South Seas in a nutshell

Grandfather crashes again Last month’s PIM carried a small article about the “flying grandfather”, Mr. Max Conrad and his crash landing in the New Hebrides on his way round the world in a Piper Aztec light aircraft. Well, late the same month he was involved in another mishap—this time over the South Pole.

Mr. Conrad landed safely in Luganville in December after one of his engines failed. The next time he wasn’t so lucky. The grandfather (he claims 28 grandchildren) crashed his plane at the South Pole, and latest reports are that it will stay there. US Navy personnel will salvage only the plane’s costly electronic equipment and navigational instru ments—the rest will be left in one of the loneliest spots in the world.

New magazine for P-NG councils New Guinea’s 144 local govern ment councils are now receiving the first edition of their new official journal The Councillor. It’s a 32page magazine in two languages, English and Pidgin, costing 20 cents and coming out every two months.

More members for Pangu Party Pangu Political Party in Papua- New Guinea (for immediate self government) signed up 53 new mem bers at a recent meeting and claims financial membership all over the territory at 7,300.

New stamps from Pitcairn Two special issues of stamps from Pitcairn Island are being issued—one set at the end of March showing flowers found on the island, and the second at the end of September, showing fishes found in waters around Pitcairn.

A cure for fish poisoning Fish poisoning, a mystery affliction of the tropical Pacific, that sometimes follows eating red cod and similar species, has a cure for the first time.

It’s a massive injection of thiamine, a vitamin of the B 1 groun.

Discoverer is Dr. Manik Chand, of Fiji, who claims 95 per cent, cure in treating patients but has not published anything on the subject yet because, although he has proved that the treatment works, he is not sure why it does.

Tropical fish poisoning (which is

not connected in any way with eating fish that are tainted), occurs errati cally. Not all fish of the suspect species are always poisonous and occasionally fish caught in one part of a lagoon or bay may be poisonous while some caught a few miles away are not. No one has yet come up with the reason for these fluctuations but there are almost as many theories about it in the Pacific as there are coral polyps.

Leper hospital to holiday resort?

Former leper hospital, Makogai Island in Fiji, may become a holiday resort. This was disclosed by Minister for Social Services, Mr. Jonate Mavoa, in a recent interview about the future of the island. It ceased to be a leper hospital last November when a new hospital was opened in Suva.

The minister said that it was hoped that if a development scheme was adopted, it would be financed by local investors. The island’s agricultural potential was not promising because of climatic conditions and the nature of its soil. For this reason it would not be suitable for the re-settlement of people from other parts of Fiji who were short of land.

Tahitians learn English in Fiji Half a dozen teenagers from Tahiti, three girls and three boys, arrived in Suva in January to enter schools there. The boys are to attend the Marist Brothers school and the girls St. Anne’s. They live with Suva families.

The whole idea is for them to perfect their English so that they can eventually enter the tourist in dustry in Tahiti. Most of them will stay in Fiji for two years.

Cyclones every eight years

According to the Apia Meterologi cal office, people in Western Samoa can expect something pretty fierce in the way of storms once every eight years. Since the first recorded hurricane in Apia in 1831, the group had been affected directly by at least seven other hurricanes and nine very bad storms.

For lengthy periods Western Samoa has been free of these scourges but on other occasions they have happened relatively close together— for example, the severe hurricanes of January, 1966, and February, 1968.

War graves inspection Two top officials of the Common wealth War Graves Commission arrived in Port Moresby on February 1 for a tour of inspection of war cemeteries in the territory. They were director, Mr. A. I. Allan and director of finance and establishment, Mr. K. Pallet.

Inspections were carried out of the Bomana war cemetery in Port Moresby and at Lae and Rabaul.

NZ diplomat for Fiji

Fiji, which is aiming for Dominion status, may soon get a diplomatic representative from a fellow Dominion. In February it was said that the Prime Minister of New Zealand was considering such an appointment.

Fiji has had permanent representa tives of India, Australia and the United States stationed there for years, plus a whole flock of “honorary consuls”.

To New Caledonia, with pleasure

and profit

Well, it seems that you can have a cheap holiday in New Caledonia after all, and even emerge with a profit. Rowan Moss, an 18-year-old New Zealand university student, re cently told how he did it: He wrote to the French Embassy in NZ, got a three months work permit, got himself to Noumea and reported at the local labour exchange. He was offered a choice of working in an hotel, washing cars, or working on a pleasure boat. He chose the latter, at $100 a month.

He stayed privately, to improve his French but, he says, “lots of New Zealanders use the camping ground —75 cents a night”. (It’s good too, right opposite the Olympic swimming pool and Noumea’s best hotel, Chateau Royal).

TT census in April A Trust Territory-wide census will begin in April under the direction of the Office of the High Commissioner.

Alford Archer, of the US Depart ment of Commerce, who is laying the groundwork for the census, said the TT census will include population and housing and agriculture.

Other areas included in the 1970 census are Guam, Canal Zone, Virgin Islands and American Samoa.

District figures last year showed the TT population of 98,009 —50,272 male and 47,737 female.

The population and housing census will include all islands, municipalities and districts. The agriculture census will list livestock, crops, land use, harvests, tree crops and poultry.

(More “Nutshells” on p. 146)

Noumea teaches French As part of its programme to diffuse le rayonnement francais dans le pacifique, the French Government in January held the eighth summer school in French language and civilisation, for teachers from Aus tralia and New Zealand.

Eighty teachers attended the three week course, and Mr. Georges Matore flew out from the Sorbonne in Paris to direct it. He was assisted by French Embassy cultural attaches from Canberra and Wellington, four French teaching-co-ordinators work ing in Australia, and staff from the Noumea High School.

As an innovation, 18 pupils from Ryde High School in Sydney came to Noumea to act as a demonstration class for teaching methods. Film evenings, literary discussions and an outing with the French navy to the Isle of Pines, were among the high lights of the school.

First Papuan soldier on tour An army commander, in New Guinea, Brigadier R. T. Eldridge and five army officials from Port Moresby toured West Irian for one week. This is a return visit following a visit to New Guinea in December, 1968, by an Indonesian army commander in West Irian, Brigadier General Sarwo Edhie.

Among the five Australian officers is a Papuan, Captain Ken Noga. He is the first native army officer ever allowed to go on an international tour with Australian army officers from New Guinea.

Influenza toll over 3,000 An influenza epidemic has broken out in West Irian. According to radio broadcasts recently, 636 natives men, women, and children have died so far.

In Australian New Guinea the death toll from influenza since Sep tember last year is now 2,300. This means that the overall toll in the New Guinea Islands so far is more than 3,000.

Bottled gas row in Noumea Rapacity of Noumean commerce was shown up in a recent article in Bulletin du Commerce which claimed that bottled gas was sold in Tahiti

at 550 francs while in Noumea it cost 600. The gas comes from the same source, Australia, and people were wondering, “why the dif ference?”

A couple of years ago the gas was selling at 640 francs locally until a newspaper campaign made the local authorities force a reduction. The distributors are now demanding that the price be raised “following the devaluation”.

Sales of the gas is a monopoly of a firm composed of the big com mercial houses. It is bought in bulk and distributed among the different firms. There is high indignation locally at the request of the distribu tors for a price rise. Publication of the Bulletin du Commerce article on the Tahitian price has strengthened the indignation.

Birds hinder Fiji rice plan Birds are hindering a pilot project for growing rice at Lakena in the Rewa area of Fiji. Financed by the UN, the project has reached the stage of planting the first crop, but pigeons, wild duck and Java sparrows are eating newly planted rice and rice shoots. Plans are being made to stop the birds.

Mr. Whitlam: wrong again Latest criticism of statements made by Australian Opposition Leader, Mr. Whitlam, during his re cent Papua-New Guinea tour, comes from Minister for External Terri tories, Mr. C. E. Barnes, who says the minimum rural wage is four times what Mr. Whitlam claimed recently.

Mr. Whitlam said rural workers received a minimum of $5 a month.

In fact, says Mr. Barnes, the all up value of the wage—part cash, part food and part benefits—was $2O a month. These wages were for the most unskilled workers. Mr. Barnes added that Mr. Whitlam’s remarks had “confused and angered territory people”.

Big credit for agriculture

The International Development Association is providing credit of $4,500,000 to the Papua-New Guinea Administration for the further development of agriculture. Among other schemes, the credit will finance the planting or replanting of 10,000 acres of coconuts on existing estates, the development and stocking of about 150,000 acres of beef cattle farms, the establishment of 980 small-holders to grow 7,840 acres of oil palm and the construction of a wharf at Kimbe in West New Britain to serve the area being developed for oil palm production.