Nutshell
pp. 121-123 · Read in the full issue
In A Nutshell
TORFOLK ISLAND has decided • to curtail its projected pro mime for replacement of the finitive stamp series because of ; proposal to introduce decimal rrency in Australia and her ter- Dries 1966.
A lOd stamp showing Slaughter y scheduled for issue on Sep nber 28, is to be the last definitive mp issued before February, 1966.
However, there will be special iristmas issues in 1964 and 1965 d another commemorative stamp. • The discovery of practice mbs and ammunition during an rthmoving operation near a Nadi rport taxi-way was sufficient to ise a suspension of work till aerts had a look at the discovery, e bombs were dumped in the sea. • More than 7,000 Cook, Niue d Tokelau Islanders live in Zea id. with about another 850 iving each year to settle, says the - Island Territories Department aual report. Niueans settle mainly Auckland with small colonies in dlington and Hamilton; half of ; Cook Islanders are in Auckland, th the remainder in other parts the North Island. Most of the kelauans are in Wellington. • The Fiji Post Office will soon ;e over from Cable and Wireless : Tonga-Fiji wireless circuit.
Other Pacific territories are to be ked with Fiji radio circuits to able them to use the Compac ale, which provides a continuous -hour service to almost anywhere the world.
Lhe remaining Cable and Wireless egraphic circuits to 11 other cific administrations should be nsferred to the Fiji Post Office the end of 1964. • A serious increase in the mber of criminal cases in Raro iga is revealed in the annual report the Cook Islands Police Depart :nt for the year ended December , 1963. The report shows a total 1,369 cases dealt with in the Cook ands during the year, compared th 989 the previous year. In the
outer islands, cases decreased from 1,533 in 1962 to 1,316 in 1963.
Commenting on the Rarotonga figures, the report says: “There has been a marked increase in both con suming intoxicating liquor and animal trespass offences during the year. Also of concern is the increas ing number of dishonesty cases”.
Meanwhile, in Fiji, crime has decreased dramatically in the past two years.
The annual report of the Colony’s Police Commissioner, Mr. R. H. T, Beaumont, reveals a 38 per cent, decrease in penal code offences in 1963 compared with the figures for 1962 and 59 per cent, compared with the 1961 figures.
A total of 4,191 true penal code offences were recorded last year, and every type of crime showed a drop with the exception of manslaughter, which showed an increase of two. • The Catholic Mission at Wairiki, Taveuni, Fiji, celebrated its centenary in September, A highlight of the celebrations was the blessing of a huge concrete cross, 60 ft high, sur mounting a 400 ft hill fort, now known as Vuni Koruse, by the Vicar Delegate, the Very Rev. Father L.
Hannan, SM. • The scheme to replace houses on Niue destroyed by the disastrous hurricanes of February, 1959, and January, 1960, has made good progress, according to the annual re port on the island tabled in the NZ Parliament recently.
Of the 747 houses approved for construction, 516 have been com pleted and a further 188 have the roofs on and require only minor work. • A Condominium school of agriculture is being built at Tagabe, just outside Vila, New Hebrides, at a cost of about £44,500. The British and French Governments are con tributing equally to its construction.
The school is expected to be opened about the middle of next year. • Tahiti, which prides itself on its lack of violent crime, was shocked and angry at the end of August over a brutal assault on Mrs, Willy Barn bridge, proprietor of the Restaurant Maeva in Papeete, as she was leaving her restaurant just before midnight on August 28. Two members of the French Foreign Legion, aged 22 and 29, were later arrested and charged with the crime. • Oysters grown at Kairuku, on the south coast of Papua, had proved superior to imported oysters, Dr. A.
Rapson, Chief of the Fisheries
Division in the P-NG Department of Agriculture, has reported.
Dr. Rapson made this remark to Mr. Luis Devambez, SPC fisheries expert, who was on an inspection tour. Mr. Devambez said later he had been most impressed with the oyster culture.
The experiment was started late last year to introduce a cash crop for the local people. Fisheries trainees collected oysters from mangrove beaches, put them on wire frames in the sea along the fringe of the mangroves and left them to grow. • An extraordinary general meet ing of the Syndicat de PHotellerie of Tahiti resolved unanimously on August 9 to seek the re-establishment, as early as possible, of TEAL’s air service to Tahiti. • A small airport is being built at Kouaoua near Houailou on the east coast of New Caledonia. It will be 750 metres long, suitable for small aircraft. It is expected that Transpac, the territory’s internal airline, will organise a service which will open up this area to tourism. • Messrs. David Gaskin and Marton Cawthorn, NZ marine
ogists, are in Fiji to investigate density of sperm whales in the Pacific. heir findings will enable them to what quota the NZ whaling in istry should have, and what yield whales in the area can be ained. They will work mainly he Koro Sea from the Maroro. ► A severe earth tremor was felt md near Vila at about 2.30 p.m.
September 6. The Senior •legist, Mr. A. Warden, estimated force at about five or six on the calli scale. ► P-NG Administration officials ut mid-September refused to re e the name of an Indonesian onal who crosses from West New nea into Papua-New Guinea at Watung border post in the Sepik. he man had with him his wife six children and a servant. He the authorities that he originally e from the Rimo Islands, close Singapore. • The airstrip at Korolevu, Fiji, being extended to take three ned Drover aircraft.
• More than 400 children were affected by a mysterious epidemic which ravaged Tahiti in August.
Four cases were fatal. The disease, thought to be due to a virus, was characterised by diarrhoea and vomiting. It was reported to be moderating at the end of August.
Jtr • Members of the Noumea Chamber of Commerce have been pressing the New Caledonia Govern ment to obtain the territory’s sugar supplies in Australia. This would bring down the price of sugar by about 3d a lb. At present. New Caledonia’s sugar comes from a •variety of sources, except the cheapest. These sources include France, Belgium, Hong Kong and even England.
Meanwhile, New Caledonia poultry farmers have been pressing the local government to tax eggs and poultry imported from abroad to protect their own production.
Consumers fear that a tax on imported poultry and eggs would help to increase the cost of living, as the importation of these products has always tended to keep local prices within reason. 9 Construction has been com pleted of the Paul Gauguin Museum at Papeari, Tahiti, about 30 miles from Papeete. The museum was built with funds from the Singer- Polignac Foundation ( PIM, June, p. 132). • The P-NG House of Assembly has abolished the right of trial by jury for the people of the territory.
The right was previously available only to Europeans, charged with capital offences. • Samoa News the American Samoan newspaper with its provoca tively critical editorials concerning the Administration, may be published again soon. It temporarily ceased publication in April after one year of existence. It was published by Sivia Sunia in Pago and printed for him in Apia by Samoa Newspapers Ltd. publishers of Samoana. Samoa News ceased publication pending the arrival from US of machinery that will permit printing of the paper in Pago, and it is expected to be on sale again within the next few months. • Fiji importers need no longer obtain a licence to import goods from Japan, except for gold and gold jewellery, because of the signing of Treaty of Commerce, Establish ment and Navigation between Britain and Japan.