:hat bottle
pp. 7-10 · Read in the full issue
Letters
Mo spoof in
lince writing you the letter ffiich you were kind enough to ublish (PIM Aug p41, ‘Sense r spoof in a bottle?’), we have eliable information that the ;tter is indeed no spoof. The writer is Mr Teka, a part-Cook slander, part-Tahitian at pres nt working on the Awahnee of lonolulu, and the message was tirown overboard while the I wahnee, then on charier to the )ceanic Institute, was between he Marquesas and California, 'he letter is written in a lixture of Rarotongan, 'ahitian and English and this xplains why it can be only
mperfectly translated.
For this information we are rateful to a number of people: • To Dr George M. Balaczs f the Hawaii Institute of /larine Biology, who passed the ;tter on to Professor Jack H.
Vard of the University of iawaii, Department of Indo ‘acific Languages. • To Professor Ward, who Jentified the languages and irovided the paraphrase below, nd contacted Dr Steve /lontgomery of the University f Hawaii, Department of Ento nology. • To Dr Montgomery, who ontacted Ms Nancy Griffith, iwner of the Awahnee, and stablished Teka’s identity. • To Ms Griffith and to Teka or supplying the background nformation. • And to Teka and the Awahnee crew for providing nany people with a fascinating mzzle.
We are also grateful to all hose people who wrote to us or :ontacted La Depeche or Les Vouvelles Caledoniennes, and ake this opportunity to thank n advance those readers of 5 IM who will do the same.
The original text appeared to ead as follows: ‘August 1978 10 Teia tutu ari to matou no te
avae August 10 no tera mana gigi muri mai o troni tapae matou i nuhiva 12 tapae matou i tahuia i nia ite pai o awahhee oceanic institute ... e reira fame matou no Tahiti. Nateka, Jon, Mary, Mike, Tom.’
Professor Ward’s para phrase/translation is as follows: ‘August 10, 1978. This new picture (message?) of ours (is) of August (and) today is the 10th. Gigi (another name for Mary?) is (standing?) behind John (Jon?). We (have) arrived at Nukuhiva. (Depending upon where the sentence ends, it could also mean ‘We will arrive at Nukuhiva on the 12th’.Tense is not indicated.) (On the 12th) we will reach Tahuata (I know of no island named Tahuia in the Marquesas.) aboard the ship Awahnee, Oceanic Insti tute. Then we will depart for Tahiti. NATEKA (or it could be NA TEKA, i.e. (written) by TEKA), Jon, Mary, Mike, Tom.’
As a result of this interest, a member of our staff is prepar ing a South Pacific Bulletin article which will highlight the historical, human and scientific aspects of a message which took 15 months to travel from an as yet undetermined spot off the Marquesas to the He des Pins south of New Caledonia.
D. W. J. Stewart
Director of Administration South Pacific Commission Noumea New Caledonia A place of honour for PIM Please convey to Mr Robson and Judy Tudor the delight I felt when I heard that they were celebrating the 50th anniver sary of the Pacific Islands Monthly.
For many years this publi cation was of considerable im portance to me. I first made its acquaintance during the war when copies reached Espiritu Santo, and how avidly I read them, for they introduced me to a whole new world.
After the war, when I trav elled the area frequently, the green-covered PIM became a kind of Bible, informing me of my friends on the 40-odd islands I had known during the war years.
After that I subscribed to the journal, allotting it a place of
honour on my table, because it served as a kind of letter-from home. I was always delighted with its success, impressed by the large amount of information it contained. Such success was due principally to the efforts of Mr Robson and the challenging articles of Judy Tudor.
Their many friends in the United States wish them well, as do I.
James A. Michener
St Michaels Md
Usa
Birthday wishes
from FSP Belated but nonetheless very warm congratulations to PIM on its 50th anniversary.
Elizabeth Sil Verstein
President Foundation for the Peoples of the South Pacific New York NY
Usa
An American
Speaks Out (2)
My wife pointed out to me the letter ‘An American Speaks Out’ (PIM Aug p 35).
I’m an American citizen and I agree with Mr Robinson that not everything ‘done in the name of the flag’ has been positive and responsible.
There was an informative TV show on here in DC called ‘Welcome to Yap’, produced and directed by Dennis O’Rourke. It showed some of the grotesque, unhealthy effects of some of the contacts with ‘advanced foreigners’.
I received a copy of a tran script of the programme. More might be available from WGBH Transcripts, 125 West ern Ave, Boston, MA, 02134.
Thank you.
Robert J. Jones
Washington DC
Usa
Not Orokolo but
Koriki
In the article by Jimmy and Gwenda Cornell on the Third South Pacific Festival of Arts (PIM Sep piB) the picture said to depict an Orokolo dancer is not an Orokolo dancer but a Koriki dancer from Baimuru District in the Gulf Province.
The Orokolo contribution to the festival arose from their
revival of the art of making the Kovave masks. This art form has been dormant for more than 40 years, the last Kovave mask being made in 1939.
Joye Soloi Hareavila
Provincial Co-ordinator for Participants c/o Gulf Province Cultural Committee Kerema Papua New Guinea An Un-Christian Reverend?
The Rev. K. C. Calvert’s ‘Mar tyrs and Mercenaries’ from Tanna island, Vanuatu (PIM Sep p 29) caught my attention since American TV carried filmed reports from Tanna. 1 thought the article was very un-Christian and irreverent for the Reverend missionary.
Our papers had full reports on the Vanuatu uprisings. With ‘many years’ experience of missionary work on this Vanuatuan island’, one would think that Mr Calvert’s re sponse to this situation would generate reconciliation and not provocation.
Ronald E. Hoskins
Philadelphia Penna
Usa
France in the South Pacific I read your translation of ‘La France et le Pacifique Sud’ (PIM Sep p 25) with interest, particularly the bit starting at the end of p 27 about the presence of France in the South Pacific.
Rightly or wrongly I get the
Koriki, not Orokolo
ecling that France’s special leading about ‘communities ndowed with specific status’ nly arises because these erritories are deemed French nd that the case would not be o argued by France were these ommunilies to have the same latus with some other indus rial power for example, lermany, Portugal, Nether mds, Japan, Russia.
In the French view, is ispirilu Santo a failed /layette?
W.J. Simpson
’ort Moresby ’apua New Guinea
Clarification from
Spec
take this opportunity to cor ectly state, for the benefit of our readers, the position of the Jouth Pacific Bureau for Econ imic Co-operation (SPEC) vhich I feel was incorrectly eported by Mr Robert Keith teid in his article titled ‘Forum lacks Hebrides Government’
PIM Aug pi 7).
The report which rec immended the amalgamation »f SPEC and the South Pacific Fommission (SPC) into a single egional institution, to which Tr Keith-Reid referred, was lot a SPEC report but the eport of an independent joint :ommittee. This committee, vhich was created as a result of i decision by the 10th South 3 acific Forum held in Honiara, Solomon Islands, July 1979, ind the Nineteenth South Pacific Conference held in Papeete, French Polynesia, con isted of three Forum member governments (Australia, Cook slands and Solomon Islands), hree SPC member countries/ erritories (American Samoa, Slew Hebrides (Vanuatu) and French Polynesia for France) md an independent chairman, nominated by the Director of SPEC and the Secretary- Seneral of SPC. Its primary 'unction was to investigate the possible rationalisation of insti tutional arrangements between SPEC and SPC with a view to ensuring that overlapping of responsibilities was minimised and that the resources available to the region were utilised most effectively. In accordance with the Forum directive, the com-
mittee tabled its report at the recent 11th South Pacific Fo rum held in Tarawa, Kiribati, July 1980 through its chairman, Tuala Karanita Enari of West ern Samoa. The report was also tabled at the 20th South Pacific Conference held in Papua New Guinea, in October 1980. 1 hope that the above infor mation will clarify the position of SPEC in relation to the Report on Regional Insti tutional Arrangements referred to in Mr Keith-Reid’s article.
G.B. Gris
Director South Pacific Bureau for Economic Co-operation Suva Fiji Poem for Vanuatu
independence
I am a regular reader jk your highly informative afTO well recognised PIM. 1 enjoy reading it and I have a special interest in your poems like those supplied by Mana. It is in this spirit that I would like you to publish a poem 1 wrote for the recent independence of my country of Vanuatu, for merly the New Hebrides (Con dominium), which I would like to share with other PIM readers.
I have attempted to convey some of the main historical events of Vanuatu from the ‘Old Blackbirding Days’ to the present ‘lndependence Era’. 1 would be more than grate ful if you would kindly publish the poem in your letters column or wherever suitable, in your
next issue. I hereby enclose a copy. Thanking you in advance.
Thetidal Waves
I sal quietly, motionless.
Suddenly came A Tidal Wave.
A Wave of Evil!
A Wave of — Blackbirdcrs who robbed my ancestors Selfish-Traders who chopped down my woods First-Class Thieves who stole my land and Missionaries who messed-up my custom.
I thought that was all.
But came Another Tidal Wave.
Another Wave of Evil!
A Wave of— Colonisation Condominiumism Civilisation and Christianity.
My arse pains with rage.
Unreal but . . .
My land stolen!
My children separated!
My resources exploited!
My custom detribalised!
Unreal but . . .
Thai's Mr Two-Faced Monster!
Helpless. I lament my misfortunes.
Suddenly came Another Tidal Wave!
Another Wave of Evil?
No! It’s a Wave of— Freedom Liberty and Unity.
It’s that victorious Wave of INDEPEN
Dence!
Sampson D. Ngwele
(Vanuatu) University of PNG Port Moresby Papua New Guinea
The Club strikes
back
Let me make a somewhat late protest at the article Tourism in New Caledonia Awaits its Flowering Still’ by Andre Chaville (PIM Aug p6l).
I’m truly surprised that a publication as respected as yours would publish such an inaccurate, misleading and totally out-of-date mishmash of half-truths, misinformation, unverified rumours and innu endo.
In the first place, the article is 12 months stale. It refers to the ‘closing of the Chateau’ and ‘when the Club Med reopens . . .’. As at the time of publi cation, the Club had been operating already for 10 months.
The article snidely refers to Club Med as ‘The “Sea, Sun & Sex” holiday camp’. Your author, who has evidently never set foot in a Club village hides his ignorance behind cheap innuendo.
Your readers should know and 1 trust you will publish this rebuttal that the Club to date has catered to some 14 000 Australians and New Zealanders, mostly families with children. In August, there were 180 children, age four and up, present at the peak school holidays.
I leave you to decide whether so many middle and upper income parents would bring their children to a ‘sea, sun and sex camp’.
The article states there are no organised coach tours. Untrue.
It says the accommodation is insufficient. Untrue. Ask the hoteliers who complain about their occupancies. 1 do think that the New Caledonia tourist industry and its bright future bear review by your publication but, please, couldn’t you entrust the task to a more responsible author?
John P. Youngman
Regional Director Club Mediterranee Sydney NSW Australia One or two things slipped under our guard in the course of producing our special anniver sary issue for August, which was more than twice the nor
The flag goes up in July this year for Vanuatu independence - and a nationalist poet writing on this page claims his country has been delivered out of the hands of thieves, blackbirders, traders and missionaries.
mal size of our magazine. Mr Youngman is right: the article was out of date, and we are grateful to him for updating the facts on Club Mediterranee activities in New Caledonia.
Meanwhile, we hope Mr Youngman was to some extent mollified by the very favour able account of this French territory as a tourist desti nation given by lan Downs in a later issue (PIM Travel Oct p 59). Editor.
‘Come home
Dorothy’
I have been a regular PIM reader for a couple of years now and I am very proud of the great and wonderful job PIM is doing in elaborating communi cation between the whole South Pacific Region. Well done! Con gratulations!
I now would like to express my concern over the letter written to you by a reader called Dorothy Wakau who claimed to have come from Cairns (PIM Sep p 6).
The letter began by saying ‘l’m probably wasting my time ...’ I agree that Dorothy Wakau was wasting her time.
Dorothy Wakau claims to be a Papua New Guinean, but also ignores the true and valuable identity that she should respect in her country of origin, and everything it contains, its people first of all.
Why doesn’t she come back to PNG to experience the real practical climate of a Melanesian society?
Michael D. Ruimb
West Koma Community Mt Hagen Papua New Guinea
A disclaimer
from Nauru I refer to ‘From the Islands Press’ (PIM Sep p5l) where you quoted The Nauru Post reporting that ‘Nauruans de vote most of their energy to eating, and in the process have become a race of unhealthy blimps. It is a rare adult Nauruan who weights less than 200 lbs. Temptation lurks at the island’s only supermarket where shoppers waddle blithely past nutrition posters to fill their carts with cookies, cornflakes, canned meat and
mountains of beer and soda pop and these are just snacks I must protest most strongly at the manner in which you have edited the quoted text as if it originated from The Nauru Post. The Nauru Post disas sociates itself from any such suggestion as may be implied by the way you published the quoted text.
The quoted text was orig inally written by Time maga zine correspondent Ross H.
Munro in their edition of May 12, 1980. Although we repub lished it in our Issue No. 21 of May 21, 1980, The Nauru Post does not agree with the text you have quoted.
Bernard Dowiyogo
Editor The Nauru Post Nauru PIM is extremely sorry that this item was presented with an incomplete identification of its source. The sentiments ex pressed don’t reflect PI M’s opinion, either Editor.
PIM ‘paranoid 9 about French?
I am puzzled by PI M’s appar ent paranoid fixation on liberat ing the ‘French Provinces’ in the Pacific area to indepen dence.
Is this out of a genuine concern for the islanders (Abor igines in Australia, Maoris in New Zealand), or some kind of dread of French influence in the Pacific?
Doesn’t PIM have any con cern over American influence in the Pacific? I have not noticed any PIM stories pushing a pro independence drive for Hawaii or American Samoa.
Why the discrimination against the French?
William R. Plato
Cleveland Ohio
Usa
For 50years PIM has sought to reflect and support the aspir ations of the peoples of the Pacific. If we sometimes give publicity to pro-independence, or pro-self-government, move ments in French Pacific territories it is because they exist. But where are the com parable movements in
American Samoa or Hawaii?
On three occasions the American Samoans actually rejected by referendum a pro posal that they should elect their own governor or, rather than have governors appointed by Washington. Only on the fourth occasion did they accept the idea. This hardly suggests a public opinion in favour of independence. As for Hawaii, it is an historical fact that majority opinion in Hawaii was strongly in favour of becoming the 50th state of the USA.
President Eisenhower's procla mation of Hawaii as the 50th state of the union on August 21, 1959, was the culmination of a long struggle in Hawaii to attain first-class American citi zenship. Editor.
Lou Hitchcock’s
‘problem’
With reference to Lou Hitchcock’s comment (PIM Aug p3B) on the lady with the beautiful breasts on the cover of the November 1979 PIM, perhaps he would be happier if her beautiful smile was covered with a veil. The man’s got a problem.
Next April my yacht Ella will once again be in the Pacific Islands, and hopefully reported in your fine magazine. Keep us shorebound ‘islanders’ in formed we appreciate it.
Walt Poitevent
Bellingham WA Australia
A Banaban plea for
help
Since I started reading the Pacific Islands Monthly way back during my secondary school days, I have found that the articles were very interest ing and informative. Your Sou venir Edition August, 1980, was one that inspired me very much and also made me want to write to your office.
As a Banaban, the articles in the August issue which were based on Ocean Island or the Banabans were the most inter esting and informative for me.
We are trying very hard to revive our own culture, as well as our language and history.
The main difficulties we are facing are the sources of infor mation and we have found that
your Pacific Islands Monthly is one of the resources we can rely on if you are willing to help us.
Our only humble request is if it is possible for you or any of your readers to supply us with all articles as well as photos on Ocean Island or the Banabans from the first article that you published until your latest edition. We are willing to meet the costs.
We sincerely hope that you will understand our problems and help us.
Teiwaki Benaia
Principal
Rabi Junior Secondary School]
P.O. Nuku Rabi Fiji We will do what we can to help: Editor.
Requests from
correspondents
Robin Anderson, of Post Office Box 194, Glebe, NSW, Aust-i ralia 2037, writes that in con-i junction with Bob Connolly of Arundel Productions she is making a film about the history of Papua New Guinea from the turn of the century to indepen dence in 1975. Any home movies or old black and white pictures which show the PNG activities of Australians and other non-nationals of PNG are urgently required for the pres ent segment of the production programme. The sort of ma terial involved could be in the home, the club, at work or in sport, or could illustrate poli tics, plantations or celebrations.
The material will be well cared for, and returned.
Judy MacDonald, of 14 Ward Avenue, Greenmount WA, Australia 6056, is seeking ma terial for research into the ill fated Marquis de Rays ex pedition which sought to estab lish settlers on New Ireland (now part of Papua New Guinea) towards the end of last century. Mrs MacDonald first became interested in the history of the settlement, and the tragedy and deaths it caused, when she worked in Port Moresby with the Papua New Guinea Post-Courier. She would very much appreciate hearing from anyone who can provide information about the expedition itself and the set tling of survivors in the Duke of York Islands, the New Britain mainland, and in Australia.