From the Islands Press

//j WOULD like to talk ■ A about bride price. I feel H HI very strongly that paying a very, very high price for a girl is very wrong in some ways.

The idea of paying a girl to be come a woman is quite all right but the amount should be a bit lower.

The payment of a bride price is really a payment to the girl’s family because they cared for her as a baby.

They loved her and taught her all the skills of a Papuan woman. I would say that this custom does not help the life of the church member at all. True love, which the parents have given to their daughter, does not

ask for any reward for the things it has done.

Money bride price does not matter, but what should matter most of all is the true happiness of the daughters. This happiness is what parents should think about and not how much money they should get from daughters.

I would say that bride price is just a show of pride. The larger the gift of money is, then the greater show they have, and the more pride there is in it. If anyone likes to speak against me, he or she can write back.— Letter from Miss A. Aiva Morea, Gemo Island Hospital in the “South Pacific Post”, Port Moresby.

IBEG to re-open the controversial case regarding the Fijiana Night Club which is in the heart of Nadi Town. Since we moved in to a new building about 13 days ago we have not had a single night without being disturbed.

The music and cheers go full blast until the early hours of the morning and during my 13 days stay I found that in a few cases, they even make noise till 3 a.m. in the open rear balcony.

I am entitled to fair protection against all this and sincerely request the authorities concerned to do something about it. —Letter from Ratilal Narotam in “The Fiji Times”.

THE magistrate in Lae District Court this week told four card players they had lost and now owed the government money. Mr, T.

Mitchell said: “You have played cards, which is unlawful, and now the government wants $4O from you —you lose”. —ltem in the “Times Courier", Lae.

TONGA has pretty high hopes of finding oil after the discovery of an oil seepage a while back. Much hard cash is going to be spent in Tonga anyway to find out.

Fiji has also got the bug and the whole population, even on the re mote islands, is on the lookout for oil or a gas seepage.

Perhaps we should start looking, too. Is there oil in the Cook Islands?

Or is there oil somewhere beneath our 850,000 square miles of ter ritorial water? Who knows?

What about that mysterious fire that regularly burns on the Penrhyn lagoon? Is it some rare gas that ignites on contact with the air? My guess is as good as yours. Can we afford not to find out and not to have a close look? —Letter from lan A. Forbes in the “Cook Islands News”.

UNDER a public notice issued in April, 1968, consumers were advised “to be very careful in the use of water”. We were advised that wells at Betio and Bikenibeu were showing indications of a reduced out put capacity. Very sensibly a ration ing system was introduced so as to lessen the supply of water throughout the water supply systems.

Now, two months later, despite 30 in. of rain in January and February and a considerable amount of rain during March, water ration ing still persists. Our atoll is in danger of floating away yet we still continue to conserve our water.

Maybe the time has come to stop the rationing but on the other hand there are probably good reasons why it should continue.— Letter from “ Water-logged” in “Colony Informa tion Notes”, Tarawa.

TT would appear that the police A are powerless to stop the con tinued vandalism experienced at the British Red Cross Hall in Ba. Over 40 louvre windows have been broken and the executive staff had steel mesh frames fitted to overcome this damage. . . .

On three occasions the back door has been broken in, so it was neces sary to place steel fixtures with cross bars on the inside of the door.

Unless this vandalism can be stopped our society will be forced to close the building to all using the hall for entertainment purposes.— Letter from G. A. Howan in “The Fiji Times'’, Suva.

A SPOKESMAN for the NZ Ministry of Works team now building the post office extension and the Aroa radio station, said that some time ago they had a thermo meter to indicate the heat they worked under. The present con tinuous heat wave, he asserted, wrecked the instrument when some weeks ago it rose to 125 degrees in the open sun on top of the build ing!—ltem in “Cook Islands News”, Rarotonga.

TV/ffRS. Gwen Stanton, of Norfolk Florists, is taking a week off.

Anyone in need of floral tributes, etc., is asked to leave a message with either Mr. Capper of the Shoe Shop or Mrs. Dukes of “The Dolls House” in Pinedale Place Shopping Centre.— Item in “The Norfolk Islander”.

LOST within the road area of Pue and Avarua Picture Theatre— a post office box key with a Corned Beef opener hammered flat at pointed end and a BSA motor-bike key.

These are attached to a key ring holder. Finder, please return to owner at Survey Office. could be possible. Notice ir mm |B “Cook Islands News”, Raro- H H tonga. f f