News

The

In A

Nutshell

Tonga Hotel Sold

An offer has been accepted from Metrovincial Corporation Ltd for the Port of Refuge Hotel, Vava’u, of $350 000, on the basis of a 60-day contract, cash on completion, sub ject to 10% deposit, and a period of six months to obtain the approval of the Supreme Court of Tonga. Va cant possession will be given on ap

proval and completion.

Dearer Norfolk

Norfolk Islanders found themselves facing heavy imposts for liquor and cigarettes when the duties were lifted sharply to help the Island Council bal ance its budget. Cigarettes rose about 80% from 36c to 64c a packet, as the duty went up from B.Bc to 28c a packet.

Higher duty put the price of beer up by 4c a bottle and spirits by 20c a bottle.

The expected budget deficit will now be about $l4l 000 instead of about $6OO 000.

Crime Ebbi

The Fiji Government’s decision of a couple of years ago not to localise the post of Commissioner of Police, for the time being anyway, is paying off. The Prime Minister, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, announcing the government’s decision, then said criminals were becoming more sophisticated, so an overseas officer with more experience than Fiji could offer, would be brought in. Mr John Kelland, who is from the north of England, on secondment as Commissioner of Police, has reported that the number of serious crimes in 1976 fell by 22% compared with 1975.

What is more, the police expected a further drop in 1977, if current trends

continued. However, there was a slight increase in offences against morality, which include rape, from 133 in 1975 to 141 in 1976. There were 36 rape charges in 1976 against 35 in 1975. The drop in crime coincided with higher education qualifications for police recruits.

Hot Cargo

Western Samoa has enough gelignite and detonators to blast 10 small reef passages, but it was not an easy job get ting it. The NZ High Commission in Western Samoa imported the explosives, but had to wait till a willing shipping company was available. Most shipping companies refused to carry it, which was not altogether unreasonable. However, it finally arrived in a specially chartered explosives carrier, the Coral Princess, which was taking a consignment of blast ing material from Fiji to Pago Pago.

The passages blasted in reefs will ena ble small double-hulled fishing boats used by villagers to get out to the open sea at any time. Otherwise the boats can only get out and in at high tide, which was a handicap to families trying to pay off loans on their boats and make a reasonable living.

Diet For Drifters

Twelve shipwreck victims lived on beer and biscuits while they drifted for six days in the Solomon Sea off eastern Papua New Guinea in July. They lived on two cartons of beer and two cartons of biscuits while they tried unsuc cessfully to row their dinghy to the safety of the PNG mainland after their ship struck a reef and sank.

The 12, all Papua New Guineans, in cluded two women and a five-year-old girl. They soon recovered at Lae after a passing ship saw their distress flares and saved them.

The castaways, eight crewmen and four passengers, were in the small coastal ship, Lakatoi, when she struck a reef and sank in reef-studded seas west of the Trobriand Islands.

In the following six days they drifted more than 100 km towards the main land. They sighted Cape Ward Hunt on the south-eastern coast and came to within 20 km but were too weak by then to row the dinghy to safety.

Marine and safety authorities have cri ticised the failure of the wrecked ship to carry radio. When the survivors were picked up it was not even known that the ship was overdue, the National Emergency Service reported.

Snakes Alive!

An announcer kept his programme going while bailed up by a snake in the studio of a PNG radio station. Joseph Jano was alone in the building conduct ing the ‘before dawn broadcast’ from Radio Wewak on the north coast of the PNG mainland. A six-foot snake came from under drapes in the studio and coil ed itself near the announcer’s desk. Jano

said later, “I didn’t like the look of it it raised its head and flicked its tongue at me.” He repressed an impulse to call for help over the air, and he didn’t like to make any sudden movement in case the snake struck at him. So he crouched in his chair with his legs tucked under him to keep them clear of the snake, and kept the programme going. He was still there more than an hour later when the situa tion was saved by the arrival of other staff members who trapped the snake in a waste paper basket.

Cholera Deaths

Nine people died and another 61 were admitted to hospital in the Gilbert Is lands early in September following an outbreak of cholera. A medical team from New Zealand, and specialists from the South Pacific Commission and the World Health Organisation, plus a water engineer from Australia were rushed to Tarawa to help combat the outbreak.

Australia and New Zealand sent drugs.

The Fiji Medical Department introduc ed a system of checks on passengers, food and water on flights from the Gilberts to Fiji.

0 More nuts on p. 24

Atoll Road Deaths

Four people were killed in a collision between two vehicles at Antebuka, South Tarawa, Gilbert Islands. The accident was Tarawa’s worst for 1977. Vehicles in the collision were a truck belonging to the Gilbert Islands Development Authority and another belonging to an investment company on Nikunau Island.

The dead were two women, the nine year-old son of one of them, and a man aged 42.

Miss Pc

Papua New Guinea’s first women “policemen” were inducted into the force by the Police Commissioner, Mr Pious Kerepia. He told them their

recruitment was a milestone in the histo ry of the Royal Papua New Guinea Con stabulary. The six, aged between 19 and 25, were chosen from 114 girls inter viewed during a national recruiting cam

paign.

Generous Britain

Tonga will receive a T 1 million loan from Britain, interest-free, to help with

several development projects, chiefly

roads and electricity. The terms could hardly be more generous it is repaya ble over 25 years, with a grace period of seven years. It will be drawn over three years. The loan will maintain the level of capital aid given by Britain to Tonga.

This is now about T 335 000 a year. It is on top of the technical co-operation which Britain continues to give to Tonga

in training Tongans in Britain and in

providing experts and supplementary

staff in Tonga. Britain has made two other interest-free loans to Tonga, each repayable over a long period. These loans have helped to finance Tonga’s

development programme.

Prize Workers

Tongan workers are in demand over seas. King Taufa’ahau Tupou, of Tonga, said recently that the Premier of Niue, Mr R. R. Rex, was trying to get an agree ment to have 900 Tongans work in the Niue uranium mines. Niue is having trouble in exploiting its mineral sources because labour is short. Many Niueans have gone to NZ to work, and show no inclination to return to their native land, even though it may be uranium-rich.

New Zealand is also seeking Tongan workers, but not to the same extent as Niue. Mr Peter Norfolk, operations man ager of Jaybel Nichimo Ltd, recently spent two weeks in Tonga recruiting 20 men for his company’s fish processing

enterprise. He visited Tongatapu,

Vavau, Haapai, Eueiki and Eua. Mr Norfolk obviously had a high opinion of Tongans as workers, for the 20 he chose were to join 13 already employed at the

Jaybel factory.

No Flying Free Drinks

The PNG Public Service Commission has banned first-class air fares for public servants travelling overseas on duty.

And, if possible, the commission will try to ensure that public servants use excur sion tickets instead of standard economy tickets. The high loading for first-class tickets can no longer be justified for of ficial travel and the increased comfort and speed of international flight made economy acceptable for overseas flights, the commission has ruled. Public ser vants are also being told they cannot make stopovers during a flight unless there is no other means of making a con nection.