Prosperous

Nauruans warned

The prosperity of the Nauruan people had increased markedly because in four or five years of unprecedented inflation, while the prices of commodities and manufactured goods had increased rapidly, they had not increased as fast as the price for phosphate.

President Hammer Deßoburt ham mered this point home in an Independence Day speech to the nation, when he warned that prosperity would not continue without

interruption.

The increased returns, apart from the gain to individuals, had allowed the government and the Nauru Local Govern ment Council to expand their activities.

But in spite of the apparently effortless increase in prosperity, there were danger signals. In recent months the international demand for phosphate had declined sub stantially and the price had stabilised. The international economic recession, the worst for 40 years, was presenting serious problems throughout the world.

The Australian Government’s decision to restore a phosphate bounty, abandoned by the Labor Government about two years ago, could have a beneficial effect on the demand for Nauru phosphate, and although President Deßoburt’s warning still stands, Nauru’s prosperity is likely to continue. • Mrs Sarafina Underwood, 30, of Nausori, Fiji, made history in February when She was elected sec retary of the Rewa Rugby Union.

She beat two men in a ballot.