From the Islands Press

4 £ TJECENTLY we put out A ■ £ -IV an appeal, asking any- H H one who knew how to catch giant octopuses to get in touch with us. So far we have no replies. A New Zealand firm wishes to photograph one being caught in the manner described by the late Sir Arthur Grimble in his book Pattern of Islands .

In the story Sir Arthur saw two Gilbertese catching an octopus. One would go under the water, allow the octopus to put its tentacles around him, then at the right moment his companion would descend to kill the creature.

Have you heard of an octopus being caught in this manner? If you have, please will you contact your Island Executive Officer and ask him to send an official telegram to the Assistant Resident Commissioner or the Broadcasting Office.

Do you know where there are any large octopus to be found? Are there any on your island? By large we mean ones with tentacles several feet in length. If you do, please get in touch with us. Item in “Colony Information Notes", Tarawa.

WE have only received four replies to date for our offer to loan boars to the villages as from April 1, 1970. If any other village wants a boar they should apply now so that we can rear one in time for April.— ltem from “Tohi Tala Niue".

FOR many years I have watched our leaders struggling with neckties and Europeans suits in our country blessed with a climate where clothes are unnecessary. Could we now take a sensible look at clothing for important occasions Our women are lucky; they can look pretty in cool dresses. We men strangle ourselves with neckties, and cook inside our suits like puddings in leaf parcels.

Are we doing it to imitate the white man? I think if we start using a sensible cool style of dress for men without neckties or coats, we will soon find the white men imitating us. Perhaps our political leaders can show us the way.— ltem in “BSIP News Sheet”, Honiara.

I AM an American Samoan. I have recently completed 10 years in the Coast Guard and I have put myself through college and have a degree in political science. I returned to Sarnia where responsible jobs with responsible salaries for qualified

Samoans are supposed to be the order of the day. I was given the job of TV instructor at a local starting salary stated in the OSI at $B,BOO. But do I get the local starting salary that a palagi would get? Not a chance. I get $3,948. I’ve been all through the administration.

The answer is no. The new adminis tration says that I have enough abilty to do a job that is supposed to have three years’ experience but I don’t have enough experience to get paid.— Letter to the editor of “The Samoa Times".

THE task the Pacific Review has chosen for itself is an onerous one and everyone connected with this paper had put in his best against fantastic odds. It takes guts, imagina tion and determination to speak up against injustice and plain stupidities of bureaucrats. It takes guts to lift a finger against the powerful machineries of Government and against the crafty manipulations of Big Business.— End-of-year editorial, “Pacific Review", Suva.

Maenuu’s letter. Firstly, to be a European does not necessarily mean he or she is automatically clever, wise or rich or that a Solomon Islander who marries a European is dreaming of living in luxury.

Mr. Maenuu’s statement that the colour of a man’s skin is determined by God alone is true enough but can he quote from the Bible that intermarriage is undesirable in the Solomons or in any other part of the world?— Mrs. Stubbs ( nee Ralwyn Effie Kevisi) in the “BSIP News Sheet”.

THE University of the South Pacific has brought honour to the university by inviting the King of Tonga to become its first Chancellor and the wife of the Prime Minister of Western Samoa to become the first Pro-Chancellor . . . King Taufa’ahau Tupou is himself a scholar of note, and his inquiring mind, always welcoming new ideas and seeking to give them practical

BUT the most notable feature of the decade in Fiji is not a tangible thing, though it lies behind all the more obvious and beneficial achievements. It is the development of a spirit of goodwill in community and national affairs, at a time when so many other communities in other lands are being tom asunder in violence and acrimony.— End-of-year editorial, “Fiji Times”, Suva.

THE police are cracking down on glue sniffers who can suffer serious injury to their eyes and lungs by carrying out this unusual type of glue addiction. Four inci dents were reported recently. Police fear that this deadly habit can spread unless checked by parents and friends of glue sniffers, some of whom are reported to be under 20 years of age.— ltem in “The Samoa Times".

AS a Solomon Islander who is married to a European. I would like to state my views on the subject of intermarriage in reply to Mr.

application, reflects the very essence of the spirit that created universities. —Editorial in “The Fiji Times”.

ERRATUM. It was incorrectly reported in yesterday’s Cook Islands News that New Zealand’s Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. K. J.

Holyoake, had become a father again. The word should have been “grandfather”, as it was the Prime Minister’s daughter who gave birth to twins. Our apologies.— Note in the “Cook Islands News".

A LETTER received from the Banks Islands tells us that two small girls made a remarkable canoe journey earlier this month. Cicilia Kavi, aged 11, and Grace Raph, aged eight, paddled an outrigger canoe from Mota Lava to Vanua Lava at nine p.m., having covered an esti mated 10 miles and having made most of the journey after nightfall.

Cicilia and Grace are both from Araa, a small island off the coast of Mota Lava. Item in I the “British Newsletter”, H I Vila. W *