The Editor's Mailbag

Those Behind New

Hebrides Airways

Sir, —I feel I cannot remain silent any longer in the light of your recent article on New Hebrides Air way {PIM, Aug. p. 44).

I do feel perhaps that I am getting the lion’s share of the limelight of this saga, and perhaps I could fill a few gaps, and place some credit where it belongs.

The late Paul Burton, my wife Mrs. K. C. Paul and Sister Margery Heard, and the people of Tanna. were the original shareholders, with Burton and myself as directors and Mrs. Paul as company secretary.

Sister Heard, being an employee of the Presbyterian Mission, could not actively take part.

The political troubles we en countered are well-known, but whilst Burton flew and maintained the original aircraft and worked extra ordinary hours, Mrs. Paul turned our home into a transit house for all and sundry—thus in sheer self defence the “Tanna Bungalows” were built.

Because of the refusal of the governments to make the normal facilities of aviation available to New Hebrides Airways, Burton was forced to fly and work under con ditions and hours that for a man of his age, 57 years old when he died, were extraordinary.

Sometimes he flew up to 120 hours per month and maintained the air craft himself, including engine changes, which were done in the open, with nothing more than a box of tools and a home made trestle to lift the motor out.

He lived for the airline and 1 am sure the many desperately-ill people whom he evacuated in any weather, any time (he was never known to consider the weather when a medical emergency was on) would support me in saying that Paul Burton was all man, and a magnificient pilot.

There were many others who gave their all, including the Tannese people, and the Futunese peonle who cut down a large number of their few coconuts. Not to mention a certain high-ranking British Government official who made no bones about his support of us and whom I like to think was proved right and the Bishop who solemnly purchased his £5 packet of cigarettes in my store

in lieu of a ticket when we were not allowed to carry fare-paying pas sengers.

I can only say that there were many of us involved in getting this thing off the ground, and in writing this letter I hope I have corrected the impression that I did it without the aid of others.

R. U. Paul.

Tanna, New Hebrides.

Tie(D) In New Guinea?

Sir,—Recently I went to Papua- New Guinea, the land of startling contrasts, and visited Port Moresby, Lae, Goroka, Madang, Mini, and Mount Hagen. Overnights, I stayed in famous, and so-called luxurious, hotels of these attractive and beautiful places. I was not only surprised but puzzled to see that most of the hotels and motels displayed the warning sign—“Gentlemen, ties to be worn in the dining-room”.

The tie is the modern form of holy cross people used to wear in olden days. No doubt, it is very useful as a garment in temperate climate of the European countries for protecting man from cold, and that is why it became so fashionable as an item of normal dress.

In Guinea, where the climate is tropical and heat and humidity unbearable, the enforcement of the rigid law “tie to be worn” by the hotel managements, forces one to think that the sacred cross, or modern tie, is today a permit for drinking and dining in the Pacific Islands.

Dr. P. Shanker.

Macquarie University,

Nsw.

Frank Whitcoaabe

Sir,—I read with interest the articles submitted from the recollec tions of my old friend, Frank Whitcombe, in PIM (Aug., p. 91).

He was always a good spinner of tales.

In the matter of the rescue of the prisoners of war from von Luckner’s Seeadler he seems a trifle off the beam, for the central figure in those attempts, the second success ful, to get help, was not by any means Frank, who does not appear

in any certified account, but Captain Fred Williams, an American skipper, captured in the last but one ship by von Luckner.

He later returned to the area, or rather to the Eastern Pacific to manage the island plantations in Nassau. He still later went to Apia, Western Samoa, after the death of his first wife, and lived there until his death. His eldest son is the respected postmaster of Apia.

The first attempt, from William’s diary, which I have seen, was under Captain Southerd, with Williams as navigator. They aimed to get to Bora Bora, but with an open boat running into a head wind, with heavy and contrary seas, they decided, or the captain did, to return, after three days out.

The boat was beached and the carpenters, of whom there were many among the prisoners, half decked the boat forward and Captain Williams, after Captain Soufherd’s refusal to risk it again, took charge and took the thousand or more (not a hundred) miles run to Pago Pago, from which ships went back to Mopelia. The Governor gave Williams a written acknowledgement of his epic voyage.

The South Seas has lost a number of great characters over late years, a type that will never be met with again, great tale-tellers, but memory can confuse facts, no doubt, as the years close in.

The Ven. C. W.

Whonsbon-Aston,

Archdeacon Emeritus.

Suva.

C. F. C. Macaskie

Sir, —While I am in the Solomons with my husband, I am interested to gather as much information as possible about the above Mr.

MacAskie. It was suggested to me that some of your readers may have been acquainted with him or have known of him.

So far, I know only that, as a lawyer, he lived and worked in the Solomons for close to 20 years, compiled the three volumes of the Laws of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate, wrote a personal biography, which to my knowledge has not been published, and died within the last two years in Aus tralia.

From the scattered stories that did reach Canada, I understand he was quite a colourful character, and I will be indebted to any consideration your readers can give me.

Diana Scoretz.

PO Box 303, Honiara.