Tropicalities

Unas & Toeas

are aVoming

Lustralian dollars and cents are the way out in Papua New nea. PNG’s own kinas and toeas begin circulating in April, and existing Australian currency will withdrawn eight months later, he new currency is named from itional shell money which has ’ been established in many PNG imunities. peculation and rumour about the ency arrangements ended the ;r day when the Finance Minis- Mr Julius Chan, outlined the stable in the national parliament, so far the public at large has no what the new notes and coins look like. The design is being ; a secret at present to avoid ible fraud among thousands of semi-sophisticated people who have to be educated to the new ency. nimals, birds and plants are re ed to be the themes. [r Somare’s deputy, Dr John >e, can sit back smugly in the lory that his face has already sared on a short-lived currency :, albeit a bogus one. It happened ago when an Australian ic servant in Port Moresby npted a joke which went bad. printed batches of notes called ski money” (Maski is the Mela m pidgin word for “it doesn’t er”) and started circulating i. t selected Dr Guise and the il Mr Gala Oala-Rarua, now is diplomatic representative in ralia, as archetypes of black :al politicians, and had their res on the notes. The affair led onfusion, anger and embarrass and wound up in a police in ?ation.

PNG currency which was sup i to be legal but which never Y m got into top gear was the oc tion money printed by Japan in d War 11. The notes, showing

a picture of coconut palms, still turn up from time to time and are now sold through dealers in Australia.

Incredibly stupid rumours over PNG’s currency arrangements have been causing periodic problems over the past two years. Most of the rumours, which arose in the white community, were based on a belief that Australian currency would be frozen or made valueless without warning. This led to panic transfers of large sums of money to Aust ralian bank accounts.

One rumour claimed that a crate from Switzerland had been seen to break open on the Lae wharf, spilling out its secret incriminating bundles of a new, unannounced currency.

Another rumour alleged secret night landings by an RAAF Hercules which supposedly taxied to the far side of Port Moresby airport where bundles of new money were trans ferred into unlighted trucks!

But although the white commun ity of PNG was the fertile ground which got most of these rumours going, the greatest problem in the currency education about to begin will be in remote village communi ties. The word “mark” still hangs on in Pidgin, dating back to German times, and today meaning a 10-cent coin.

Bank officials estimate that some thing like $2 million—much of it in coins—may be hoarded in remote villages. The money is effectively out of circulation and therefore use less to the economy. It is being used for “closed-circuit” transactions among blood relations, or is simply being hoarded for its status value.

Digging it out of its holes in the ground (literally) and teaching re cognition of the new notes and coins between April and December next year will prove a huge undertaking.

Sumo, Tonga’s

newest sport

Tonga’s King Taufa’ahau T'upou IV hopes to import Sumo—Japanese traditional wrestling—into Tonga and make it the kingdom’s national sport.

Maybe it’s just as well. The other national sport, rugby union, isn’t doing too well, seeing that the Tongans lost nine out of 10 matches

on their UK tour.

Three Tongan youths, ’Uli’uli Fifita, ’Alani Falevai and Latu Vai vaka, have gone with the royal bless ing to Japan to learn Sumo. They were selected in Tonga by the Japanese Sumo master Asahiyama.

The king has asked Mr Hahano Vaha’i and Mr John Hepplewhite to form an executive committee in Tonga to supervise the sport when it gets off the ground. Come to think of it, a bout finishes on the ground.

PI M's not an expert at Sumo, so we might be mistaken when we com pare it with another form of wrest ling—Cumberland and Westmorland style as practised in those two Eng lish counties. A Sumo wrestler ap pears to take a hold of his opponent’s loin cloth and attempt, without breaking the hold, to upend his adversary.

In Cumberland and Westmorland style, the two arms are locked around the opponent and a throw has to be accomplished without the hold being broken. There are such exotically-named manoeuvres as the Flying Mare and the Hank.

Looking at the physique of a Sumo wrestler PIM might be pardoned in thinking that the first requisite for a good Sumo man is to eat and eat until he tips the scale at a tonne!

Who** boss in

American Samoa?

American Samoa’s retiring Governor, John M. Haydon, who left for home in October after a five year stint in the territory, did some personal censoring of a television programme before he left.

He was watching an Education Department film “Born Innocent” and was shocked by what he saw— a sexual assault on a young girl by other girls, and that on a programme screened at peak teenage viewing time.

After speaking with the Director of Education Mere Betham, the Governor called the studio and ordered the immediate stoppage of the programme, but the TV staff told Mr Haydon that only one man could decide, the programme man ager Mr Roy Clemans.

When Mr Clemans baulked at taking orders regarding television

censorship, saying that any decision! to stop a programme should be his, the Governor made for the studio after telling Mr Clemans that he, the Governor, made the ultimate de cision.

Mr Haydon found the studio locked, a normal precaution in the evenings, and had to scale the secur ity fence and enter the studio by the back door. Then, in no uncertain terms, he ordered the film to be stopped.

For 40 minutes the silver screen! told the audience “Please stand by” before resuming with another film.

Mr Haydon’s comment later was “Nearly 50 per cent of the popula tion of American Samoa is under 15 years of age and to show this type of material indicates a serious lack of judgment, serious lack of under standing of the role of television in American Samoa and is a most bla tant example, so far, of the misuse of our television station”.

KiiEoiihmi makes

a public confession

In protest against the French nuclear tests, Solomon Islands poli ticians and civil servants boycotted and picketed a cocktail party aboard a French minesweeper paying a goodwill visit to Honiara. All but three senior guests turned back when confronted by the picket.

One of the three was Chief Minis ter Solomon Mamaloni. Later, he made a public apology for attending the party.

Official embarrassment turned tc mortification when it was discovered that the leaflets distributed by the demonstrators had been run off b) the government’s visual aids service There was another spot o] bother in Honiara when member! of the Solomon Islands Informa tion and Broadcasting Departmen held an emergency meeting anc threatened to go on strike after om of their number had been publicb harrassed by a leading member o the People’s Progressive Party accus ing the service of favouring oppositioi USIPA. Ironically, USIPA has beei accusing the broadcasting and infor mation service of favouring th< government in its reports. The striki was averted at the last moment. Afte another dispute had flared up late: over another series of incidents, ffi( expatriate Senior Information Office: resigned, ending a most unhappy yea for the department.