Games Hostesses

Noumea Gets Ready For Second Pacific Tournament

New Caledonian

Beauties To Be

Games Hostesses

From Fred Dunn in Noumea After probably a good deal of

head-scratching and possibly the

use of the time-honoured pin and shut eyes, the organisers of the Second South Pacific Games in Noumea in December have chosen 50 young beauties from hundreds of applicants to serve as hostesses (unremunerated) during the Games. fPHE young ladies were presented to the Organising Committee during a conference in June. They were thanked for their gesture in offering their services and given an outline of what was expected of them.

It is no easy task. They will need to be available over most of the day and part of the evening to serve as guides, interpreters, and general encylopaedias.

To equip them better for these tasks, the young ladies will attend classes in which they will be taught English, New Caledonian geography, general sporting knowledge, and detailed knowledge of the sports figuring in the Games and, of course, all aspects of the Games programme.

One course the ladies will not have to attend is a beauty course.

An interesting aspect of the hostess project is that it will include a cross section of New Caledonia’s racial femininity. Europeans predominate, but there are also young Melanesians, Vietnamese, and Indonesians.

The organisers would like to have seen a greater number of Melanesian girls apply, but natural timidity seems to have made them hesitant.

Other Projects

Besides appointing the hostesses, the organising committee has been busy with many other Games projects in recent weeks.

At the end of May, it released the first issue of a French-English newsletter about Games preparation.

There will be six monthly issues in

all, and these will be sent to all the participating countries.

The committee has also announced a competition (for New Caledonians only) for a marching hymn for the Games. The hymn will be called “Marche des lime Jeux du Pacifique” (March of the Second South Pacific Games). Entries will close on August 1.

Another announcement made by the committee in June said that its first lottery to raise money for the Games, with prizes of one million Pacific francs, had been so successful that a second one would be drawn later in the month.

Shorter Lunch Breaks

Meanwhile, a study is being made in Noumea to assess the possibility of workers having lunch breaks of only 30 minutes during the Games period (December 8 to 18) instead of the present two-hour lunch period.

This would enable workers to attend the Games after ceasing work 90 minutes earlier than usual.

If this idea comes to anything it could be the thin edge of the wedge in the general suppression of the mid day “siesta”. Many people favoured this when quizzed in a modest news

paper poll recently ( PIM, May. p.

Meanwhile, Raymond Thomas, a French athletics and weightlifting champion, is visiting the Pacific to coach Games aspirants in New Cale donia, French Polynesia, the New Hebrides, and Wallis and Futuna.

Wallis and Futuna, which will have an independent team for the first time, will be represented in soccer, athletics, boxing, Rugby, weightlifting and cycling.

Mr. Thomas does not expect any spectacular performances by the Wallisians at Noumea, but believes the experience gained there will stand them in good stead for the 1969 Games.

Both Fiji and the British Solomon Islands are to get training assistance from America for their Noumea athletes.

Mr. Peter Morgan, head track and field coach of Princeton University, will provide this when he visits the two territories in July and August.

Mr. Morgan coaches all track and field events and hopes to introduce hammer-throwing into the South Pacific during his visit. The visit has been sponsored by the US Department of State under an American technical aid project.