Yesterday

If anyone has reason to turn his thoughts back to events of 20 years ago it's that well-known New Guinea personality, J. K. McCarthy, who like dozens of district commissioners before and after him, had a few anxious moments while doing his job.

PIM, of June, 1953, relates one of these which it called the "Raluana Scuffle". The story, as many still do in PNG, centred around the Tolais and the introduction of local government.

The Tolais didn't want it but some accepted it and also the distasteful job of paying taxes.

The Raluana folk refused to join the system although they raised taxes themselves and then spent the money as they pleased. District Commissioner McCarthy went to investigate along with other officers. Things got out of hand and McCarthy and the others found themselves surrounded by a howling mob. The DC got a blow on the ear from a wooden crutch of a crippled schoolteacher called Tuvi; Native Authorities Officer Ken Williamson and Native Land Commissioner W. J. Read were knocked down and the whole party, unarmed, had to fight with their fists to keep off the howling mob. Eventually, the police got the upper hand and gaol sentences were later handed out.

The last word in the story came from an old resident—" Such things would have been impossible under the Wisdom and Griffith regimes. They opened the way to all this nonsense when they started their new policies after the war."

That was about the only big headline making story that month although there were plenty of other happenings and situations which are still around in a South Pacific—which, in every other way, has changed so much in two decades—like the rhinoceros beetle, for instance.

A story from Fiji, which was rapidly becoming infested by the pest, told of the "possibility" of controlling the beetle by parasites or by interesting giant toads in the idea of adding the beetle to their diet, or by getting the help of mongoose 'mongeese, mongooses) who might be persuaded to eat the beetle grubs. The toads had been brought into Fiji to clean up sugar cane pests and the mongoose came as a ratcatcher.

It wasn't a success story. The

rhinoceros beetle is still there. So are the mongoose and the giant toad.

Tonga is still hoping that it might strike oil. Twenty years ago there was nearly a gold rush when a gold strike was reported on the island of Eua.

A nugget weighing several ounces had been dug up. Alas, all is not gold that glisters (Shakespeare). It turned out to be a piece of an old church candlestick, or something like it. And it was bronze, not gold.

With tongue in cheek, PIM printed an amusing story about a New Guinea patrol officer on holiday in Sydney.

He caught the eye of a girl in a hotel lounge and, through a waiter, invited her to join him. She did and they spent a pleasant afternoon motoring around the city environs. Returning to their meeting place, the patrol officer said, "Well, don't let's part so soon. What about a little kai-kai?" Replied the young lady: "All right, I don't mind, but don't you think we might have some thing to eat first?" For some reason which escapes us, the story was headed "Censor, Ahoy!"

Back to a more serious vein—New Caledonia was in the news, not over its political upsets, but over a scheme to bring in up to 1,000 Japanese workers to work in the nickel and chrome mining industries. The workers would have come in under an indenture system. But, shades of Mururoa, the French were a bit nervous over Australia's reaction to exploding a nuclear —sorry, bringing so many Japanese into the South Pacific, so Chief Secretary Mr Biros went to Canberra to talk to the Australian Government.

Ha, ha. Now the Aussies go to Paris.

Well, Australia didn't like it at all.

There aren't any Japanese labourers in New Caledonia!

Still on New Caledonia, Noumea had a town council election around this time.

Only a third of the electorate bestirred themselves to get up and vote and they must all have been right-wingers because only the Union Party candidates led by Mr Daly and Mr Laroque got in.

PIM forecast a spot of political in fighting between the council and the Council General which was dominated by the Leftists. One casualty in the election was Henri Sautot, who, in 1940, led the South Pacific French rally to De Gaulle and was an ex-governor of New Caledonia. He lost his job as Mayor of Noumea.

Last year, Western Samoa celebrated its first 10 years as an independent country. Twenty years ago, few would have forecast that, except, perhaps, the United Nations Trusteeship Council which was working hard to make all

dependences independent—those that the

Russians didn't have of course, like Estonia and Latvia. So, in May, 1953, a UN mission found itself in Western Samoa where it spent 12 days.

The Samoans were courtesy itself— but cool. PIM reported a noticeable absence of special social functions and the Hon Tamasese pointed out that any future self-government must be formed in accordance with Samoan tradition and not just based on European ideas. The Samoans, he said, believed their political ideas were truly democratic —which is what some of the UN representatives' countries were not.

Tonga's stately Queen Salote was also in the news —with a picture showing her with her son Crown Prince Tungi (now King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV) listen ing to farewell speeches before she left for London and the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth. It's almost legend now, how Queen Salote won the hearts of the Londoners —and those millions watching on television —as she rode in the procession, smiling and handing out regal waves in the pouring rain.

There was another mention of Tonga then, a proving flight by Tasman Empire Airways (TEAL) from Suva to Nukualofa.

The flight by a Solent, subsidised by the Tongan Government, was the prologue to a regular service by TEAL between Suva and Nukualofa, but not so regular by today's standards — 12 flights a year, two per month every second month. The fares were to be £l3/13/- single and £24/12/- return.

Since then, of course, Nukualofa got its own ai'field with regular flights from Suva by Fiji Airways, later Air Pacific,

Keith McCarthy ... he got a blow behind the ear.