Newspaper World Abuzz

The South Pacific’s small but active newspaper world has been abuzz with developments in recent weeks.

Differences of opinion between shareholders of the weekly West Samoan newspaper Samoana have come into the open with prominent Apia businessmen K. von Reiche and E. Annandale, and their wives, asking the court to wind up Samoa News papers Ltd., on the ground that a deadlock has been reached among shareholders.

The two couples hold 50 per cent, of the £6,000 paid up capital of Samoa Newspapers Ltd. The rest is held by the editor and managing director, R. F. Rankin, and his mother-in-law, Mrs. P. Forsgren.

They are opposing the petition on the grounds that it would be against the public interest to wind up the company, and they have offered to buy out dissident shareholders at a price fixed by independent arbitra tion.

Petitioners claim that no general meeting has been held for a number of years.

The case was originally scheduled for January 20 but was postponed until February 11.

In Papua-New Guinea, the news paper group owned by the Herald and Weekly Times, of Melbourne, which bought out Yaffa interests last year, has had a major staff upheaval.

More resignations are expected.

The group comprises the South Pacific Post, Port Moresby, the New Guinea Times-Courier, Lae, and Nu Gini Toktok.

The directors asked the general

manager, Mr. H. G. Cooke, to resign in mid-December, and Mr. Cooke has since been job-hunting in Australia. (He said in Sydney that he had dis agreed with the Herald on how the Territory organisation should be run.

But there had been no hard feelings, and he had been well looked after financially).

The printer, Mr. Hal Byrne, has resigned to establish the P-NG Print ing Co. Pty. Ltd., commercial printers, in Port Moresby, with local finance. This company will presum ably make inroads into the Post’s lucrative job printing.

The Herald group is said to be planning to amalgamate the Post and Times-Courier and publish one paper, daily, in Port Moresby. This would be an intelligent move, as both papers are printed in Port Moresby, with editorial material sent by air from an office in Lae.

The organisation is now under the control of a Herald man, Mr. K. V.

Mattingley, who is managing editor.

Other recent developments are: • The weekly Samoa Times, of Pago Pago, was offset printed in Sydney in late January, and then flown to Samoa. This will be regu lar practice in future. Editor Alan Reed was in Sydney for the first try. • High Talking Chief Fofo (“Joe”

Sunia) has been appointed Director of Tourism in American Samoa and will give up editing the weekly Samoa News, rival to Samoa Times.