Nutshell

• A territory-wide teachers’ as sociation was formed during a recent four-day teachers’ conference in Port Moresby. The new association, open to all mission and Administration teachers employed by the Territory Teaching Service, is called the Papua- New Guinea Teachers’ Association.

The conference, attended by 43 teachers from all parts of Papua-New Guinea was called by two teachers’ representatives on the Territory Education Board, Mr. Lawrence Lavatul and Mr. Terry Chapman, to give views on the formation of the association. • Another 48 West Irianese, including 21 men, have been granted permissive residence in Papua-New Guinea. In early January there were a further 38 West Irianese living in the territory awaiting determination of applications for permissive residence. • Micronesia’s crown of thorns starfish killer teams had at the end of last year wiped out more than 90,250 of the coral eaters. The star fish control programme began in the Marianas in 1969 where 25,384 were killed; then Palau accounted for 14,216; Truk, 36,137, and Ponape, 14,517. Each district now has a four man team assigned to the Department of Resources and Development’s Marine Resources Division. • The giant snail (Achatina fulica ) is now well established in the Port Moresby area, with sightings having been reported from most suburbs.

Several hundred small snails (Gonaxis quadrilateralis ) have been released as predators on the giant snail, which is a plant-eating pest. The Port Moresby population has been warned not to kill the small snails. • All New Guinea’s Ministerial and Assistant Ministerial Members are to get salary increases. In addition to various other privileges, the ministerial office holders will receive an extra $l,OOO a year, bringing Ministerial Members’ salaries to $6,000 and Assistant Ministerial Members’ salaries to $4,750. • People in the Marianas District of Micronesia have been warned not to touch unexploded bombs, which are still scattered about in large quantities. The weapons, both Ame rican and Japanese, are now really dangerous, because of their age.

• Membership of the Public Service Association of Papua-New Guinea has exceeded 14,000 —10,800 local officers and 3,200 from over seas. In early 1970 membership stood at 11,000. The steady growth of local officers, according to the PSA, can be attributed to improvements in salaries and conditions. The PSA ex pects membership to increase to 17,000 by the end of June. • Five ministerial office holders in the Papua-New Guinea House of Assembly were to visit the BSIP, Fiji, Samoa, New Zealand and Aus tralia in January. The party Ministerial Member for Labour Mr.

Toua Kapena; Assistant Ministerial Member for Lands and Surveys, Mr. Andagari Wabiria; Assistant Ministerial Member for Forests, Mr.

Siwi Kurondo; Assistant Ministerial Member for Local Government, Mr.

Kaibelt Diria and Assistant Ministerial Member for Corrective Institutions, Mr. Meek Singiliong—was part of a continuing programme of political education tours for MHA’s and local government officers. • A special committee has report ed to the Governor of American Samoa, John M. Haydon, that it was unable to determine the cause of the fire which destroyed the Legislature Building on November 12. The com mittee, headed by Lieutenant-Gov ernor Frank Mockler, said eye witnes ses conflicted on where the fire started, but it spread rapidly because of in flammable material stored inside the building, which itself was old. Arson was ruled out and the committee added that, contrary to rumour, no electrical appliances, such as coffee pots, were in use in the building. • The second South Pacific Seminar is to be held at the Univer sity of the South Pacific, Suva, from July 14 to 17. Sponsored by the USP. the Fiji School of Medicine, the Pacific Theological College and the Pan Pacific and South-East Asian Women’s Association, it will discuss “Living in Town problems and priorities in urban planning in the South Pacific”. Interested govern ments, educational institutions and organisations should contact John Harre, University of the South Pacific, PO Box 1168, Suva. • New Zealand’s Minister of Marine, Mr. McCready, handed over a 17 ft NZ-built fibre-glass boat to the Western Samoan Fisheries Research and Development Division on January 10.

At the same time he told the fisheries leaders that Western Samoa —at present importing some

SS3 00,000 of fish yearly—should be able to catch sufficient fish itself to become self supporting.

Mr. McCready also promised Samoa a vehicle, diving equipment and expert NZ advice on the con struction of ferro-concrete boats.

Meanwhile the Western Samoan Fisheries Division—under the direc tion of Mr. William Travis (see PIM, Dec., p. 91) —is progressing. Village fishing partnerships have been estab lished and are catching sufficient fish for their local needs. • A member of the Fiji House of Representatives has criticised the scanty dress of some tourists and called for the introduction of dress control. Mr. C. S. Pillay said he was pleased some villages had banned mini skirts. He said people in rural areas were not used to seeing tourists walk around in “topless bras”, bikinis and similar attire, and some control was necessary. d Elderly Tokelau Islanders are concerned at the numbers of their younger generation migrating to New Zealand, according to District Officer of the Tokelaus, Mr. D. W. J, Stewart, Mr. Stewart said in January, if the Tokelauans were taken to NZ piecemeal they would be wiped out as a race; it was vital, as they slowly migrated, that they were kept as a group. At the moment only the under-45’s were migrating and they were leaving the elderly to fend for themselves. • Work on a new Administration radio station at Alotau in the Milne Bay District of Papua-New Guinea, will start before the end of June.

Tenders for resiting the station, now operating from Samarai, will be called before April. • Children are going to school in Fiji faster than teachers can be found to instruct them. Head of the School of Education at the University of the South Pacific, Professor R. C. Honey bone, said recently that for the past few years children have been entering primary school at the rate of 5,000 a year, while at the same time primary teacher graduates from Fiji colleges have scarcely increased at all. He hoped for more cash for education in the next and following budgets, and expansion of the USP. (The 1971 budget allows $F9,127,000 for education, $1,946,000 more than last year. Capital expenditure for education over the next five years of the development plan is planned to total $7,968,000). Meanwhile in Fiji schools there are 121,000 receiv ing primary, and 16,000 receiving secondary, education.