South Seas in a nutshell

Tourism boom continues in Tahiti Tourism continues to boom in French Polynesia.

The founder of the Mediterranean Club on Moorea, Mr, Gerard Blitz, made three announcements recently to substantiate this; • Additional accommodation, which will provide 60 more beds and will bring the total to 380, is being built at the club’s “village”. • The volume of business at the club increased by 25 per cent, in 1969 over 1968. • The owners of the club expect to announce plans soon for anew 400-bed “super hotel” in French Polynesia.

Suva Councillors want to be paid In February, by nine votes to eight, the Suva City Council passed a resolution paving the way for members to be paid for attending council meetings.

Those in favour of being paid argued that it cost them money to attend to the city’s business; those against, contended that when council lors stood for election they knew that there would be no remunera tion, and were therefore now putting something over ratepayers.

The legislation setting up the council will have to be amended by Legislative Council before any allow ances can be paid.

Cook Is. tourist explosion predicted An Auckland research company has issued a comprehensive report on the potential tourist industry in the Cook Islands. According to these experts, the Cook Islands can expect up to 40,000 American, Australian and New Zealand visitors in 1975.

As the Cook Islands receive few visitors of any sort at present, and as the construction of the Rarotonga jet airstrip has not yet commenced, the next four years are going to require not only a great deal of action but also a great deal of re thinking on the part of local resi dents.

History of the Gilberts coming up A history of the Gilbert Islands up to the takeover by Britain and government rule in 1892, is well in hand by Mr. H. E. Maude, one of the best authorities on Central Pacific history.

He was a government officer in the GEIC from 1929 to 1948, and is currently a Professorial Fellow in Pacific History at the Australian National University, Canbeira. He has nearly completed a painstaking account of the Gilberts up to 1880 and expects to retire soon from the ANU and devote his time to research of the period 1880 to 1892.

Creating sterile rhino beetles Radiation could be an answer to the Pacific Islands’ rhinoceros beetle menace, according to Mr. Donald Fielding Koch, a leading United States nuclear physicist who was in Fiji early in February. He was on his way to Perth, WA, to open a nuclear energy consultants’ office for a Washington organisation for whom he is principal nuclear consultant.

While he was taking a break in Fiji he examined coconut palms and was appalled at the damage caused by the beetle.

Nuclear energy could provide the answer, as it had done in many other parts of the world with a variety of pests, he said.

Mr. Koch said a system, called by nuclear physicists the “nuclear sterile male technique”, could work with rhinoceros beetles.

Grubs of the pest are subjected to radiation and then freed to pass

Our Cover

Little girls are usually cute and these two are no

exception.

They are all dressed up for a “sing-sing” that was taking place in a mountain village on the Sepik-Wahgi Divide in the Western Highlands of New Guinea.

They were photographed there last year by Hans G.

Allies, of Sydney.

on resulting effects to future genera tions, the species eventually killing itself off.

The technique had been success fully applied in the United States to eradicate a moth attacking apples, types of fly-laying eggs in hides of cattle, and another type of moth that attacked the crowns of pine trees.

In Africa it was being used effectively to combat the tsetse-fly, scourge of both cattle and man and conveyer of the deadly sleeping sickness.

He suggested other pests could be controlled fairly easily through the use of radiation, including the Crown of Thorns starfish.

New Guineans go into cattle More and more Papuans and New Guineans are going into the cattle business. In 1969 they collectively owned about 6,000 head of cattle which, while it is only a small per centage of cattle ownership in P-NG, is a great improvement on the 400 they owned less than 10 years ago.

According to the economist who worked out P-NG’s five-year develop ment plan, native cattle owners will have 31,000 head by 1973.

Half way through that Asau reef Breakdowns in the dredge and the giant dragline crane caused delay in dredging of the Asau channel at Savaii, Western Samoa, in late February. Air-freighted parts finally got the heavy machinery going again.

The dredging is being done b> Messrs. Wilkins and Davies and, at the end of February, the first half ol the channel through the reef, which has prevented the use of the Asau wharf for over three years, was com pleted. This work is being done b> the giant dragline which so far has had little trouble biting through the

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irough hard coral that has caused le holdup.

Meanwhile, at Asau, the dredge as completed the filling for the 'otlatch mill. It will later move to where it will create new land m Vaiusu Bay for the new Parlia lent House and for new bulk storage il tanks. At a later time still, it is xpected to work on anew airstrip t Faleolo. : irst New Guinean surveyors The first four Papuans and New juineans graduated from the P-NG nstitute of Technology on March r . All had been sponsored by the .ands Department and had spent two ears studying surveying with that lepartment before commencing at he Institute in 1967.

The successful graduates are Alan lale, of Raluana Village near Rabaul, vlathew Papai, from the Milne Bay listrict, Kisokau Pochapon and Selaiau, both from the tfanus district.

New way to tax Fiji radio sets It has been proposed in Fiji that i small tax should be levied on ;ach radio set sold. This would do iway with the necessity for taking >ut a radio listeners’ licence which nany people now fail to do.

The tax, presumably, would be included in the price of the set and :he storekeeper would be responsible for seeing that it landed in the right quarters. At present, the Post and Telegraph Department collects the fee on behalf of the Fiji Broad casting Commission. There were, at last count, about 40,000 radio licences current, but it is believed that these represent only a fraction of the number of radio sets in use in the Colony.

New Hebrides film entered in film festival The film, Nouvelles Hebrides, pro duced for the Burns Philp Travel Organisation by Spectrum Film Pro ducers of Australia, is to be entered in the Pacific Area Travel Associa tion “Discover the Pacific Festival”.

The festival will run from April 13 to April 17 at Auckland, NZ, during the 19th Annual PATA conference.

The film is a 16 mm documentary,

colour, and lasts 24 minutes, lots were taken in 1968 at Vila, anna and Pentecost.

Approximately 100 entries are :pected for the coming festival.

apuan Medical College

ecision reversed

The Administrator’s Executive ouncil agreed in principle in Port [oresby in late February that it was jsirable for the Papuan Medical ollege to become part of the Uni ;rsity of Papua-New Guinea.

The Minister for External Terri iries, Mr. Barnes, announced, at ie same time, that the Australian overnment accepted the council’s inclusions subject to satisfactory •rangements being made with the diversity.

This represents a reversal of a ivernment decision made at the end I last year. At that time it was ated that the government had been liable to agree to the transfer of ie medical course because it seemed lat it could not get firm assurances a the cost of medical training in ie university or the standards or aration of the course.

lood damage in Tahiti

Torrential rain over several days aused serious flood damage in Tahiti nd Moorea in late January.

The authorities later asked the rench Government to provide 80 lillion Pacific francs (about 725,000) to help repair roads, ridges and water courses.

At one stage Papeete had just on in. of rain—a figure rarely urpassed—in 24 hours. Many of its treets, particularly on or near the 'aterfront, were shin-deep in water.

The floods were a repetition of imilar occurrences at the same sason in 1963, 1965, 1966 and 1968. it their height, Hereheretue Atoll i the Tuamotus recorded 8i in. of ain in a single day. flore H-bombs in French Polynesia The 11,545-ton De Grasse, flagship f the French experimental nuclear entre, was en route to Tahiti from •■ranee in March for another nuclear sst campaign in French Polynesia’s emote Gambier Islands.

The tests, to start about May and ast until August, will again consist if hydrogen bombs, hoisted aloft mder balloons, over atolls. Over 1,000 men from the Navy, Army nd Air Force, as well as expert ivilian personnel, will be involved his year.