From the Islands Press

J J TF any subject was ever H ftj A ripe for US Con- ■ Hi gressional investigation the recent teachers’ “walkout” in American Samoa is it. r mr- I used to t k t at ou educational television system was comparable to a sick baby which the former Governor Lee (who im- ™ upon Samoan youth) had given to Governor Aspinall to nurse.

But as events come to the surface I am beginning to think that perhaps it may be something in the “embryo”

stage which is not yet clearly defined other than apparently being a great deal of self-interest to private individuals and an abnormal expense to the American taxpayer. 1 can understand having a slight re cess in one of our school classes wh h has to go to the bathrooms; howe ver, to close down an en(ire schoo , syst ’ em for d and weeks time som e remote electric / rator becomes defective j s hardly my idea of an efficient or desirable school system. Letter from D, C. Spencer in “The Samoa Times”, Apia.

THE bus driver just couldn’t believe it. He parked his bus at Suva’s main bus station on Saturday and left it for a few minutes. When he came back the bus wasn’t there.

It was found later partly submerged in the Rewa River, near Nausori, about 12 miles away. Police are looking for the thief.— ltem in “News From Fiji”.

SIR, —I read in Saturday’s Fiji Times in the column “Off the Cuff” about the selling of land to overseas buyers.

The idea is very wrong and I don’t like it either. . . . For a start, if you start selling our land to over seas buyers you should have in mind that the land is no longer yours or Fiji’s.

It will be a wonderful idea to lease the land for so long and you know it is still yours and you can have it back when the lease expires.

Another thing, why can’t they give the first opportunity to the locals for leasing the available land. Don’t you think it is fair to Fiji and its people?

Fiji is only a small place and the population is increasing rapidly.

Where will our children go? They cannot live in boats. . . . There is a wise saying, charity begins at home.

Letter from Wainikiti V. Baleni valu in “The Fiji Times”.

IWAS disgusted to receive an air mail letter re-addressed to me at the Hotel Rarotonga, the envelope of which I preserve as a philatelist’s masterpiece. It is postmarked London Oct. 16; NZ Oct. 22 and Rarotonga Nov. 5. . . .

On Nov. 10 I sailed on the Moana Roa for a tedious glimpse of Mangaia, returning to the hotel on Nov. 12.

The letter was courteously delivered to me by a fellow guest at the hotel at 10.30 a.m. on Nov. 14, nine days after it had been sorted at the post office. Airmail delivery, then, travels at about ten yards per day in Rarotonga. . . .

Of the multiple disadvantages (from the tourists’ point of view) of visiting the Cook Islands I will write little, at this stage, save to point out that the attractions are few and the inconvenience and dis comforts encyclopaedic; but I feel it is quite unpardonable that such liberties should be taken with the Royal Mail. —Letter from J. S.

Welldon in “Cook Islands News”.

WHEN the Bodmer sailed for NZ yesterday she had on board some wreckage from an American Liberator bomber, “Go Getting Gal”, which crashed at Penrhyn about 1945 with no loss of life. It is believed the crew mistook the lights of fishing canoes for the landing lights of the airstrip.

For many years Penrhyn women

have worn duralumin back combs made from the skin of the wrecked bomber. It is believed that Captain D. Lumbers of the Bodmer intends to sell the wreckage for scrap in NZ,— ltem in “Cook Islands News”.

THE Commissioner of Labour’s recent swallow-dive from Nini koria’s (inter-island vessel) accom modation ladder, in full accountre ment and clutching a brief case, was considered by observers to be the acme of grace and agility.

It is suggested that his name be put forward for the coming South Pacific Games team.— Letter from Captain E. V. Ward in “Colony Information Notes”, Tarawa.

MYNAH Mishap Not So Minor— a mynah bird plunged Nadi Town into darkness on Friday night.

It got entangled with a 11,000 volt line in a transformer at one of the sub-stations and caused a short circuit which shattered the insulator.

The bird didn’t survive.

But this was only one of the mishaps which occurred that night bringing power failures. Between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m. when a fuel pump seized, the mynah bird committed suicide, a fault developed in a transformer connection and there was a relay failure on the main 11,000 volt oil circuit breaker.

It all added up to a very “inter mittent supply” to Nadi consumers, a Fiji Electricity Authority spokes man said.— ltem in “The Fiji Times ”, Suva.

I CONGRATULATE the broad casting service for the excellent coverage they give to events, both local and overseas. I feel however, there is one serious omission: in ad dition to the daily TLT time signals, allow me respectfully to suggest that the time also be announced in “Tarawa Marine Time (TMT)”.

As everyone knows, TMT can vary anything up to 10 minutes either side of TLT (Tarawa Local Time).

Unfortunately, it is those morning time-signals we set our watches by, and this makes it very difficult, especially should one wish, for instance, to catch a launch from Betio, as the launch uses TMT.

With TMT broadcast daily, we could all wear a pair of clearly labelled watches, one on each arm, but then, of course, we would have no excuse for being late for that appointment; —Letter from “Chronomaticus” in “Co- ■ lony Information Notes”, IH I Tarawa. W