Editor’S Mailbag

Slugged Yachtie

I would like to add to Tom Hepworth’s letter (PIM, September) regarding the light fee imposed on yachts by the Solomon Islands Government.

I would also like to advise all yachtsmen to give the Solomons a wide berth until the fee is rescinded, unless they want to pay the fee of

Saioo.

I had heard that the light fee was being imposed, but had heard similar stories about other countries in the past and had always found them to be groundless.

I decided to go to Papua New Guinea, via the Solomons, to revisit places I had been to in 1944, and to see, incidentally, if the Solomons was imposing a fee. It is.

As far as I’ve been able to piece the story together it seems that the law states that vessels shall pay a light fee, which was set at a few cents per ton.

About May 1976, someone, I think it was the Comptroller of Customs and Excise, Mr J. W. Green, requested an opinion from the legal department to determine if yachts could be classified as vessels.

The reply, which I was able to see, said yes, yachts fall under the classification of vessels, but that if they paid the light fee at the current rate they would not pay very much and that a fee of SAIOO seemed reasonable.

Therefore the rate was changed, I believe at the suggestion of Mr Green, to SAIOO minimum, and 5c per ton to a maximum of SA3OO.

Thereafter, Mr Green issued an instruction to all Customs people to charge all yachts the light fee starting on June 1, 1976.

I have been in the Solomons about five weeks and I have seen only two other yachts, both in Honiara. Most places I have anchored I have been told that I was the only yacht calling there since the light fee had been imposed. This is a great pity, as most yachts spend several hundred dollars each while in the Solomons, and this money benefits the people, especially in the outer islands.

I mentioned this to Mr Green, but I got the impression he was more interested in keeping yachts out of the Solomons than encouraging them to come here.

When I have discussed the light fee with people around here, I have often been told that Mr Green “hates yachts”, and that one way he felt he could harass them was to apply the light fee to them.

At Graciosa Bay, I heard the legislature was considering changing the law to exempt yachts from the fee.

I certainly hope this is true.

This may seem a small matter to some of your readers, but I have cruised through 13 or 14 countries in the past three years and have not had to pay any fee of this nature anywhere else but here.

This is the first time I have ever had to tell people to keep away from any area. It is a pity, because the Solomons are nice cruising grounds and the people are very friendly.

Hopefully the law will be changed, or clarified, soon so that cruising yachts can return to the Solomons.

R. W. Quint

US Yacht Moana.

Andy Thomson

I need information, stories, and personal impressions of the late Cap tain Andy Thomson, an American skipper who was well-known throughout the Pacific. His obituary appeared in PIM in January 1976. I could use several good photos, and a picture of the ship Tiare Taporo. I am writing an article as a tribute to this fascinating man.

Thank you for printing my letter about Fanning Island (PIM, September). The results were marvellous. As a result I have three times as much information for my book as I had when I wrote to you asking for help. I really appreciate it.

Sherman Lee Pompey

PO Box 145, Springfield, Oregon, 97477, USA.