From the islands Press

COULD not motorists [on Nor folk Islandl] slow down when passing houses on dusty roads?

So many selfish drivers shoot down Mission Road at 60 miles an hour, leaving a cloud of dust behind them. This rises some 50 feet in the air, spreading accord ing to the wind, all over the countryside.

What is the need of speeding on this little island, five miles by three? I don’t know what effect inhaling this coral dust has— deadly, in the long run, not to mention poor Mum and constant house cleaning.— Letter from G.

Anderson in “Norfolk News”.

SKILLED Australians in all walks of life will be needed here [in Papua-New Guinea] for many years to come. The system of offering contracts for limited periods does not overcome the matter of future careers.

A system of secondment from Australian universities, colleges and higher technical institutes, as well as hospitals, should be in vestigated by the Commonwealth Government, The problem is sufficiently serious to be treated in a manner similar to that of the last war— those returning from service were guaranteed to be able to resume their jobs.

The alternative to a systematic method of secondment is, as has been suggested recently, looking to the United Nations agencies for skilled staff. The time may have arrived, in fact, for Australia to do this now, even if a system of secondment is contemplated.— Editorial in the “South Pacific PosC, Port Moresby.

ON Sunday, January 10, 1965, the throb of a diesel tractor engine shattered the silence of a sunny Pitcairn morning, and with it began a new era for those who live on this South Pacific Island paradise.

The Bristol crawler and a Massey-Ferguson wheeled tractor are the first motorised vehicles to be owned by the islanders. This major step forward is aimed at making the way of life easier.

With the development of new

roads servicing the town and giv ing access to the high plateau agricultural lands and radio station, a lot of the drudgery will be taken out of transporting fuel, wood, vegetables, fruit, ships’ cargo, etc. No longer will a large team of men have to pole heavy equipment from the landing up hundreds of feet to either the Edge or Taro Ground, Many back-breaking and weary man hours will be saved on other work.

Editorial in “Pitcairn Miscellany”.

THE motor bicycle was intro duced in American Samoa only two years ago—but it has already piled up a number of highway accidents. Almost all result from needless speeding.

Both the speeding and the loss of lives have to be stopped now.

The Fono can help by passing stricter laws against speeding, or better yet, a law which would place a governor on each car and bike to check the speeds. The court can give the speedsters no less than they deserve in the way of punishment.— Editorial in “Samoa News”, Pago Pago.

WHEN, in the [Fiji] Legislative Council debate on the Tariff Bill, Semesa Sikivou pro tested about the offensive oily smoke that comes from diesel buses and lorries, he was speak ing for an increasing number of irritated and concerned people who use, or live beside, the Colony’s roads.

The gradual change from petrol to diesel-driven heavy vehicles is understandable because of the lower costs involved. This is, however, no excuse for using vehicles which, because of design or quality of maintenance or ab sence of ameliorating equipment, emit noisome and damaging gases.

To make [a nuisance-eliminat ing] device compulsory for all diesel-powered vehicles used on Fiji’s roads should be one of the earliest jobs of one or other of the newly authorised traffic authorities when these bodies are brought into being.

But how refreshing it would be if sellers, owners and operators of the offending vehicles stopped the

nuisance themselves without wait ing to be forced to do so.— Editorial in “The Fiji Times”, Suva.

THE historic court case at Mulinu’u [to settle the dis pute over who should hold the royal title of tupua ] demonstrates perhaps better than anything else the progress which has taken place in Samoa over recent years.

For centuries, disputes over succession have produced bitter ness and war, just as they did in Europe. Now, Samoa has reached the stage where respect of Western justice is widespread, and the unique blend of Western and Polynesian culture which is ex pressed in the Land and Titles Court has brought about a digni fied and just conclusion to the disagreement.— Editorial in the ‘‘Samoa Bulletin”, Apia.

THE mainland Press always makes a considerable fuss about equal rights for aboriginies.

Just imagine the fuss if an evening paper given to sensationalism dis covers that Australians [not classed as Lord Howe Islanders] can live on Lord Howe Island (part of NSW) all their life and yet not be entitled to nominate for election to the Island Com mittee, our only form of self government.—Editorial in the “Lord Howe Island Signal”.

LOOKING through any one of the available world’s news papers and magazines for a few hours is enough to cause one’s mood to hit emotional bottom.

The uniformity of the picture of death, disaster and destruction is a clear indication that either these are the things that news writers like to pen about or else these are the things the reading public demands. Clearly good news of any kind takes the back of the back seat , . .

Maybe the Cook Islands are different. There seems to be more good news to write about than bad; good news about crops, lucky fishermen, Housing Scheme suc cess, business. Good news about a people who are busy building model communities that would be the envy of Korea, Vietnam, Alabama, the Congo and a few dozen other places.— Editorial in the “Cook Islands News”.