Nutshell

In a Nutshell

Ship Held In Majuro.—The

Greek-owned ship mv Pacific Paul, on charter to Transpacific Lines, Inc., the new name assumed by MILI, is port bound in Majuro under an attachment order awaiting the result of a civil action which TRANSPAC is bringing against her owners for damages re sulting from cargo losses. The suit is a sequel to a criminal court hearing in January when several crew mem bers were fined SUSI,OOO each for stealing cargo. The civil action writ alleges that there were further thefts since Pacific Paul left Palau and that stealing occurred all through the 23month period the ship was under charter to TRANSPAC. The ship will be unable to leave Majuro unless her owners post a bond for 585,000 plus a quarter of the costs.

Impetuous-He Died—A 6 Ft

plus, 15 stone Queenslander, John Bradshaw, aged 32, pulled a New Guinea highlander from among his 29 companions in a truck at Mount Hagen and struck him in the mouth three times. The highlander Wani Oke, retaliated by throwing a stone at Bradshaw which struck him on the temple. Bradshaw died later from brain damage. Mr. Justice Raine, in the Supreme Court at Mount Hagen, gaoled Oke for three years three months for manslaughter and another highlander, Wani Rumins, who had taken part in the fight, to one year.

Of Bradshaw’s action, Mr. Justice Raine said: “His impetuosity led to his death. This is a classic spur of the moment manslaughter case where, passions aroused, death was caused by a recklessly indifferent hostile act.”

New Hebrides On Agenda

—British Under-secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Mr. An thony Kershaw, who was in the New Hebrides in January, will be talking shortly with his French opposite num ber, Mr. Messmer. He told the British House of Commons of this when asked what he was doing to co-operate more closely with the French Gov ernment over development in the condominium. As he pointed out, there is already the closest co operation—there was a joint meet ing in Paris last October—but he would be having more talks. Would

the talks touch on the New Hebri deans’ aspirations for independence?

QUEEN’S STATUE—A burnished bronze statue of Queen Salote, Queen of Tonga, is to be erected in Nuku alofa, probably among the Royal tombs, at a cost of $14,145. The sculptor, Australian Marc Clark, hopes to complete the work by next December. The statue will depict the queen in a blend of coronation robes and Tongan dress, and her coat of arms will appear on a bronze plaque to be fixed on the pedestal. The figure of the queen will be between seven feet and eight feet high.

NIUEAN EXODUS.—Migration is thought to be behind the drop of 206 in Niue’s population between 1966 and the census of 1971. The latest total is 4,988, of which males are in a majority of 28. Boys heavily out number girls however. More than half the population is under 15, and in this age group there are 1,313 males and 1,200 females. Women outnumber men by 565 to 474 in the ages 20 to 39, which presumably indicates that a considerable number of men have gone overseas in search

of work. It looks as if many may have to look abroad also for wives if most are to marry.

The same five year period saw a rise in the population of Western Samoa of 9.3 per cent., to 143,547.

Males outnumber females by 74,227 to 69,320. The increase was more pronounced in Savaii (10.2 per cent.) than in Upolu (8.9 per cent.).

Samoa’s numbers would have been much greater but for a net emigration of 8,970 during the five years. It is calculated that if all these Samoans had stayed at home, the population increase would be about 16 per cent.

Heaven Help Them!—Trying

to extract political advantage out of spiritual authority was charged against two pastors of the Apostolic Church by a rival European candidate in a Western Highlands seat in the PNG elections. Andrew Flower complained early in February that the two pastors had said in church that God would be very angry with people who did not vote for them. Flower suggested they might be straining their own connec tion with the Almighty. “God help the next House of Assembly if this sort of electioneering continues,” he said.

Boeing flew this new jet, the Boeing 737 (133 economy passengers), from Sydney to Norfolk Island in February to help Qantas decide whether to buy it to replace the old DC4 on the run. The jet's arrival (here it's taking off from Norfolk) resulted in protests from a group of islanders horrified by fears of the effect of jet noise on local fauna, not to mention local homo sapiens. Sydney acoustics engineer Louis A. Challis made tests for the group and reported that under the glide path the noise was "ear shattering". But there is probably more to the issue than noise. Some Norfolk Islanders are not so sure now they want the increased development and tourism that will come with the jet. Qantas says it would also like to use the 737 on a possible new link from Port Moresby to Guam.