Islands

From the

Press

From the Nauru Post The NP wishes to congratulate the police force on its new uniform. It is bright, attractive and some have even described it as psychedelic. Perhaps the new bright uniform is a reflection of the ministry’s young minister who would obviously be full of bright and new ideas ...

From the Cook Islands News, Rarotonga The Tourist Authority is to mount an ‘educational programme’ for tourists visiting the Cook Islands, to help visitors adapt to the local conditions and avoid unwittingly giving offence to local people through dress and behaviour.. . The Authority has also produced a series of Church hints for visitors, covering dress and the recording of services. ‘Of course it is difficult to draw the line on dress standards, but we do feel that a bikini is not acceptable wear in town’, says the general manager of the Tourist Authority, Mr Tomu Okatai. He also notes that some confusion could arise from impressions created by performances by dancing groups in hotels and night spots, with tourists perhaps mistaking dancing costumes for acceptable day wear ...

From Nasiko, new weekly news magazine, New Hebrides Nasiko has chosen Mrs Bee Maize to appear in our first issue as our tourist of the week. Mrs Maize has been a tourist in the New Hebrides for 10 years. She comes from Southern California .. Mrs Maize had bought a property on Santo from a land speculator, Mr Eugene Peacock. When she arrived here she discovered a law had been passed against land speculation She said although she may not get back the property she bought, •he does not regret it. ‘l’m so pleased that by investing money n that property I was able to come and discover this beautiful )lace,’she said. : rom the Arawa Bulletin, North Solomons Province, s apua New Guinea f anyone has recently had the opportunity to see the jungle •rowth along the banks of the Bovo, they would realise the )otential danger of it harbouring rascals and ‘flashers’. The ;rowth rate of the bush has been rapid. Previously the ATC would ome and cut it all back but since the changeover in that lepartment, no one seems at all interested and the jungle just ontmues to grow. Residents along this section have recently been larassed by undesirables just appearing ‘starkers’ out of the mdergrowth. How about it ATC or BCE Security, could tnmediate action be taken to do something about this problem hus relieving the nervous tension being experienced along this ection of the Bovo - PLEASE? rom the Fiji Times, Suva oung Ideas. This week’s question: What new things have you amt during the school holidays? Alec Morris, 10, Stella Maris rimary School: i learned how to drink grog, smoke and do night

awhng ...’ b

From the Honolulu Advertiser Alcoholism is a serious problem in Micronesia, where technological and social changes have not always proceeded apace. One Micronesian group that has tried to do something about this is Truk, where most islands are dry . . . Now the Truk State legislature has proposed the government, through the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, take charge of selling spirits.

A bill now before the body would make the control board the only legal importer and wholesaler of alcohol in Truk. It would also require alcohol identification cards. Permit systems have been tried before, and most people ignored them. It is quite probable a new system would be just as ineffective, in spite of $5OO fines and the threat of imprisonment. And given Micronesia’s propensity for lax accounting procedures, it is interesting to speculate the probability of misplaced cartons of Schlitz and bottles of J&B scotch whenever a big party is planned In Truk, apparently, they believe whenever you have a problem, the government will take care of it. And it seems government now believes if you can’t beat ’em join ’em .. .

From a letter to Papua New Guinea Post-Courier, Port

Moresby

So the National Executive Council has approved TV. Must we have it? There is so much more that should come first: more and better schools, more and better roads, more and better medical care, employment opportunities, cultural development, rural development, the eight aim. TV won’t get us any of these.

Developing countries do not have the people or skills to make their own programmes except to a limited scale. They are forced then to buy cheap Western TV programmes. Often these are the worst programmes that Americans or English people wouldn’t watch. And old movies ...

From Town Talk in the Arawa Bulletin Newcomers to Bougainville were told they could get any amount of plants by just picking.them out of the jungle, so off they went seeking their shrubbery and found some beautiful banana trees growing wild (or so they thought), so proceeded to pick them.

Imagine their surprise when a beautiful, bare maiden popped up out of the nearby river swinging a bush-knife and screaming in pidgin at them! We hear they are still without their shrubbery, but boy, what a story to report to friends and relatives south!

From The Samoa Times, Apia The organisers of the Relief Fund Campaign for the recent landslide at Nua and Seetaga, American Samoa, this week sent an orator to thank the people of Western Samoa for their help.

The orator, Fualautoolasi Leulus’o Leatutufu, is the executive director and secretary of the National Samoan Chiefs Council of America, which is co-ordinating the campaign .. .

Fualautoolasi said total donations towards the relief fund have come to approximately $2O 000. Of this amount some $ll 000 was raised in the United States and Pago. The rest was donated by people living in Western Samoa .. .

From an editorial in The Fiji Times, Suva What a relief it must be for Pacific Island governments, individually and collectively as members of the South Pacific, that their region’s western boundary stretches no further than the border between Papua New Guinea and West Irian. This fortunate geographical convenience enables the South Pacific to pointedly ignore mass murder in West Irian. An authoritative report yesterday described how Indonesian rulers are conducting a campaign of oppression as bloody and brutal as any of the many others being pursued so vigorously in other parts of the world.

Secret executions, massacres, napalm, starvation, prison camps - West Irians suffer them all. Luckily for the South Pacific, the West Irians no longer count as Pacific Islanders.