Letters

Palauan Claim

This is in regard to a letter by Stewart Firth which ap peared in your magazine, PIM, Nov., p 35).

I was intrigued by Mr Firth's revelation of an August 14, 1909 document written by Yap district officer Karlowa in which Karlowa re counted his conduct of the negotiations on the “sale” of Angaur Island to the German colonial government. As Mr Firth succinctly pointed out, this document, if made availa ble during the trial of Chief Thomas Orrenges’ case (set for trial in Palau District on December 14, 1977) could lend material support to Chief Orrenges’ claim that the so called sale of Angaur was a result of physical force and duress applied by the German colonial government.

There are several people living today in Angaur who remember this incident from their parents who were in volved in the so-called sale.

The availability of such a document during the trial of this case would corroborate their testimonies in this regard.

As the attorney for Chief Orrenges, and an Angaurese myself, I read Mr Firth’s story with a great deal of interest as I’m sure you can well imagine.

The question of the sale of Angaur was one of several issues in an earlier trial in which the court made a fac tual finding, without ever seeing a copy of the 1909 deed of sale, that Angaur Island was sold to the German col onial government.

As an attorney who has read the transcript of that trial, 1 find it incredible how a court could make such a finding of fact as there was absolutely no basis for that conclusion. In any event, the 1909 deed has now surfaced and will be ad missible during the trial of this case. That document became available about two years ago as a result of the efforts of the now defunct Micronesian War Claims Commission, and ap proximately six years after the

earlier trial referred toe herein.

As I alluded to earlier, II represent Chief Orrenges and! his clan in this very important, and possibly a landmark case.. 1 am the first lawyer fromr Angaur, and the fourthr Micronesian lawyer with legal! education from the United!

States. I received my< bachelor’s degree in political! science and psychology i nr 1969 and my Juris Doctor in 1971 from the University ot Denver. I am a member of the Trust Territory and the United States Supreme Court bars. I was the first Microne sian admitted to the latter bar Presently, I am the assistant legislative counsel of the Con gress of Micronesia and for merly chief of the legal divi sion of the Attorney General’s Office of the Trust Territory (Micronesia). I have been per mitted by the presiding of ficers of the Congress ol Micronesia to represent Chiei Orrenges’ case although 1 am a full-time employee of the Congress. Although the presiding officers have ex pressed their moral and sym pathetic support to Chief Or renges and his clan, this is no'< to say that the Congress is in any way involved in this case as I am doing it on my own time.

On behalf of Chief Or renges, his clan, and the peo( pie of Angaur, permit me to say KEMESULANG (than! you) to you and Mr Stewan Firth for a fine story and youj interest in Orrenges’ case.

Carlos H. Salt

Koror, Palau Western Caroline Islands

Architecture

The various comments a the fate of historic Pacifi architecture (PIM May, Sep tember, 1977), brought a fe; nostalgic memories back tt this reader.

I am confident that many o the military men who serve in the South Pacific with th various Allied forces durin World War II can recall a pleasant memories associate with the old Hotel du Pacift que in Noumea, Ne Caledonia. Although I do m profess any critical authorii on architecture, for me thi old rambling hostelry had charm that is difficult to fin these days. The bar, of cours had been modified to accon modate the hordes of thirs? visitors who on occasion jan med the place to overflowim

but the rooms I would dare say had not been modernised in any way to "meet’’ tourist conceptions of what hotels should look like, what with their swinging doors, mos quito netting, etc.

My wife and 1 had occasion to spend a few days in Noumea in 1965, and during our meanderings around the city came upon the old hotel, and much to our surprise it had been absolutely abandon ed. The buildings were com pletely open to any "visitors”, with the silverware still in the pantry, bedding in the linen closets, etc, but not a soul to be seen or to interrupt our in

quisitive wanderings.

Again in 1969 we had occa sion to spend an overnight, between planes, in Noumea, and found that the old relic had been razed, to (what else) make way for a highway, to the Tontouta Airfield! Admit tedly, the highway needed im proving, but it seemed a shame to demolish this old scene of so many happy memories.

Along this line, I hope that the Grand Pacific Hotel, in Suva, is still serving as "mine host”. The atmosphere at that old hostelry was really con ducive of relaxation. The modern, de luxe hostelries erected in so many places by the international airlines may have amenities that these historic buildings did not, but so many of them have inade quate air conditioning that they would be more comforta ble with the old swinging doors, to permit some air cir culation, and a bit of breeze.

More power to the Development Authority of the Pacific Area Travel As sociation in their campaign to save what is left of these old structures.

Urban D. Kapler

Phoenix, Arizona.

Pim & Yachties

Some months ago 1 wrote and asked you to put a small squib in your yachting column in order that I might make contact with some of the good friends I met in Fiji.

Not only did you put my letter in your magazine, but I had answers from people I never suspected even read PIM, even though I know it is the most widely read magazine in the South Pacific.

I had a letter from Ellen Allen in Nadi, Fiji; one from Johanna Anderson, sailing on the yacht Audacious. (Johan

na got me the first boat-sitting job I ever had in Fiji.) She saw the piece in Noumea and we have been corresponding ever since. I also heard from Reinhard Haiber, yacht Ganesh, who should be in Cairns, North Queensland, by now. Reinhard was in the Solomons when someone brought the story to his at tention. A man from Port Moresby, Mr. Haegle, also wrote me saying that he had heard of Ganesh.

And so it went. I am back in business with correspondence to my friends, thanks to PIM.

As I said, I was sure 1 would get results, but not the fan tastic things that actually hap pened. And from such widely scattered, faraway places.

When Reinhard wrote he had just left two other couples whom Fd known very well in Fiji Tom and Terri from the Junk and 800 and Lori with their big catamaran Basadarah. They had both been at anchorage in the Solomons.

My thanks again for your help— and I think it is super that yachtsmen have your magazine to fall back on when they need help or information of any kind.

Aloha and mahalo for your kindness.

Harriette Allan

Honolulu, Hawaii.

Bananas

The article headed ‘Bananas, A Dying Export In dustry in the Islands" de scribes in some detail the history of the banana industry in the area. It is a pity that it contains so many inaccuracies which, I believe, must be cor rected.

Reference is made to the conspicuously negative role played by Fruit Distributors Ltd. The facts do not support this comment as Fruit Dis tributors maintains a policy of purchasing all the bananas produced for export in the Pacific Islands at prices which have generally been in excess of world ruling market prices.

The company receives esti mates from the individual ter ritories and accepts all fruit offered at what is in effect a guaranteed price without any quantity limits. This situation does not exist for any other agricultural commodity that we know of and in our view is a positive way of giving sup port and stability to the indus try. Unlike copra and cocoa

prices, the banana price has never fluctuated downwards but only moved upwards.

The reasons for the decline in production vary between territories but generally relate to the practical difficulties of controlling the many diseases and pests that attack banana crops, the lack of suitable regular shipping services in recent years, and damage to plantations caused from time to time by high winds. The fob price, which by world stan dards is high, is not a factor in the declining production. In fact at a recent conference on bananas held in Rarotonga, it was agreed that if average levels of production per acre could be achieved, then the returns from banana growing at present prices were indeed extremely good.

The statement that the New Zealand Government insists that Fruit Distributors takes all the bananas from the Pacific Islands is entirely untrue. The company has never been instructed by government in this direction but protects a market in New Zealand for fruit from the Pacific Islands on its own in itiative in keeping with the spirit of our agreement with government.

The reference in your arti cle to pricing shows a total lack of knowledge of the pre sent situation. The current fob price paid for bananas meet ing minimum quality re quirements is in excess of NZ 8c per lb and this is the high est fob price that we know of anywhere. There is also a price for bananas shipped that do not meet the minimum quality requirements and that price is in excess of NZ 6c fob per lb. The freight to New Zealand is in excess of 5.5 c per lb which is considerably more than the figure quoted in your article.

The company is at present actively encouraging im provements in the selection, handling and packing of fruit in all the producing territories with a view to upgrading the general quality of export fruit.

It is also actively involved in efforts to improve the ship ping services from the Island territories to New Zealand.

The inference that the pre sent purchasing arrangement is some form of exploitation is not only inaccurate but en-» tirely unfair.

Michael Dossor

General Manager Fruit Distributors Ltd Wellington

Traders’ Plea

Recently, New Guinea Australia Line decided to dis continue its three-weekly ser vice by Island Chief to the port of Gizo in the Western Solomons, thereby leaving traders and importers in a quandary as to how to con tinue to import cargo from Australia while keeping prices to consumers reasonable The main problems • The freight rate to Gizo has jumped from $83.75/tonne plus bunker surcharge and CAP, to $103.75 plus bunker surcharge and CAP, as now goods must be trans-shipped from Honiara on a through bill of lading. Obviously, this increase of 25% will even tually be paid by consumers. • Importers’ cargo will be off-loaded in Honiara where goods will be susceptible to loss and pilferage. (Traders will be aware that this is never entirely compensated for by insurance.) • There will be no way of importing freezer cargo or cooler cargo direct from Australia to Gizo. • General inconvenience of not being able to supervise the off-loading of one’s own cargo but leaving it to those who do not care if it is mislaid, damaged or not received on time.

The most difficult setback of these is that consumers who are already at a disadvantage because of their isolation, are now faced with yet another levy simply due once again to their geographical position.

The only possibility of im provement in this respect is that there may be a shipping company interested in the freighting of at least 250 ton nes of general cargo plus freezer cargo every three weeks to Gizo from Australia, or alternatively over 500 ton nes every six weeks, and with the possibility of gleaning other freight from ports such as Kieta or Vila.

It seems difficult to imagine that this situation could not be advantageous to a smaller-siz ed shipping company, especially if already operating in the Western South Pacific region. Should this be the case, inquiries should be directed to: The Importers and Traders of the Western Solomons, c/- The Manager, Liapari Ltd, Vella Lavella,

Janita Lewis,

Manager, Liapari Ltd.