From the Islands Press

M HE British District Agent A L £ -I- for the Southern District, I ■ Mr. Wallington, Mr. Bob Paul and Mr. Reece Discombe, went on an expedition to Aneityum last week searching for items of historical interest.

Their search proved successful. Two cannons were salvaged and known rock carving sights were located.

Many items of historical interest dating from the whaling days and the era of early mission settlement were discovered both above and below water.— ltem in British newssheet, Vila.

RESIDENTS of the Tafuna housing area have been invaded by a new breed of unlawful squatters. No, it isn’t the long haired, unbathen, un shaven, creepy kooks known as hippies, yippies or the flower people.

The new neighbours are rats, un wanted, undesired, four-legged crea tures.—ltem in the “ Samoa News”, American Samoa. fpHE arguments for daylight saving Fiji are possibly even more valid than those currently being put forward for its introduction in Aus tralia, as Fiji is nearer the equator than the vast majority of inhabited Australia.

There seems no good reason why urban workers in Fiji should not start work at, say, 7 a.m. instead of the present 8.30 or 9 a.m. They would then finish work that much earlier with more daylight leisure hours.

The present system of working hours in Fiji for many shop and office employees seems to owe much to British tradition.— Editorial in “The Fiji Times”, Suva. 11/’HAT impressed the Chief Elected Member most was the loyalty accorded to the king from the Tongan subjects, and secondly, the way the Tongans and the Tongan Government organised the prepara tions for this big occasion, and when the end came he could hardly think of any slip.— Attributed to the GEIC’s representative at the Tongan celebra tions, interviewed in the “Colony Information Notes”, Tarawa.

TANNA, apart from an early yr light shower, the weather was fine and the magician who is employed to keep rain away earned his traditional reward—the head of one of the two bullocks killed for the midday feast— Comment on the Queen’s birthday celebrations in British newssheet, Vila.

A UNION JACK measuring 4 ft by 2 ft was found by assessor,

Harry Ernie, south of the Sarakota Bridge, near Santo. If anyone has lost the flag, it can be collected from the British District Agency.— Notice in British newssheet, Vila.

A REPORT has been received from a Roman Catholic Father at North Tarawa who heard from a friend at Rabaul in New Guinea, that a Gilbertese, Ten Teinamati, had been washed up there in his canoe. Ten Teinamati is an island councillor at Onotoa Island, and he left the island on a fishing trip during Easter. He did not return and it was assumed that he had been lost at sea.

However, it seems that Ten Teinamati may have drifted and landed at New Guinea, after another amazing voyage across the South Pacific. Steps have been taken to confirm that it is indeed Ten Teinamati of Onotoa, who is now in

hospital recovering from his expenence. He will doubtless have an enthralling story to tell of his adven- * ror ? j llB e P l . c voyage.— ltem in rrir Information Notes’, Tarawa, IN an article published recently in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, Mr. Cudmore’s canoe was reported to be four furlongs in length. The actual length appears to be four fathoms.— Correction in the BSIP newssheet.

WITH the coming of the tourist industry to the Cooks, one particular cultural skill which is very likely to pass into oblivion is that of kikau house building. Certainly the method of making the kikau roof is something which will probably always be remembered; but in 10 or 20 years how many people will remember how to, say, make a paruru are (house wall) without the aid of nails and wire? . lo help preserve this fascinating art I would like to see the Women’s Federation and the Museum Society collaborate in building a carefully made replica of an old Rarotongan house. Ideally it would not only be made entirely from local materials (no corrugated iron or other incongruities) and set on a stone foundation (paepae), but would be

lashed together with hand-made rope completely in the ancient way. I’m sure that the older members of the community and the museum society would be only too happy to supply all the necessary information, while a very appropriate choice of site would be Constitution Park.

“Culture lover”, in a letter to the “Cook Islands News”.

Anon-scientific planting ex pedition by a Bairiki non- agri culturist, Ron Wigzell, has proved one additional use for our life-crop, the coconut. Concealed behind his garage and well guarded by a fence of coconut leaves, is a host of green tomato plants living cheerfully, but almost exclusively on coconut fibre dust.

Mr. Wigzell had a number of wooden boxes lined up with thin layers of fine gravel embedded in

them and then topped them up with pure dust liberated from the coconut fibres he uses for making coconut string at the handicraft maneaba. The only other nourishing substance for these tomato plants is water mixed with Spring fertiliser. Incidentally we gathered that Mr. and Mrs. White of the SDA Mission at Korobu, have managed to prove that lettuce can be B r °w n on sea weeds.— ltem in the GE IC “Colony Information Notes". that the English among us have heard the results of Britain’s general elections, let us re B ain our perspective. The Cook f slands and New Zealand are situated tbe Southern Hemisphere, very c * ose to an important theatre of war, ? nd constitute part of the Pacific. Our merest naturally lies in events of tbis re B ion * The BBC being as parochial as Radio New Zealand, reports few, if any, of these events. Radio Australia presents them in detail, but not to the exclusion of developments in Europe and the Middle East. And surely even a Briton in the colonies would rather hear clearly what is happening in the Antipodes, than of the activities of a Gloucestershire office worker intermittently corn peting with the news from Radio Japan. — Letter from Mrs. K. ■ Taylor in the “Cook Islands H

News". J J