up with.

While there have been some failures, and some outstanding successes, your readers will certainly want to know that the overall standard has been

quite high and the results they achieve good.—Yours, etc.

ken r. McKinnon

Superintendent of Schools, Primary Education, Port Moresby. • R. W. ROBSON REPLIES : I am the writer concerned —the article was signed by “A Staff Writer”—and I am not a “reporter”. Neither am 1 guilty of “misrepresentation”.

I did not say that there was “a 35 per cent, wastage of Australians trained for six months in the Terri tory for service in primary schools.”

What I said was that it was surprising that the Department’s catch-as-catch can system of recruiting persons in Australia for “crash” training in New Guinea did not give a casualty rate higher than 35 per cent.

Mr. McKinnon counts only the persons who had survived the six months’ training, and gone out into the bush. Of the 172, no less than 163 have remained—a very good sur vival rate.

I was not discussing those “gradu ates” who got through the “crash” training: it surely was apparent that

BIG CATCH: If you think this man is fishing, you've been caught hook, line and sinker. He's flying a kite, at which he is an expert.

The man is long-time Rabaul resi dent Louis Leitao, formerly of Macao, who can be seen flying his kites any weekend in Rabaul's Queen Elizabeth Park. He is also a keen fisherman, so the rod has a double purpose.

I was referring to the wastage from recruitment in Australia, onwards.

I was not attempting to analyse the Territory’s present education through “readily available facts and figures”.

Any writer led up that confusing path, by the typical bureaucrat who hates newspaper publicity anyhow, is almost always smothered under masses of statistics.

I was concerned only with the over-all picture—Australia’s progress in making some two million blankly illiterate natives a little less illiterate.

I have been making that survey at intervals for the last 33 years; and, if Mr. McKinnon wants facts and figures, I might some day quote statis tics to show the colossal amount that Australia has poured down the edu cation drain, in money and in wasted effort, since 1930.

That was why my article of July, 1963, had much more praise than blame in it, as even the heading in dicated. We have been glad to note that Australia is doing now, with some success, what should have been done long years ago. But, observing the sour note sounded by the Super intendent of Primary Schools, no one would guess it.

Mystery Obelisk in NG Sir.—There is, on Kalili plantation, on the west coast of New Ireland, an obelisk, now in poor condition (it is on its side), bearing the word “Planet”.

Although I have worked on small ships in these waters for three years now, and was overseer on Kalili for the best part of a year prior to this, I have discovered practically nothing regarding this obelisk or the ship herself. Planet was, apparently, a German gunboat and had been en gaged in survey work—eg,. Planet Harbour, in the Vitu Group.

I would be grateful if you could enlighten me as to the possible pur pose of this marker, which is on the beach inside Kalili Harbour, about 100 yards north east of the jetty. Perhaps it has some historical significance of value which deserves its restoration.—Yours, etc.,

David Dean.

M/V Kulu, Rabaul. • Captain Rhodes’s Pageant of the Pacific, vol. 11, shows that when World War I broke out there was in Rabaul a German gunboat of 650 tons called the Planet and described as a surveying ship. On August 1, 1914, three days before the declara tion of war and on the direct orders

of Admiral von Spec, the Planet left for Yap in the Palau Group.

It seems likely she was the vessel concerned—but why did she put this marker on Kilili Plantation on the west coast of New Ireland?— Editors.

It's Octopuses

Sir.—An issue or so back you put the query “What is the plural of octopus? Is it ‘octopuses’, or ‘oc topi’?”

Having no reliable reference avail able, I put the question to Professor L. C. Birch (Challis Professor of Biology, University of Sydney).

His reply exactly confirms that of our old Professor of Zoology at the same place many years ago. I quote it; “Octopus comes from the Greek, and its plural is octopodes. How ever, the Oxford Dictionary, whilst giving octopodes as the plural, also gives octopuses which is common usage, and can be regarded as cor rect also.”

For my part—and at the expense of sounding pedantic—l will con tinue to use octopodes, if only on the ground that it’s easier to say.— Yours, etc.

“GH”

Wewak, New Guinea.