From the Islands Press

Recently i visited Wewak, Madang and Goroka on a business trip. This was the first time I had seen these centres for 15 months, and the progress was impressive, particularly in the business sections of these towns.

What was even more impres sive was the lack of trained New Guinea personnel working in the stores. Some of these firms have been in the Territory over 30 years and yet in not one store did I see a New Guinean doing work other than sorting or packing goods.

With the emphasis on education throughout the land, it cannot be expected that the Administration and missions should absorb the number of people who are now going through the schools. It is now up to private firms to start employing both women and men in better positions than is the case now.— Letter from K. P.

Goodwin, managing director, of Aitape Enterprises, in the “New Guinea-Times Courier”, Lae.

THE rusty hardware, rags, tin cans, broken bottles and other trash which some thoughtless re sidents have been throwing around the roadsides of American Samoa, especially in Pago Pago, have been disgusting the public and visitors to the Territory for quite some time.

We endorse fully the Govern ment’s current clean-up campaign.

Its purpose is to remove and prevent these eyesores. Let’s stop putting trash on display!

Editorial in the “Samoa Times”, Pago Pago.

WHILE West Samoa’s economy continues to stagger along in a precarious condition and trade deficits continue to cause concern, one of the easiest, quickest and most pleasant ways of earning foreign exchange is continued to be neglected by the Government.

In March among 450 delegates from governments and organisa tions throughout the Pacific and Asia attending the annual con ference of the Pacific Area Travel Association, Western Samoa was conspicuous by its absence.

There has since been another

conference on tourism held in Fiji, attended by delegates from NZ, Australia and most Pacific Islands, and to which Western Samoa was invited. Samoa did not attend.

The favoured phrase of “poor but proud” is all very well coming from those who do not know the meaning of poverty but pretend to speak for those who do, and who wrongly infer that tourism will corrupt the people.

Nobody wants to perform as monkeys in a zoo, and it is well known that half-naked foreign women roaming about the place offend Samoan sensibilities. But these things can be controlled under a properly planned tourist programme.

In its beauty, way of life, music and handicrafts, this country has a great deal to offer tourists. It also has much to gain. It is about time the whole question was considered dispassionately.

Editorial in “Samoana”, Apia.

IN all the years I have lived in this Territory [of Papua-New Guinea] I have seen many changes for good and bad. The bad changes are the people. They come here for a year or so and do untold damage.

They refuse an aspirin or quinine tablet to a sick house boy, They wear obscene clothes at home and in public and get innocent people raped.

They chop down the loveliest trees in our towns. They allow their boys to light fires during dry and windy weather (sometimes they do it themselves) to the loss of other people.

To informal gatherings they bring their unsuitable “down south-clothes”; funereal suits for the men, long sleeves and stock ings for women. Odd characters and con-men figure in our Social Pages along with the more respectable folk.

Perhaps these newcomers have done me one good turn. I can leave the Territory any time now without a qualm. Such are the winds of change that blow.— Letter from “Old Territorial’ in the “South Pacific Post”, Port Moresby.

TAHITI has none of the charm of Rarotonga. Commercial ism has reared its ugly head, and there’s no friendly greeting from anyone—just that look of “how much did you bring and when are you leaving?”

My first taste of Tahiti prices was at the dock. When the Customs man had okayed my baggage, a man asked if I wanted a cab. Yes. So a couple of boys took my four bags out to a cab 15 ft away. I could have carried my writing bag and typewriter as easily as not, but I thought they were cab boys.

Outside I was presented with a receipt and a scowl and a “you pay now”—l6o francs for four pieces of baggage taken 15 ft.

In my money it was $1.92, and in your money it was exactly 14 shillings. Letter from Ransom Sherman in the “Cook Islands News”.

IF we are to plump for a higher standard of living and its other advantages, the whole of the country [of Western Samoa] must be made an integral part of the venture.

At the moment, apart from a few examples, the authorities might as well recruit an expert to build a wall around Apia, and they could plan and develop happily behind the wall while the rest of the country was left happy in its old way. Letter from “Action” in the “Samoa Bulletin”, Apia.

HAVE the civic fathers [of Lautoka] no pride, and is it too much to ask if they care or know about culture?

Do they know about natural beauty and have they ever stopped to watch the magnific ence and glory of a sunset? No.

One quick drive through the main town thoroughfare would be sufficient to convince one of the seemingly utter disregard of civic pride—too many inhibitions and too much indulgence in personalities.

Have you ever seen such a filthy, ill-lit at night, industrial town? Sugarcane pieces in all forms (dirty chewed-up bits) strewn everywhere? Rubbish on footpaths and weeds where flowers are meant to bloom?

Wake up Lautoka. Get with it. —Letter from “Born There” in “The Fiji Times”, Suva.