Islands

From the

Press

A cock-and-bull story from Marianas Variety News &

Views, Saipan

A number of cockfights will be conducted as part of the Constitution Day celebration January 9. All bird owners who wish to enter may contact Gilbert C. Ada or Jess Pangelinan in the Community and Cultural Affairs Department. . . Winners of the grand prize awarded on Constitution Day will receive a Santa Gertrudis heifer and bull, donated by Pete Dela Cruz, director of Natural Resources...

Letter from reader Taputu in Cook Islands News,

Rarotonga

Yesterday’s paper contained a legend provided by Teremoana Rairi, probably of the Teachers Training College, which was written in Maori. Now this is not just some legend this is a part I of a genealogy - my genealogy (Papaanga) and it was written with mistakes.. There are legends that can be published for the world to see and there are some not meant to be seen by other people but the immediate family concerned. This legend which was published ... is from the ‘Are Korero o Mokoero’ and can only be used by a few of the family concerned for obvious reasons...

Editorial in Fiji Times, Suva If anyone had any doubt about the value to the Fiji economy of the tourist industry yesterday’s figures from the Government Statistician should have dispelled them. All those people, pouring into our sunny, friendly islands with their funny hats, their too-short shorts, and their different attitudes, kept Fiji green last year to the tune of $ 103 900 000. But it isn’t easy money, and it will become harder to make as other countries in our area get deeper into the business and offer stiffer competition. We need bright, new workable ideas... not just glib repetitions of the old and tried formulae ... Why for example does the government levy duty on wine when hardly anyone local drinks the stuff?

Australian visitors are almost unversally aghast to find in ‘duty-free’ Fiji wines from the Barossa or the Hunter Valley at three to five times their Australian prices..

News Drum, Honiara, Solomon Islands Fishermen of Nuatabu village in the north-east coast of Choiseul were frightened sometimes, and always disturbed, by a shark which went up to their canoes and watched them for about 15 minutes before going away. One fisherman said the shark was about 19 to 20 feet in length with a dark greyish spotted body.

The shark had a habit of swimming up to the canoe, gently tapping sides of the canoe with its tail before turning upside down and watching the canoe ... It was quite tame, and did not disturb t eir catches. Village elders have warned the fishermen to take care ...

Tuvalu News Sheet, Funafuti

About half of the overseas surface mailbags delivered by the MV Okeanis towards the end of last month, were found opened with their contents missing when the vessel discharged its cargo at Funafuti. The matter was immediately reported to the Police, who contacted the ports at which the Okeanis had called before arriving at the capital. A report from the Police said that a response by telegram was received from Tonga saying that the dice suspect the culprits to be among their stevedores, but no arrests have been made. The Tongan Police however, are investigating the matter under directions of the Crown Prince.

It IS believed that the incident happened at Tonga’s main wharf at Nukualofa where the containers containing the Tuvalu mailbags were shifted ashore, when the Okeanis had to unload cargoes...

Papua New Guinea Post-Courier, Port Moresby

As you know, beer advertising is banned in this country. But, ah, there are ways around it. There was a stunning display of this last Sunday when the Japanese Prime Minister, Mr Ohira, dropped in on his way home from Australia. As Mr Ohira alighted from his aircraft, the heavens opened. The waiting multitude of officials immediately opened out their umbrellas - green and yellow South Pacific brewery ones ...

The Observer, Apia

The Monetary Board is out to bankrupt us in a nice way,’ so fumed the general manager of the manufacturing company Samoa Iron and Steel Ltd, Mr Alfred Metzler. Close to agitation, Mr Metzler stuttered: Samoa would probably be the only country in the world who restrict the imports of materials for development.’ He was agonising over an allocation of $9O 000 granted his company by the Monetary Board, which is ‘less than half of what we requested’ for this year’s first quarter. As a result Mr Metzler is laying off from Monday half of his work force Pitcairn Miscellany, Pitcairn Island The weight has continued to fall off the weight watching ladies, but champion of them all must be Thelma Brown, for in the short time weight watchers has been operating Thelma has lost 30 pounds. All the men are saying how attractive she looks lately.

Well done Thelma - keep up the good work. Another keen weight watcher is Meralda. I understand she is aiming to have a fantastic figure for her 21st birthday. Just remember; If you feel you could eat like a hog Please remember to shut your gob!

Tuvalu News Sheet, Funafuti Youth association from the villages of Vaiaku, Fakai Fou and Funafuti last week at the Tauson held a food auction which netted the three groups more than $6O in proceeds. Petisone Lalua delighted the more than 100 young people in attendance with funny stories told at a price of two cents each From a letter by Mataiasi Lutu in the Fiji Times, Suva About 50% or so of Fijians marry only for the purpose of sex and nothing more. These Fijians do not bother about their households, that is whether the families are fed or clothed, let alone the teaching of the children to become good citizens. This is a matter usually left to the wives to sort out. If the husband has no love for the family, his wife should be given to another man capable of performing the husband’s duty. The outgoing husband should take and look after his own children.

Pitcairn Miscellany, Pitcairn Island Although an official register of Births, Deaths and Marriages was not begun until the mid 1860 s, it is one of the most interesting documents on Pitcairn; and if one has an hour to spare, it makes fascinating reading. For within it is recorded the small triumphs and the tragedy of the community here. Death during the early days often struck with an unexpected swiftness .. . certainly accidental death was far more common than it is today, perhaps reflecting the struggle the people had with the Pitcairn environment. And of the causes of accidental death, drowning appears to be the prime cause; for the sea has long been both friend and foe to the people here. Some of the drownings are puzzling, when apparently good swimmers were inexplicably lost ... Another major cause of accidental death on Pitcairn has been falls from rugged terrain and cliffs. Early inhabitants relied on seabirds’ eggs and young seabirds themselves to supplement their diet, but collecting these was indeed a hazardous undertaking, for the birds usually nested on narrow ledges and cliffs, and one slip by the collector meant certain death. Falls while goat hunting accounted for even more deaths, and in one bizarre accident death occurred when a hunter was killed by a rock dislodged from above

by a goat...