Nutshell

In A Nutshell

ACK leaf streak disease, which ?osed a threat to Fiji’s <£200,000 ar banana export trade to New md, has completely infected the lina Valley, one of the major Liction areas. It has been identi at Naosi and on the Wainibuka r as far as Nayavu. The Waini is another big production area, te Fiji Government brought in rts from the United Kingdom in Tort to eradicate the disease. The rts are investigating chemical 01, but the methods known at nt are uneconomic for small ers, who are the main banana ucers.

The RNZAF Signals Station at ala Bay, Fiji, picked up a signal 'uly 19 from the 70-year-old •ican raftman William Willis say- All’s well”. llis left Apia, Western Samoa, me 30 on his raft Age Unlimited implete his drift voyage across 3 acific from Peru to Australia i he began last year. He left under cover of darkness follow iimours that an American yacht intended to follow him to film -ogress. This would have ruined alue of Willis’ own film, llis expected to reach Sydney out 12 weeks.

The Government Printing Office oniara, with all its machines, ment and records, has been de ;d by fire. The Government j photograph library, two type 's and some tables were among jw things salvaged.

A mile-long cable was sus d across Pago Pago Bay in from the top of Mount Alava rise behind Government House, le end of the month it was ex -1 to be carrying cargo to com the TV installation on Mount . Later, the cable will provide transportation for sightseers.

Britain’s nuclear testing base at tmas Island has been “moth -1” as a result of the current test treaty. The Royal Air Force at the base was due to leave e end of June, and the GEIG

Government was planning to re patriate the Gilbertese labour force.

• The French Prime Minister, Mr. Georges Pompidou, arrived in Noumea on July 25 en route to Tahiti and the atomic testing centre at Mururoa Atoll. • The possibility of exporting live cattle from the New Hebrides to the Solomons is being investigated by the BSIP Director of Agriculture, Mr.

F. M, Spencer, and Mr. D. L. Ander sen, cattle manager of Lever’s Pacific Plantations. The two men visited the New Hebrides in late June for discussions with Mr. de Boissoudy, head of the Condominium Agricul tural Department, and with plantation and cattle owners in Vila and Santo. • The Niue Public Library, which has 111 members of whom 44 are Niueans, is trying to stimulate reading in the villages by sending boxes of books to outlying villages so that vil lagers who don’t come into Alofi very often can borrow them. If the plan succeeds, a travelling library making a regular circuit of the island may be introduced.

Something In Common: July 11 Was

the day and Rabaul was the place of the weddings of both of these couples—Mr. and Mrs. Donald Waldon (top) and Mr. and Mrs. Martin Fong (below). Mrs.

Waldon was formerly Miss Janet Kassi, and Mrs. Fong was Miss Julie Sinclair.

Photo: Chin H. Meen.

• The South Pacific Commission d the World Health Organisation ve combined to conduct a refresher urse on tuberculosis at Commission adquarters in Noumea from July to August 11. Medical Officers at iding come from French Polynesia, estern Samoa, New Hebrides, mga, Papua-New Guinea, Niue, the nited States Trust Territory of the icific Islands, the Gilbert and Ellice ands Colony, Fiji and New Cale inia. • The Speaker of P-NG’s House Assembly, Mr. H. L. R. Niall, has inounced that the next meeting of e House will open at Port Moresby i Tuesday, September 1. This will : the first Budget session for the sw House of Assembly and the cond meeting since it was officially jened in June. • Vila’s new hotel, Hotel Vate, as officially opened on July 11. The 3tel, which is air-conditioned, has 14 ;drooms and four studios with their wn bathrooms and toilets, and four ;lf-contained apartments. The hotel owned by the Societe d’lnvestisse lent aux Nouvelles Hebrides, the tiief shareholder in which is Mr. aymond Lavoix. • Troops of the Australian Army’s rst pentropic division started an in msive mobility and jungle condition ig exercise in Papua-New Gunea on uly 20. A total of 320 officers and len were flown to Port Moresby in

one of the largest Army airlifts to the Territory since the Pacific War.

They established a base camp for the exercise in Port Moresby. • Two former Suva children and their grandmother died in a gas tragedy in Sydney on June 27. They were lona, 8, and Cynthia, 6, daughters of Dr .and Mrs. Felix Emberson, and Mrs. Emberson’s mother, Mrs. Ida Elizabeth Russell, 58. Dr. Emberson was with the Fiji Medical Department until about a year ago. • An American, William C.

Brown, Jr., was charged in the High

Court of American Samoa on July 7 with having threatened the life of Governor H. Rex Lee. Brown had been discharged from the construc tion branch of the Public Works Department on June 19 because his services were unsatisfactory. His case will be heard by the High Court on August 18. • Twist tobacco will not be a compulsory part of an indigenous workers’ ration in P-NG soon be cause of a recent amendment to the Native Employment Ordinance. Em ployees will have the right to choose tobacco or cash in ration issues for themselves and their wives.

• As part of a build-up of the Pacific Islands Regiment, the Aus tralian Government plans to extend accommodation and facilities at exisiting Army installations in P-NG.

Tenders have been called for the work. • The P-NG RSL has threatened to take civil defence into their own hands unless the Administration acts immediately to take some action to safeguard the Territory. This was decided at a recent meeting of the Territory RSL executive.

The decision followed a statement by the president, Mr. R. Bunting, that the country was in danger of being

bombed, “not in the next 12 months, but now”.

The Administrator, Sir Donald Cleland, said at Port Moresby he was willing to meet the RSL executive any time to discuss the matter. • At the 16th annual General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, held at Avundatari village on Malo Island, New Hebrides, in June, the Rev. Pastor Jonathan Wynbong was appointed Moderator. The Rev. H.

F. Peak, of Vila, said later that the Assembly was noteworthy for the increasing part New Hebrideans were taking in the control of their church, and the point was made that the

Mission Council would soon cease exist and the New Hebridean pash would take on more responsibility. • Tenders have been called f Supreme Court buildings, worth total of £432,000, at Rabaul and P( Moresby. The Rabaul building w cost £152,000. That at Port Merest estimated to cost £280,000, w replace a building partly damage by fire in 1957. • More than half a million peop in P-NG are now protected fro malaria, according to P-NG’s t( malaria eradication specialist, Dr. Jj J. Saave. The people live in the Mill Bay, New Guinea Highlands, Sepi and Eastern and Western Highlam Districts. The protection is provide by an intensive house-spraying ar distribution of materials. • Cave explorers in New Guinea Eastern Highlands recently discovere what is probably the biggest ca\ found in the territory. The cave, net Kundiawa, is 250 ft. long, 150 f wide and about 70 ft. high. A part of 18 penetrated into a cave area fc about a mile before discovering th huge cavern. • Mr. Mohammed Ramzan, secre tary of the Fiji Public Works an Allied Workers Union, has been ir vited by the International Labour Or ganisation to attend a course a Geneva. The course will last for si weeks. It is intended for trad unionists who have regular contac with the ILO.