Chartered Flight

To Wallis May

Lead To Others

Although the French territory

of Wallis Island, 190 miles west of Savaii, Western Samoa, has had a monthly air connection with Noumea for several years, it is, as yet, seldom visited by tourists and little known in the outside world.

BUT a move that may end all that may now be on foot. On May 16, a DC-3 aircraft of Polynesian Airlines will make a special charter flight for tourists from Apia to Wallis Island; and if the venture is a success, it will probably be the forerunner of others.

The plane will leave Apia at 9.30 a.m., arrive at Wallis at 11.10 a.m., leave Wallis at 5 p.m. and return to Apia at 6.40 p.m. The round trip will cost £WS2S.

The regular scheduled Page Pago- Apia flight that morning will connect with the special charter flight, and depending on loadings and local requirements, there may be a con necting flight Apia-Pago Pago the same night.

A leaflet on the charter flight says that lunch and refreshments will be available at the Hotel Molihina on Wallis Island, and that “it is expected that facilities to explore the island will be made”.

“Although the Wallis group is French territory,” the leaflet goes on, “it is suggested that passengers take American dollar bills for intended purchases.

No Visas Needed

“As passengers will be in transit, no visas will be required, but a valid health certificate for smallpox vac cination is necessary.”

Wallis Island, a volcanic mass rising to a height of 479 feet and surrounded by a reef on which there are several islets, was discovered by Captain Samuel Wallis, the discoverer of Tahiti, in 1767.

Christianity was introduced by French Roman Catholic missionaries, who chanced to land there in 1837.

This accident of history led to the island, with neighbouring Futuna, be ing made a French protectorate in 1887, and the two islands were ad ministered as such from New Cale donia until 1959.

In that year, Wallis and Futuna

became a French territory, with the same status as New Caledonia and French Polynesia, and with local representation in the French Parlia ment, The population of the two islands is about 7,500. The people, who are Polynesians, are among the poorest in the Pacific.

Several years ago, the copra plan tations on the two islands were ravaged by the rhinoceros beetle, which reduced exports of copra—the only important cash crop—practically to nil.

In January this year, the islands were desolated by the hurricane that swept through the Central Pacific.

About 300 houses, and most of the food crops were destroyed, and most administrative and school buildings were damaged ( PIM , March, p. 48).