Tropica I ities

Is P’Bieairss’s

story ending?

Pitcairn Island, link with the fam ous HMS Bounty, seems to be fading out as the home of the descendants of the mutineers. At last year-end its population, according to unofficial census figures in the Pitcairn Mis cellany, numbered 56 true Pitcairners plus five “outsiders”, the families of the pastor and the education officer— the lowest population in 100 years.

“Pitcairn could be dying”, writes Tom Christian in the Miscellany.

“Our numbers are few. What is the minimum number required to keep Pitcairn going? ... We are still going ahead, but the swells are heavy. Young folks are leaving, others still wish to go. What is our future?”

Tom was addressing his message to Pitcairners abroad. He gave them the whole picture—“shipping and mail services are extremely poor and earning a living can be difficult . . .

Pitcairn is still free of crime, vice and drugs”—and added, “Think it over folks. Can you come back? Can you make a living—enough to sup port a family? If so, perhaps we can re-populate a dying land”.

Perhaps the solution would be to do what the Committee of 24 wants Pitcairn to do—go independent!

Then the United Nations will send any number of agencies. Various countries will send diplomatic mis sions. There’ll be UNDP, FAO, ILO,

Gatt, Unctad, Nato, Who,

ESCAP, Old Uncle Tom Cobley and All, and in the end there’ll be so many people on the island, land values will shoot up together with house rents—like they did in Fiji and, perhaps, somebody will strike oil or uranium—gold’s too old fashioned—and Pitcairn will have it made.

Incidentally, the Christian family still leads with 25 members, followed by the Youngs 13, Warrens 11.

Clarks four and Browns three. Of the 56 Pitcairners, 11 are below 16 years of age (seven females, four males); five between 16 and 19 (four males, one female); three between 20 and 29 (one male, two females); 13 between 30 and 49 (nine females, four males); 11 between 50 and 69 (eight males, three females) and 13 between 70 and 89 (eight males, five females). Twenty years ago, the population numbered 136.

■lave you

got a “Churchill?”

Two coins commemorating the cen tenary of Winston Churchill’s birth went on sale in Rarotonga in March, a $5O one of silver and cupro-nickel, and a gold and copper $lOO coin.

The obverse of both coins bear the profile portrait of the Queen, designed by Arnold Machin of London, show ing Her Majesty wearing a diamond tiara given to her as a wedding gift by her grandmother Queen Mary.

The reverses were designed by James Berry of Wellington, New Zealand, and struck at the Royal Australian Mint in Canberra.

These impressive coins were to have been placed in circulation by the Cook Islands Treasury on January 25, the 10th anniversary of his death. However, circulation was delayed because of the Australian Mint’s insistence on extremely high standards of craftsmanship, which delayed delivery.

The beautiful designs for the Churchill commemorative coins are a fitting tribute to the centenary of the birth of the great statesman. They show the famous Churchill profile against a background of the British Parliament buildings at Westminster and the Union Flag of the United Kingdom, with the encircled inscrip tion across the top “1874. Man of the Century. 1974.”

The magnificent $lOO gold coin is like a return to the good old “sovereign” days when currency was backed by gold instead of goodwill.

On the gold coin, the name Churchill is set in one line, with the denomi-

nation below, and measures 27 milli metres (over one inch) in diameter.

It is struck in pure 91.6 standard gold, which is a rare event in itself these days, and weighs an impressive 258 grains.

The large $5O coin shows a replica of Sir Wilston Churchill’s signature beneath his portrait, and measures an impressive 58 millimetres (2i inches) in diameter. It contains an immense 1,500 grains of solid sterling silver.

The first issue of both these coins sold out quickly in the Cook Islands.

Aii upside-down

Everest expedition

A 12-man team will spend six months—from May until October— in vast thicknesses of limestone in the central mountain ranges of New Guinea searching some of the world’s deepest and least explored cave systems.

The 1975 Speleological Expedition hopes to find a cave system deeper than anything yet discovered—a speleological “Everest”, Dramatic advances in battery tech nology will enable the expedition to floodlight the underground darkness and increase chances of success.

Chloride Batteries Australia Ltd, Australia’s only manufacturer of both lead and alkaline batteries, is assisting the expedition by donating 1,000 long-lasting batteries to power underground lighting and hand-held torches—the answer, says the expe dition organisers, to one of their main problems.

The expedition teams of cave biologists and scientists, will be led by 30-year-old David Brook, who has explored some of the wor!d‘s deepest caves and who is the author of several books on the subject.

The prime objective is the Hindcn berg Range, which forms the divide

between the Fly and Sepik rivers.

Its limestone terrain is some of the most dramatic in the world. Most imposing of all is the Hindenberg Wall, up to 3,000 ft high and 15 miles long, with rivers surging below its great overhangs.

The expedition is confident of find ing its speleological “Everest”.

The potential depths of some New Guinea caves are almost twice that of the present world depth record holder, the Pierre St Martin in France at 3,900 ft.

The deepest cave so far explored in New Guinea is the 1,600 ft deep Bibima Cave.

Another expedition is remaining above ground. Australia, Papua New Guinea, Holland and Indonesia plan a joint botanical expedition into a remote mountain region on the border between Papua New Guinea and Irian Jaya.

The director of the PNG National Herbarium, Mr John Womersley, said the patrol would probably enter mountain areas never visited by tribesmen or explorers.

The 10-week patrol will explore the western areas of the Star Moun tains in the centre of the PNG-Irian mainland.

Aerial photography was attempted to map part of the route for the expedition, but was unsuccessful be cause of continual heavy cloud cover.

Botanical specimens collected on the expedition will be preserved in the national herbarium at Lae in PNG, and in other institutes.

Following in the

dodo’s footsteps

The Lord Howe Island woodhen, one of the world’s 10 rarest birds, is on the verge of extinction, accord ing to the NSW Minister for Culture, Sport and Recreation, Mr Barra clough. There are now only 26 such birds, which are flightless, on the island. Yet in 1788, when the island was discovered, the birds were in all parts of the island.

The decline in the woodhen popu lation was caused by human preda tion, and the introduction of rats, goats and pigs.

Mr H. J. de Disney, of the Aus tralian Museum department of orni thology, reported recently that the population of the woodhen now ap peared stable, but a climatic catas trophe could wipe it out. Some should be bought down from the mountain tops, where they lived, to see if they could breed when fenced in, he suggests.

Sir Albert and

a white flag

Among the old photographic plates of the George Crumner collection recently salvaged in Wellington for the Cook Islands Government (PIM, April, p 29) was the one reproduced here—a picture of the First Imperial Boy Scouts of Aitutaki.

It must have been taken around 60 years ago and demonstrates quite convincingly that the scout movement was well-established at Aitutaki only a few years after its foundation in 1908 by Lord Baden-Powell.

Although it’s difficult to make out most of the features of the boys in the line-up, no doubt there’s one per son now living at Rarotonga who should be able to identify the boy whom we’ve ringed in the front row centre immediately behind one of the white flags. Incidentally, he’s never waved a white flag since and doesn’t seem likely to do so.

The boy was Albert Royle Henry, now Cook Islands Premier Sir Albert Henry. The scoutmaster standing at the extreme right and looking like one of Baden-Powell’s own scouts in the Boer War is Sir Albert’s father, Geoffrey (Tiavare) Henry, a teacher at Araura School, Aitutaki and later Residential Agent at Pukapuka.

The unwelcome

tourists

A plague of creatures has stealthily invaded the urban areas on the central coast of Bougainville in PNG. They are thickest in the Arawa, Kieta and Toniva townships.

They are very tough, ugly and avid customers. Although most Bougainvilleans might readily identify the foreign two-legged or speeding four-wheeled newcomers who came with the copper mine, with this des

cription, they, at least, possess a few good points. Not so the Achatina fulica Bowditch or Giant Snail.

Originally from Africa’s East coast they have migrated over the past 150 years to most tropical and sub-tropical regions. There is no conclusive evidence for the com monly-held belief on Bougainville that the Japanese soldiers imported this huge species of gasteropodos mollusc as live rations. However, after World War II they were firmly established in Kavieng, Rabaul and Hansa Bay on PNG’s mainland. No doubt they travelled, as they do now, from Bougainville, clamped to cargo.

Active at night, the snails shelter by day but in Bougainville’s wet, overcast weather they continue to forage for longer periods. They hibernate in dry spells.

It is not difficult to find these creatures as they shelter not only in leaf litter and rotting logs but, in towns, climb into pipes, on to house supports, under verandahs and out side walls.

Their eating habits range from any tender shoot or leaf to all vegetation. Unfortunately nothing eats them! They appear to have no natural predators or perhaps these chose to stay in Africa. Pigs and even ducks turn away from them.

The crows, not usually fussy eaters, show no appetite for this large, protein-rich meal.

Despite current meat prices, no humans have attempted the lengthy and arduous preparation needed to bring snails to the dinner table.

A concerted eradication pro gramme is under way by the com bined efforts of the government Agriculture, Stock and Fisheries officers and the Arawa Town Coun cil’s Parks and Garden’s Supervisor.

Using poison pellets of methaldehyde and sawdust they hope to wipe out the giant snail. A publicity cam

paign to persuade the people in villages outside the urban areas to report snail sightings and avail themselves of the poison, has been launched.

Meanwhile, the urban citizens venture forth nightly to crunch the brutes underfoot, pour salt on them, hurl them into fires or buckets of hot water. At social gatherings the talk revolves around the biggest catch or methods of disposal, as the wretches die but won’t disintegrate.

Despite all this amateur hunting, the giant snails still munch and multiply.

A man 9 s

three careers

When Frank C. Mockler, 64, flew out of Pago Pago International Air port on March 16 he closed the book on the third professional career in his busy life.

From October 15, 1974 to the in auguration of new American Samoa Governor Earl B. Ruth on February 24, Mockler served as Acting Governor of the territory.

As Acting Governor, a position he held temporarily many times during his nearly five years as Lieutenant-Governor in the adminis tration of ex-Governor John M. Hay don, Mockler had to handle two of the toughest problems this territory has ever faced: the drought and the financial “cash flow” crisis in govern ment.

Despite the problems, the tall, white-haired Mockler left the island a popular man. In fact, during his administration, petitions were sent to the Interior Department supporting him for appointment to the governor ship.

In his home state of Wyoming in western United States, Mockler spent lis first career as a rancher and the second as an attorney. “And now I irn a broken-down governor”, he ►aid with a smile shortly before he eft.

Mockler didn’t mention that in lis five years here he also became me of the most enthusiastic and iroficient of the local sport fisher nen.

Mockler sees two major problems n the future development of American Samoa.

The top priority is to provide an dequate supply of good water.

Jntil that is accomplished, “I don’t le any more economic development 3r the island”, he said.

He supports the construction of n SUSIB million water containment ;servoir in Olovalu Crater in the Western District of Tutuila.

The other major problem is to

reach a fair and equitable decision on who owns the land. He said, “As the population increases it is going to become increasingly difficult for a person to get a piece of land to build or conduct their business upon.

“That is one reason why the government is developing the indus trial park. It is practically impossible for anyone to come in and get a workable lease at this time. It is a very difficult problem that the Samoan people should solve through their elected representatives”.

Although Mockler still has busi ness and family interests in Wyoming, he and his wife, Esther, will go to their home in Sarasota, Florida after they finish a vacation around the Pacific.

They will visit Australia, Singa pore, Bali, Thailand, Hong Kong and other spots before arriving back in the United States.

Asked if he was planning a fourth career in Sarasota, Mockler said, “I am going to keep my eyes open”.

That means he will probably soon be back to work.

Picture paper

in the Cooks

PIM (March, p 21) recently re ported the appearance and activities on Rarotonga of the Weekender, the weekly journal of the opposition Democratic Party, led by Dr Tom Davis.

It is, perhaps, rather more than coincidental that on February 15 the Cook Islands Government brought

out the first issue of its Cook Islands Weekly Roundup of News in Pic tures. The paper follows very much the style and format of the government-owned daily Cook Islands News except that it announces that its principal purpose is to cover, mainly in pictorial form, important occasions, sports and tourist in formation.

The Weekly Roundup is priced at 10c in line with its competitor, and its first issue was heavily loaded with photographs of local and visiting personalities attending conferences, arriving at the airport, departing from the airport, being feted at the island night dances, or at other im portant local occasions.

The Weekly Roundup, however, offers some comment on the local political issues. There is a comment column under the by-line of “Poly tic”, who says of his work, “I am trying to have somethings clarified and be unbiassed in my explanations in regard to the political scene here”.

In his first column “Poly-tic” took a non-committal look at the purchase of the Titikaveka house as the Prime Ministerial residence, but he took a more defined stance on the question of Sir Albert Henry’s re-organisation of the Public Service.

“Poly-tic” asked himself the ques tion “Is what the government doing re public servants correct?” and re plied, “I have checked with the authorities, legal people, and there seems to be a general feeling that the move is OK. It is not perhaps the correct way at doing it but the bene fits are for the public servant”.

Stamp error

that wasn’t

The PNG Post Office has called off a huge search for imperfect stamps which could have been worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to collectors.

Postal authorities are now satisfied the stamps they were looking for never existed. But the search cost days of checking through stocks, in quiries to remote post offices and inquiries in South Australia—where the trail ended.

The story began last December when a Port Moresby commercial artist, Mr Hal Holman, designed the cover for a new PNG telephone directory.

The design included illustrations of the current series of postage stamps known to collectors as the “District” series.

Each stamp shows a typical tradi

Frank C. Mockler . . . looking for a fourth career.

tional scene, and indicates the name of the district illustrated.

The Post Office issued Mr Holman with mint sets of the stamps to be used in the art work for the tele phone directory cover.

The art work was approved by the Post Office but it was not until the printed directories were delivered that the names of three of the dis tricts—Bougainville, Central and Milne Bay—were seen to be missing from the reproduced stamps.

Postal authorities began extensive inquiries through Mr Holman and the printers of the directory, fearing that imperfect stamps had been issued.

Meantime, a huge search was undertaken of existing stocks of stamps to detect any other similar imperfections.

Mr Holman, who had mounted the stamps directly on the artwork, said, “I could have kicked myself.

I thought I had let a fortune slip through my hands”.

But the inquiries ended when con tact was established with a South Australian company which had the contract for printing the directory.

There was nothing wrong with the stamps, and the error had apparently occurred during multi-colour pro cessing to print the directory cover.

The not -so - late

old man Moke

Old man Muke, about 70, of Patu

801 l Bolivi village, Ranongga Island,

BSIP, is a living example of the old saying that “reports of his death are grossly exaggerated”. He was assumed dead. More than 200 mourners went to his village to see the body wrapped in the coffin.

Sorrowing relatives and friends were startled, and possibly even shocked, when Muke started to move as preparations were made to nail the coffin lid. They quickly took him out, and put him to bed.

At the last report, Muke is back in his village taking an active part in community life.

This set of four stamps, which the GEIC will release on May 26, should be well worth any philatelist's money. They could be the last stamps to come from the colony bearing the legend Gilbert & Ellice Islands. The two partners separate on October 1 this year and the Ellice Islands will become Tuvalu and not Tu valu Islands. The set depicts four types of living cowries found in GEIC waters, of which there's a large quantity. The shells are, the Cypraea Argus (4c) —it sounds like a newspaper, but it's a creamy-brown thing mottled with dark brown and has cream-coloured papillae— the Cypraea Cribraria (10c), the Cypraea Talpa (25c) and the Cypraea Mappa (35c).

You can read all about sea shells in Walter O. Cernohorsky's two volumes of Marine Shells of the Pacific published by PlM's owners, Pacific Publications.