Up Front

with the Editor

Some very attractive gifts, in the form of tributes from dis tinguished readers, were still coming into the PIM office when this 40th anniversary issue went to press.

You will find some of them below, others won’t now be published until next month, and still others you will find inside this issue, in our special anniversary supplement which begins on page 67. That supplement recalls how PIM was started 40 years ago by R. W. Robson, and it tells some thing of what we’ve attempted to do.

What I especially like about the tributes we’ve got is that they are not mere routine expressions of good will, using the hackneyed phrases.

Our readers tend to wax eloquent.

As you will see on p. 86, the Administrator of Norfolk Island decided he wanted to write us 1,000 words no less, about his thoughts on PIM. Professor A. H. K. Spate, of the Australian National University, breaks into blank verse. Many others have anecdotes to tell.

Surprise packages all.

One tribute you won’t find among the panel, but which I especially treasure, is a few words from that grand old Melanesian Missionary of the Solomons, Dr. C. E. Fox. They weren’t written for the anniversary issue; they were contained in a recent, personal letter to me, which mentions a number of subjects, and which was not written for publication.

I don’t think Dr. Fox will mind if I quote him as saying; “I write with deep gratitude for PIM, a truly splendid magazine and a help to us all. I lend it to leading young Solo mon Islanders. What a lot we owe to Robson for PIM.”

And what a lot we owe to Dr.

Fox, 92 in October!

Here are some of the latest tributes!

Premier of the Cook Islands, Mr.

Albert Henry: For better or for worse, pearls of wisdom are precisely what they are —rare and hard to come by. I there fore, do not for one moment imagine that anything I may say now is likely

to crystallise a dramatic change in the whole history of “Pacific Islands Monthly”. I should, however, like to congratulate your publication on its 40th anniversary and be assured PIM has my best wishes for another 40 years.

There is today so much strife and human suffering attributable directly to a lack of understanding between countries and peoples. I would most dislike to see this happening to Pacific Islanders. Any attempt, there fore, or any publication, such as yours, which strives to demolish all barriers prohibiting effective com munication or which seeks to build a bridge of understanding between Island territories, will always have my wholehearted support.

A publication must surely do more than merely inform. Man must be made to realise that his world is rapidly getting smaller, and his is but a brief sojourn on earth. More Islands territories are becoming independent. Let us, therefore, promote greater Pacific understand ing.

I enjoy reading in PIM what is happening in and around our part of the world. I am, however, at times disappointed with the lack of journal istic impartiality of some of your correspondents from the Cook Islands. Notwithstanding, I wish PIM all the best.

Acting President, Territorial As sembly of New Caledonia, Mr. Yann Celene Uregei; On the occasion of the 40th an niversary of PIM, I am happy to send you my good wishes for the successful continuation of your work.

We have always appreciated the objectivity and clarity with which you treat Caledonian affairs. We hope that you will be able to maintain your extensive coverage of the numerous aspects of Caledonian problems.

Likewise we appreciate the ap

port unity offered by PIM to get to know the problems of our Islander neighbours in the Pacific. With our best wishes and warm support, we wish you many more years ahead for PIM.

Australian Government Trade Com missioner for the Pacific Islands, Mrs.

F. Beryl Wilson; For forty years “PIM” has formed an important link between Australia and the Pacific Islands and between the various territories themselves.

Through its columns many Australian manufacturers gained their first export successes when Australian manufacturing was in its infancy.

A more sophisticated era has arrived as modern transportation re moves their former isolation. Rapid development in such things as mining, manufacturing and tourism are caus ing the various nations and territories of the Pacific to import a widening and increasingly complex range of goods.

This is a market attracting the keen interest of major trading nations throughout the world. Consequently Australian exporters will need to be on their mettle to retain their existing large market in the Pacific and to share in the exciting growth of the Islands.

Forty years of service by the “Pacific Islands Monthly” to Aus tralian exporters is ample testimony that the journal will continue to play an important role, not only in assist ing Australian exporters to maintain and extend their sales in the area in the years to come, but also in bring ing Australian and Pacific Islands interests closer together.

Governing director, Tait Group of Companies: Mr. C E. Tait: As, perhaps, one of the oldest of PIM readers and admirers, I am glad of the opportunity offered, on the occasion of your 40th anniversary, to mention the satisfaction I have enjoyed during the full term of your publication by reading the up-to-date news of the South Sea Islands.

This is news which would seldom, if ever, reach the inhabitants of other South Sea Isles, were it not for your monthly magazine.

Greatly appreciated and, in many instances, relied upon by the Islanders is your information regarding inter island air and shipping services, produce markets, etc. May l your monthly journal continue to prosper and bring news of interest to its readers, wherever they may be, so that when my own organisation

celebrates its centenary in just 20 years time, it will still wish to be a subscriber to PIM.

Managing Director, W. Kopsen & Co. Pty. Ltd., Mr. William Kyle Kopsen: W. Kopsen & Co., one of Aus tralia’s oldest and leading marine equipment distributing ( shipchandlers) joined PIM as one of the originals, by advertising in the earliest PIM editions.

Since that time this long and friendly association has continued and on behalf of this company, I must say a successful one to both.

PIM has allowed this marine com pany, as well as many other organisa tions, the wonderful opportunity to advertise their products directly to the people of the Pacific, backed by the additional interest for their readers of first-class editorial and newsworthy articles.

We, at W. Kopsen & Co., have been closely associated with the Pacific area ever since the founder of this company, William Gustaf Kopsen, established this close link after living in the Islands. He estab lished the original shipschandling firm of Smith & Kopsen in 1878, at Suva, with his partner Smith.

Chairman of the Steamship Trad ing Company Ltd., Mr. H. D.

Underwood: For 40 years “PIM” has been the one medium by which news, items of interest and comment from the many islands of the Pacific have been brought together into one publication.

This “family newsletter” of the Pacific has done excellent service during these years in keeping each “member” informed on events of common interest, their problems and how they have met them. To readers in Australia particularly it has presented a more knowledgeable and deeper understanding of events in the Pacific than would be available to them through daily press media.

I join “PIM” in celebrating its 40th anniversary and wish it con tinued success in the years to come.