People

picture of Aggie in a recent issue of Mana, Auckland’s Polynesian newspaper. This was used to promote the Auckland-Apia air service.

But Aggie is not the only Western Samoa VIP to have her photograph used to pro mote tourism. A full-page pic ture of the Civil Aviation Minister, Mr Asi Eikini, was used in the Pacific Travel News, a magazine for travel agents published by the Pacific Area Travel Association (PATA).

The advertisement carried a clip-out coupon which led to his office being swamped for information about Western Samoa, Asi said.

Mr Frederick Reiher has been confirmed as Papua New Guinea High Commissioner to the United Kingdom after an initial acting period of 18 months and Mr Peter Donigi has been named as Papua New Guinea Charge-d’affaires in

Brussels pending the appoint

ment of an ambassador. Up to now PNG has been one of three island countries with rep resentation below ambassa dorial level in trade negotiations with EEC coun tries. Creation of the post of ambassador is in line with PNG’s involvement in the EEC/Lome convention.

Mr Jack Kovaea Karukuru, 35, Secretary of the Depart ment of Provincial Affairs in Papua New Guinea, has been appointed PNG High Corn-

Sir Angus Sharp, who retired in July as Commissioner of Police in Western Samoa, took the unusual course of publicly naming the man who should succeed him. He suggested that Inspector Sonny Schuster, then overseas on high level police training was best qualified, but added that it was a matter for government decision. Sir Angus is a former New Zealand Commissioner of Police, and was invited to take over in Western Samoa when the position became vacant. He said it was always understood that his appointment in West ern Samoa was temporary. He served for 17 months.

Mention of 80-years-old

Aggie Grey automatically

brings Western Samoa and Aggie Grey’s Hotel to mind.

Air New Zealand obviously took that view when it used a colour picture of Aggie on the cover of Jetaway, the airline’s in-flight magazine. The par ticular issue devoted much space to Western Samoa with emphasis on the tourism as pect. There was also a full page

missioner to Fiji. The Fiji post has been vacant since 1976, when Mr Evertius Romney was recalled. At that time PNG eliminated or downgraded some overseas posts for econ omic reasons. Mr Karukuru was educated at Kerema and Toowoomba Grammar School.

He joined the PNG public ser vice as a cadet patrol officer in 1963. He is married and has three children.

Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, Prime Minister of Fiji, was able to “stride proudly” along the Great Wall of China because he had acupuncture treatment for an ankle which had persist ently troubled him. He sought medical advice about the ankle on his recent visit to China and was taken to hospital. There he was introduced to a “plump lady”, of about 60, who worked on him with needles for three days the first day with three, the second day with six and the third with nine. The treatment was painless, except for a numb feeling as the woman probed about with needles, and it did the job. Ratu Sir Kamisese was possibly the first Prime Minis ter from the western world to receive that ages-old Chinese treatment in China.

As a pastor in New Britain during World War 11, Peni ToVartovo's life was threatened more than once by soldiers of the Japanese oc cupation forces. But Mr ToVartovo has certainly had the last laugh; he now pulls in a handy income from a war museum he has established on his land at Karavia village, near Rabaul. Star attractions of the museum are five World War II Japanese landing barges.

According to Mr ToVar tovo, towards the end of the war the Japanese forces were directed to conceal the barges to protect them from the re peated Allied bombings. The plan was to wait until the raids ended and then re-launch the barges.

Prisoners of war, including Indians, Fijians, Papua New Guineans and others, were mobilised to drive a tunnel one of the many made under Japanese orders in the area into a hillside. They were then ordered to push the barges.

mounted on large rollers, from Karavia beach into the tunnel. There they still rest, the war having ended before they could be launched again.

Mr ToVartovo first got the idea of a museum in 1970. His first windfall was the visit of a cruise ship with about 500 tourists in that year. Virtually all of them paid a 20 toea entrance fee for a visit to the tunnel. With the money thus gained, Mr ToVartovo fenced off the entrance to the tunnel.

Now, nearly every month, hundreds of tourists make visits and hear the tale of how the barges got there.

“Self-reliance has always been practised in Papua New Guinea, even before we made contacts with Europeans,” Mr ToVartovo told PNG Government Information Of ficer, Wesley Peni.

Robert Keith-Reid, 36, a senior journalist on the staff of The Fiji Times at Suva, has been awarded a Fulbright- Pacific Islands News As sociation fellowship in jour nalism. This involves enroll ing at the School of Journal ism at the University of Hawaii and working with Honolulu newspapers. He has been a journalist for 16 years six with the Fiji Broadcast ing Commission, where he became news editor, and 10 with The Fiji Times.

Aggie Grey on her eightieth birthday.

First Officer Gordon Bosanquet, of Air Niugini, gets his eye in for the Commonwealth Games at Edmonton, Canada, practising at the Port Moresby Pistol Club shooting range. With two other members of the club, he has been chosen to represent Papua New Guinea in the pistol events.