From the Islands Press

FOR more than 30 years, Mr.

Paul Miller has made a hobby of taming sand cod, so that they will come to the beach [at Nananu-i-ra, Fiji] and eat out of his hand.

It is a kindly hobby, the fruits of which have given much plea sure to a great many people over the years. So much has been written about the tame fish that they can undoubtedly be counted as one of the colony’s tourist at tractions.

But, not for the first time in history, becoming trusting and docile has led to destruction. The tame fish, lying happily in the shallows beside beaches less hos pitable than Mr. Miller’s at Nananu-i-ra, have been easy prey to the spears of fishermen from nearby Malake.

So of Mr. Miller’s proteges, which last year numbered more than 25, only one now survives, and it has suffered a spear wound.

It is quite clear that unless the fishermen concerned can be persuaded to leave the tame fish unharmed, or unless some form of protection can be devised, the pleasure which has come from seeing the fish at Nananu-i-ra will be denied to all future visitors to Fiji, and a gracious, if small, feature of life in one part of the colony will be gone.— Editorial in “The Fiji Times”, Suva.

PASSING vessels have left their share of unusual coins [on Pitcairn Island] in the past and one collection viewed recently contains pfenning, rupee, sen, francs, lira, krone, peso, guilder, centimes, and one Isle of Man pound note which was left by Commissioner Cowell on his last visit.

When two heavy, well-sealed ammunition boxes of the new NZ decimal currency arrived on Pit cairn, [there were] a very busy two days making the change-over for both government offices and private citizens. Everyone was keen to see the new money and the general opinion was that it “looked good”. This was not the case with some of the old cur rency handed in.

Pitcairn has no banking facilities and it was obvious from the con

dition of some of the notes and coins that some novel and un usual places of safety had been used.

Notes were crumpled, rolled, folded in half (both ways), stapled, pinned, clipped, tied with string, fishing line, cotton, rubber bands, and contained in plastic bags, canvas sacks, cotton sacks, paper bags, tins, cigar boxes, etc.; some were new and uncreased, others fusty and mildewed, long hidden from the light of day, but all were worth their face value and were duly honoured.— News item in “Pitcairn Miscellany” , Pitcairn.

MORE than 500 villagers on Santa Isabel Island (Solomon Islands) had a feast recently— and all the meat came from one giant fish.

The Santa Isabel Islanders said they called the fish a sangarua in their own language, but were unable to identify it further.

They said it was caught with lines and nets and when it was placed on the beach it was so big that a five-year-old boy walked into its mouth without bending. The fish was 16 feet long, six feet wide and more than four feet high according to the description of the islanders.

They said that the mouth of the fish was about four feet by three feet. News item in “South Pacific Post”, Port Moresby.

THE remarks by the Commis sioner of Police [of Western Samoa] concerning liquor and clubs confirm a general belief that the liquor situation in this country is infinitely more sane and sensible than the laws purportedly regulating it and which have been openly flouted over the past few years.

The police several years ago. undoubtedly with the sanction of their Minister who is also the Prime Minister, embarked on a bold experiment. They felt that discrimination on the grounds of race and social position was both unfair and illogical.

They believed that the people of Samoa are just as capable of civilised drinking habits as people anywhere else in the world. And anyone who has seen the drunks

staggering out on the footpath at six o’clock in any New Zealand city would agree this is so.

A couple of the best clubs in Apia are as good as one would find anywhere in the South Pacific, the behaviour of patrons at all of the numerous clubs is generally very good, home brew ing has been eliminated, and generally speaking the police ex periment towards educating people to live with liquor has been suc cessful ...

The present policy of easy access to liquor in well-controlled clubs would appear to be the best possible in the circumstances both theoretically and, as results have shown, in reality.

The fact remains, however, that this policy has made a mockery of the law and the sooner the law is brought into line with actuality and the real needs of the country the better it will be for all concerned.— Editorial in “Apia Advertiser”, Apia.

TWO raids were made on vege table patches this week—both of them on Mrs. Gallie’s pro perty at Middlegate [Norfolk Island].

At least a sugar bag full of vegetables was taken on Monday evening. It was evident that at tempts had been made to pull them out but because the soil is so hard at the moment, the miscreants used steel fence posts lying nearby to get at them.

The second raid was made late on Wednestday afternoon.

Mrs. Gallic said: “I would willingly show people how to grow their own vegetables, but this sort of thing does discourage growers who are trying their best to sup ply the need of the people”.— News item in the “Norfolk Islander”.

HHHE [New Hebrides] Mala cological Society would like to remind all shell collectors that it is very important to replace any rocks they turn over, otherwise the eggs and larvae underneath will die and the area will soon be bare of shell life.

Also, it is best not to take large numbers of shells of any one species, however common, because it is very easy to denude the coast of shell life in this way.— Notice in the “British Newsletter”, Vila, New Hebrides.