outer Polynesia

. . . and airstrip means help for outer Polynesia

A 7,200 ft airstrip in the re

mote Gambier (or Mangareva)

Archipelago of French Polynesia

was completed recently by

members of the French Foreign

Legion.

The legionnaires began work on the airstrip last September (FIM, Dec., p. 80).

The opening of the strip means that the Gambiers are now only five hours’ travel from Tahiti, whereas previously they could only be reached by schooner in a tedious trip of at least a week.

The Gambier Archipelago is about 900 miles south-east of Tahiti and about 125 miles south-east of France’s nuclear testing base at Mururoa Atoll.

French Polynesia’s Governor, Mr.

Jean Sicurani, paid an official visit to the Gambiers from March 23 to 25. He travelled there by DC-6 air craft, via Mururoa, and returned direct to Tahiti.

The new airstrip has been built for use in France’s current nuclear testing programme.

Pearlshell fisheries

However, it may later be used to open up the Gambiers to tourists.

The group, once noted for its pearlshell fisheries, consists of four large volcanic islands and several smaller ones, within a reef about 20 miles wide.

The largest island, Mangareva, is the place where, in 1834, French Roman Catholic priests first estab ished themselves in the Pacific.

In Rikitea, the main settlement on Mangareva, the priests built a mas sive church of coral rock which is still the largest in French Polynesia.

Pearlshell was used to give the church’s interior an unusual and striking appearance.

The remains of a number of maraes and other Polynesian build ings of pre-Christian times are also to be found on Mangareva and the other islands. • Fiji Airways is seeking a seven year licence from August 7 to con tinue its return service between Suva and Apia, Western Samoa. The air v?® has operated this service from 1961 currently it operates the ser vice weekly.