Tonga Expects

No Problems Over

New Currency

From a Nukualofa correspondent The Kingdom of Tonga does

not expect any great difficulty in

its changeover to decimal currency on April 3. Tonga’s citizens are too used to Austra lian currency as it is. For many years now Tonga has been using Australian coins as legal tender and thus it changed over when Australia did in February, 1966.

AND every cruise ship that arrives at Nukualofa (there were 19 during 1966) brings an estimated SAB,OOO-10,000 for circulation among the public. Although this usually finds its way back to Australia via the local Treasury, Tongans mean while become pretty familiar with it.

Another factor which will probably ease the problem of changeover for Tonga is the fact that there are very few machines in the kingdom to be converted. Conversion has caused delays and complications in other countries, Tonga sent a representative from the Treasury, Mr. L. W. Robertson, as an observer to Australia last year, to watch the changeover there. What he saw has helped the kingdom a great deal.

Old currency withdrawn

Unlike Australia, Tonga plans to withdraw immediately the old cur rency, and authorities expect this will be done within a few weeks of April 3. But Australian currency will still be accepted.

Tonga has approached C Day with out any great blare of publicity.

Only during February and March have radio, Press and the schools been asked to assist. Schoolteachers have been given special instruction, and supplied with charts and other teaching aids.

Local reaction could almost be described as apathetic. The only real worry that most householders seem to have is whether the new currency will retain the same purchasing power as the old!

Tonga’s new unit of currency will be the pa’anga, equal to one Aus tralian dollar. This will be divided into 100 seniti (cents).

There will be notes in denomiii tions of one-half, one, two, five a 10 pa’anga; and coins in denomi:: tions of one pa’anga, 50 seniti, 10, five, two and one seniti.

The colours of the old note is;; will be retained in their equivaLJ value in the new decimal notes. 1 coins, apart from the one and ti seniti pieces, will be the same s as before.

It is the first time Tonga will using her own currency. The coc were produced by the Royal Mi London, and the notes from De Rue of London, who comple; designs from photographs suppl] from Tonga.

Copra market repor

Prices steady

Philippines fm copra pri have not fluctuated to any gn extent over the past six weeks or holding very close to an average £Stg.6s per ton c.i.f. delivered weig' UK/Continental ports.

Chairman of the P-NG Copra M keting Board, Mr. lan McDonai reported this in Port Moresby March 22. He added: Actual monthly shipment pri« have been: January, £Stg.63/17 per ton; February, £Stg.6s/10/- ton; March, £Stg.67 per ton. Th« is every indication that the Ap shipment price will be around £Stg. per ton.

This has allowed the P-NG Boa to increase its purchase price S 5 per ton. Consequently, with t bounty of $2 per ton granted by t Stabilisation Board, tentative rm ports purchase prices were adjust on March 1 to the following leve Hotair, $120; FMS, $117; Smol $ll5.

There has been a steadiness gem ally throughout the whole of t edible oils and oilseeds markets, w most edible oils following the le of soyabean oil and showing soi firmness.

This condition may be result! from recent predictions that cum season world production of edit oilseeds may only exceed 1965-66 1.7 per cent., compared with increa: of 4.2 per cent, and 5 per cent, ov the previous two years.

Whether or not this below norm increase in production will be reflect! in a similarly below normal increa in world net export availability yet to be seen, but by and large the is an expectation that the markets I edible oils and fats generally will : main fairly steady, possibly with, firming tendency over the next ft weeks.

>r. Noe is confident

i Misima

E was confident the Pacific Island Mines Ltd. mine at Misima Is 1, Papua, would go into produc i fairly soon, the chairman of the ipany, Mr. G. W. Noe, said during iscussion of the company’s affairs r the annual meeting held in ney on March 6. isked how the project would be need, Mr. Noe said there had a interest by majors (major rating mining companies with ex ence), Cultus Exploration Ltd., Canada, which was drilling the ima adit, could come up with a position. /hatever happened, the directors ild not water down the interest PI Mines if it was avoidable.

Ir. Noe in his annual report, dealt i drilling progress, and said that February drilling was taking place very difficult country”. ; was not yet possible to announce intersection of the Umuna lode the Cultus adit, but upon inter ion that information, and the re > of assays of samples taken from lode, when known, would be yeyed to shareholders, hareholders could be assured that most rigorous controls would be •cised in taking and presenting pies for assay. ampling would be supervised by sultants to the company and tus, and would be forwarded to [•nationally recognised laboratories Canada and Australia for assay report, he consulting engineer, Mr. A. G. ner, reported that all lodes carried 1.

Ir. Noe interjected to say there e also indications of other metals.

Umuna lode was a heavily lised area carrying gold, and e were also indications of silver, and zinc, he primary target at present was gold lode, but he believed Misima ild develop from gold to other als.

•rd (Aust.) takes

V Pacific sales

)RD Motor Company of Austra lia has assumed full marketing 'onsibility of all Ford cars and ks in the South-West Pacific areas Papua, New Guinea, Fiji, New edonia, New Hebrides, Tahiti, 10a and the Solomon Islands. Pre isly sales in these areas were died by Ford Motor Company’s rseas Distribution Operations at roit, USA.

New P-NG moves in

search for oil

SEVERAL new developments in the search for oil in Papua have been reported recently. • Esso Exploration and Produc tion Australia Inc. is to drill four wells at an estimated cost of $6 million under an agreement with two operating subsidiaries of Oil Search Ltd. On completion of the drilling programme Esso will earn a 50 per cent, interest in the area, 6 An independent American oil company, Nakoro Petroleum Corpo ration Ltd., has been granted a petroleum exploration subsidiary of $330,000 for a stratigraphic well in Papua.

The Nakoro grant was the highest single subsidy for drilling in Papua since early 1965.

Nakoro has been operating in a 200 square mile “farmout” area about 50 miles north-west of Port Moresby for several months, ® Directors of Oil Search said in a statement in March that P-NG authorities had rejected an applica tion by them to take a 25 per cent, interest in oil exploration permit areas held by British Petroleum.

No explanation for the rejection was given in the statement.

The area in question covers about 6,000 square miles in the southern highlands of Papua, granted to BP last May.

Oil Search has meanwhile begun drilling its first well for 1967 at Mauba, in the Central Delta region.

The well is to be drilled to a depth of 10,000 or 12,000 feet.

The well is in the vicinity of the Puri well, which flowed oil about six years ago. • From July a $500,000 joint Aus tralia-US project to study the thick ness and structure of the Coral Sea plateau from Townsville to the Louisiade Archipelago of Papua will begin.

Scientists from the University of NSW and the Lament Geological Observatory at Columbia University, New York, will make the study aboard the Lament Observatory’s ship Verna and the RAN survey ship Diamantina.

Gulf Oil (Aust.), Esso Exploration (Aust.), BP Development (Aust.) and the Australian Research Grants Committee will all support the ven ture.

Beche-de-mer factory

for Solomons

THE British Solomon Islands will have a new export industry before the end of the year. Quan Hong Pty.

Ltd., have begun building a factory at Kukum to process beche-de-mer (sea slugs). They will then be ex ported to Hong Kong and Japan where they are considered a delicacy.

The factory, equipment, and housing for the manager and workers is to cost a total of about $44,000.

The buildings are being erected by D. J. Gubbay and Co. The work is expected to be finished in September.

Quan Hong’s will collect the beche de-mer, with their own boats, and

they will also buy them from Solo mon Islanders.

Mr. Quan Hong operated a beche de-mer export industry in the Western Solomons before the war.

New capital urged

for Micronesia

A REPORT making far-reaching recommendations to stimulate economic development in Micronesia has been completed for the US Trust Territory Government by a team of economists from Robert R. Nathan Associates, Inc., an internationally known economic consulting firm.

The report states that selected capital, management and labour must

be permitted and induced to co from outside the Trust Territory a significant rate of development to be achieved.

The opening of the territory to entrance of both people and cap will be of overall benefit to Micronesian people, the report s; New people will bring new ic and create an element of competil from which local businesses profit. The arrival of outside cap will create new job opportunities strengthen the economy in generaj The report recommends that Administration budget be increa to SUS3S-40 million per year (at five times more than five years ag

BSIP will advertise

itself in Sydney

THE British Solomon Islands I tectorate is to focus attent on development opportunities tt in a supplement to be published the Australian Financial Review May 22. The Financial Review i national daily financial paper, p lished in Sydney. Purpose of the s plement is to publicise the BSIP a field of investment for Austr. and New Zealand.

Pacific newcomer

is an old firm

D. & J. Fowler (Australia) Ltd., its purchase of the goodwill . records of the Islands trading firm Robert Gillespie Pty., Ltd., last ! cember (PIM, Feb., p. 142) is exte ing the areas to which it now exp to incorporate most of the So Pacific.

It is aiming to continue, and Is on, expand exports to many of Rot Gillespie’s customers throughout Islands.

Experienced staff of Rol Gillespie’s Sydney and Brisbane off: have been retained and D. & J. Foy will direct its South Pacific operati from Sydney. Although a newcoi to the South Pacific, the Lond based D. & J. Fowler has had o 100 years’ experience of exporti

Big honey project

for Niue

Anew Zealand apiarist, Waitoa, left Auckland in Tofua on March 9 with more tl three million bees to begin a lar scale bee-farming industry on N Island. The scheme is in associat with the newly-formed Niue Devel ment Board.