People

• Two students have been selected by the Department of Civil Aviation and the Administration in Papua-New Guinea to undergo an 18 months’ commercial pilot training course.

They are 22-year-old Herman Mua from the Chimbu District, and 20year-old Simoi Akai from the Northern District.

The training course covers naviga tion, meteorology, principles of flight, aircraft engines, aircraft perform ance and other air transport activ ities. It is conducted by the Depart ment of Civil Aviation and the Aero Club of Papua in Port Moresby.

Mr. Mua, who spent a year as an art student at the University of Papua and New Guinea, joined the Department of Civil Aviation and has been working there as a com munications officer. Mr. Akai was educated at Popondetta High School and comes from Ajeka Village, near Kokoda, in the Northern District, • An additional judge, former Sydney barrister Mr. W. T. Prentice, has been appointed to the Supreme Court of Papua-New Guinea. Hav ing raised the number of judges of the court from five to six, the appointment will enable it to dis pose of a large backlog of lands appeals, about half of which are from the Gazelle Peninsula.

It is intended that Rabaul will become a major judicial centre and the Supreme Court will be able to sit each month. Mr. Justice Prentice served in the territory during the war. • Mr. Carl Heine, who travelled as staff assistant to the Micronesian Political Status Commission when it made its sweep through other Pacific islands in early 1969, was appointed Deputy District Administrator of Yap District, US Trust Territory, at the end of last year. He may go to the Waigani Seminar in Papua-New Guinea later this year, where he has been invited to give a paper.

• An English priest who has just completed a three-month visit to the Anglican diocese of Papua-New Guinea wants to see the church there make changes faster, give more in digenous people responsibility within the church and use local cultures in church services. The Rev. John Kirkham, who is chaplain to the Bishop of Norwich in England, visited the territory to see how the link formed by the two dioceses could best be forged by mutual assistance.

While impressed by the attitude of the church and the work it was do ing, he said that it could do a lot more, particularly in the field of in digenous participation in church affairs.

He thought church services could use local cultures and ideas to better effect and that greater numbers of Papuans and New Guineans should be trained to take responsibility in the church.

On his return to England Father Kirkham hopes to arrange for some Papuan priests to train and work for a time in the diocese of Norwich, This, he says, would benefit the English diocese as well as the Papuan. • Sir Donald Cleland and Mr.

Douglas Lockwood have been elected directors of South Pacific Post Pty.

Ltd., publishers of the Papua-New Guinea Post-Courier.

Sir Donald Cleland is a former Administrator of Papua-New Guinea, Mr. Lockwood is managing editor of

the company. Other directors are Mr. K. D. Macpherson (chairman), Mr. B. E. Fairfax-Ross (deputy chairman) and Mr. E. P. Glover. ©Two New Guineans have been given acting appointments in senior positions of the P-NG public ser vice. They are Mr. Tonguna Paulius Matane, a member of the Public Service Board, who will act as Director of Lands, Surveys and Mines, and Mr. Gabriel Gris, act ing Regional Dental Officer (Papua), who becomes an acting member of the Public Service Board. Both appointments began in December and will last some months. • The Dutch ambassador to New Zealand, Mr. Van Walt Van Pragg, arrived in Tonga on December 10 for a six-day tour of inspection. He looked at development projects and, after a reception, had high-level talks with the government. • Although there has been no official announcement about it, it is rumoured that Mr. lan McDonald, chairman of the Papua and New Guinea Copra Marketing Board, will retire later this year. He has been in Papua since 1935, served in Angau and as OC Papuan Infantry Depot Training Bn., during the war, and became chairman of the ANG Pro duction Control Board between 1948 and 1952.

When the Papua-New Guinea Copra Marketing Board was formed after the old ANGPCB was wound up in 1952 he became chairman of the new organisation. • Dr. Sione Latukefu, second Tongan to gain a PhD degree, re turned to New Guinea in January after spending Christmas and New Year with his family in Tonga. He was accompanied by his wife, Ruth.

While in Tonga, Dr. Latukefu carried out historical research on Tongans who served as missionaries in the Solomons and Papua-New Guinea. Dr. Latukefu is on the teaching staff of the University of Papua and New Guinea at Port Moresby. • Nearly 600 guests attended the wedding at the United Church, Len gana, Simbo in the Solomon Islands, of Mr. Gordon Siama and Miss Mevilyn Sai. The wedding ceremony was conducted by the Rev. J. Cropp and among the guests was the Dis trict Commissioner, Western, Mr, T.

Edgar. After the service, in accord ance with Simbo custom, the newly weds were thrown fully clothed into the sea.

The Rev. John Kirkham.