People
pp. 124-125 · Read in the full issue
Western Samoa’s Chief Justice, Paul Molineaux, in October, warned the Samoan public against attempting to influence the judiciary in the outcome of court cases. He said he had on occasions been approached on the street, in the office and even at his home by persons involved in cases pending. This was wrong and it had to cease. Any person who in future attempted to influence a judicial officer could find himself being faced with a charge of contempt of court, or with a more serious charge of official corruption, which carried a maximum penalty of five years’ jail.
* S-C Sj!
The grand old man of Pacific missionaries, Dr. C, E. Fox, entered his 86th year in October—still active with the Melanesian Mission in the Solomons. Dr. Fox is the author of Threshold of the Pacific , Kakamora and Lord of the Southern Isles.
One of Papua-New Guinea’s best known medical officers, Dr. Joan Refshauge, an assistant Director of the P-NG Department of Health, was to retire at the end of October. The popular Dr. Refshauge is the woman who started the vital Infant Welfare section of the Department. This was in 1948, and she had the help of one European nursing sister and an in terpreter, On the eve of her retire ment there were clinics in most Terri tory centres, 55 European infant and maternal welfare sisters, two Admin istration training schools for infant
Recent visitor to Rabaul was Colonel E.
T. Penfold, who has been visiting New Guinea regularly since 1924 and is a welcome traveller there.
welfare nurses, 10 Mission training schools and 141 Mission centres re ceiving subsidies. There were 214 in fant welfare nurses in training.
When Dr. Refshauge first started visiting villages to hold clinics, the women were suspicious and some times had to be ordered out by village chiefs and police so their children could be examined. The first break through came when a Port Moresby woman allowed the doctor to examine a sick child in the woman’s house.
She cured the child and the women gradually started to come to the village clinic. Dr. Refshauge went to the Territory in 1947. * ♦ ♦ A couple of years ago, when an American television personality was in the Solomons making a docu mentary on the area in which President Kennedy figured in his PT-109 exploits in World War 11, he gave Vouza, the highly-decorated Solomons war hero, who is now in his mid-seventies, a sum of money to get a new set of teeth. Well, the teeth have now arrived and Vouza is the happiest Solomon Islander in the Protectorate.
The reason Vouza had to wait so long for his teeth was that the dentist who made the impression went away on leave; and when he finally got the teeth made, they went astray in the post. When they eventually did turn up, they were a bit loose, but with the addition of some of the powder you use to hold false teeth in posi tion, Vouza can smile a firm, toothy smile.
What’s more, he has £2O over from the transaction, and would like to buy a car with it. * * * Mr. Rob Wright, the Fiji Govern ment photographer, arrived in Vila, New Hebrides, on September 23 for a two-week visit to take a compre hensive collection of pictures for use by the British Service. Arrangements were made for him to see as much as possible of the Group in the time available. He afterwards went to Honiara to spend a fortnight of photography in the Solomons. * * * A plaque on the banks of the Tauri River, P-NG, was recently erected in memory of Patrol Officer Fergus David Anderson, 24, who was drowned there on his way to start a patrol post at Kaintiba, in November, 1961. The plaque was erected by PO T. A. Steen.