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Isireli Racule, director of enter tainment at the Regent of Fiji Hotel, Nadi, has been honoured by Hawaii’s Polynesian Cul tural Center with their ‘living treasure’ award.

Mr Racule, 69, was selected for his ‘outstanding contri bution in perpetuating and preserving the cultural heritage of Fiji’. He joined other award winners at Laie in Hawaii late last year.

After gaining a diploma in proficiency in Hawaiian steel guitar from the New York Academy of Music, Mr Racule became the first Fijian pro gramme organiser for the Fiji Broadcasting Commission. He also formed the first bamboo, rhythm and vocal entertain ment group, the Kabu-kei- Rewa. Among his list of per formances is one before a vast crowd at the Hollywood Bowl.

Mr Racule also has a repu tation as a builder, which stems from his stay at the Polynesian Cultural Center, where he helped construct the Fijian vil lage setting.

Lavish seems too mean a word to describe the praise heaped upon Lazarus E. Salii, outgoing administrator of the Depart ment of Development Services, US Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, when High Commissioner Adrian P.

Winkel presented him with the Trust Territory Honor Award for Commendable Service in December.

In a letter to Salii, Winkel said that the award was ‘an official expression of appreci ation of your contribution to Micronesia over the past more than 20 years’.

He went on to quote a series of opinions of Salii and his work offered by his colleagues in government service, who, Winkel noted, ‘are in an excel

lent position to appraise you and your activities’. They included ‘analytical thinker and inno vator’, ‘confidence and trust of the Congress of Micronesia’, ‘respect and strength of charac ter’, ‘insight into Micronesia’s problems and foresight as to Micronesia’s development needs’, ‘perspective and admin istrative ability’, ‘thoughtful and candid, appropriately criti cal, realistic’, ‘proven leader ship ability’, and ‘capacity to translate proposals into affirmative action’.

He has announced his inten tion to return to Palau, probably to go into private business, but to retain his interest in public affairs and contribute all he can to the development of Palau’s economy, which he says, ‘is in a bad state of affairs today’.

Palau — or the Republic of Belau as it is known today — can probably only benefit from the presence of a man with the qualities of Lazarus E. Salii.

He was only one of a number of officials of the TTPI to receive the Honor Award as the US Trusteeship prepares to enter history.

Twenty-three-year-old Lautoka,

Fiji, spare parts salesman Ram Sami Pillay has marked his December 6 birthday for the past five years by giving a pint of his O-Rh positive blood to the Lautoka Hospital.

Apart from these five pints in five years, he has given a further eight pints when called upon in emergency situations at the hospital.

While most people expect to receive on their birthdays rather than to give, Mr Pillay finds that his giving ways come naturally. ‘What a beautiful gift for some needy one,’ he said of his birthday habit in an inter view with The Fiji Times.

The first citizen of the Feder ated States of Micronesia to receive a PhD is Catalino Cantero, who won his doctorate in Education Administration on November 22, 1980, from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. He studied under a Fulbright Fel lowship received from the US Government in February, 1978.

Nobuji Araki, executive vice president of Toyota Japan, has

presented a 26-seat Toyota bus to Fiji’s Crippled Children’s Society. He made the presen tation on behalf of Toyota and Automotive Supplies, which represents Toyota in Fiji.

The 100th birthday in December of Australia’s oldest Anglican clergyman, Canon Arthur Fraser, was marked by the endowment of a bursary by his four sons to help Papua New Guineans train for the ministry.

US President Ronald Reagan’s choice to head the Department of the Interior is a conservative lawyer, Janies G. Watt, 42, from Lusk, Wyoming.

The department has respons ibility for overseas entities such as the US Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, which is in the process of being dismantled.

Watt has behind him 12 years of Federal Government experi ence, including periods as deputy assistant secretary for water and power development in the Interior Department, and as director of its Bureau of Outdoor Recreation.

But he is better known for his work over the last several years as head of the Mountain States Legal Foundation, a non-profit, public-interest law firm in Denver, Colorado.

Five Solomon Islands nurses spent three weeks in November, 1980, in a series of tutorials at the School of Nursing, Central Hospital, Honiara, as part of their Associate Diploma in

Nurse Education studies. They were Stanley Waisi, Ellen Tion, Mary Polosa, Avira Karotu, and Margaret Atkin.

This is the fourth set of tutorials they have been en gaged in. There will be one more, probably in May, 1981.

They are studying for their diplomas as external students of the Armidale College of Ad vanced Education, an Aust ralian tertiary education insti tution which has been in oper ation since 1928. The college has been involved in external teaching for many years, and has taught the Associate Dip loma in Nurse Education pro gramme since 1975.

The programme, originally intended to service the needs of Australian hospitals, has pre pared hundreds of nurse edu cators from every state and territory of that country, together with some from Papua New Guinea.

The programme, which takes a minimum of two years to complete, has been slightly modified to meet the needs of the Solomon Islands students, but is essentially the same as that taken by Australian nurses.

Ray Raraimo Rupa (left) re turned to Port Moresby recently after spending nearly a year in Australia on advanced training in connection with his work as an illustrator for the publi cations section of the Papua New Guinea Department of Pri mary Industry. He is shown here at work in the New South Wales Government Printing Office with Ted Mitchell, officer in

charge of the photo-composing

section. The Australian govern ment sponsored the in-service training programme. Bob

Maccoll picture for AIS.

The assignments and examin ations are of similar intent and equal difficulty.

The Solomon Islands students will travel twice to Armidale, and their schools each last for two weeks. They first went to Armidale in July, 1980, and are to return in February, 1981.

The Solomon Islands govern ment is constantly working to upgrade all of its health and community welfare services, and since nursing is fundamen tal to many of these, it is receiving due priority.

The World Health Organis ation has helped greatly in several ways, especially by en gaging highly qualified consult ants to design a new nursing curriculum, and to recommend ways of having this speedily and effectively implemented. The most significant recommen dation was that several regis tered nurses from Solomon Islands be selected to enrol in the Armidale programme, and arrangements were made ac

cordingly.

In discussions between Brian Cameron, co-ordinator of the college’s programme, Dr Chia, of WHO and John Sisiolo and Margaret Luialamo, of the min istry, the possibility was raised of enrolling more nurses in the nurse educators’ programme, and others in the college’s present and likely future pro grammes in nursing adminis tration and community health nursing.

With the expected develop ment of campus facilities in Solomon Islands for the Univer sity of the South Pacific, such programmes might also become available to other South Pacific nations through the established Honiara-Armidale link.

Brian Cameron.

Thirty-eight years after the event, a former US Marine Corps corporal has been decor ated for his bravery in the Guadalcanal campaign in Solomon Islands in 1942.

He is Tony Casamento, 59, of New York.

In November 1942, the 21year-old Corporal Casamento and the 29 men under his command were assigned to pro tect a position near the

Maraniko River. Only two of the 29 survived a heavy attack by the Japanese, and Casamento was wounded 14 times by machine gun fire and grenade shrapnel. He was hit once in the throat by a bullet which travelled through his neck, and the right side of his body was badly hit from shoulder to ankle. But he re mained at his machine gun position and continued to fire at the advancing Japanese until he was finally relieved by re inforcements and evacuated to a military hospital in California.

Because there were no avail able witnesses to his bravery, the navy did not award him a medal immediately. It was not until the 1960 s that the two survivors of his platoon came forward and urged the Navy Board of Decorations to award him the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest US bravery award.

While the navy said it would be a bad precedent to award the medal so long after the event, support for Casamento came from veterans of the

Guadalcanal campaign all over the US. There was even an offer to testify from the commander of the Japanese force that attacked Casamento’s platoon.

Finally the board agreed that he should receive the award, and US President Jimmy Carter immediately approved.

Dick Keevil, representative in Solomon Islands of the Guadalcanal Campaign vet erans, said: ‘Continual represen tations have been made for recognition of this brave action, and we are delighted it has now come about’.

New Caledonian dailies in December carried interviews with film director Roman Polanski who was visiting the Asia-Pacific region looking for a natural setting suitable for his next film, to be entitled The Pirates.

Fiji’s Prime Minister Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara was made an honorary Doctor of the Univer sity of the South Pacific in December.

It was the fourth time this honorary degree had been con ferred. Previous recipients were the former Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Michael

Determined to step up market ing and sales efforts in the two major markets, Australia and North America, the Fijian Ho tel on Yanuca Island, and the Fiji Mocambo at Nadi airport, have appointed Eric Tan full time sales manager for Canada and USA and Bill Healy sales representative in Australia.

Uric Tan, formerly of the Rasa Sayang in Penang, and more recently executive assist ant manager of the Fijian Hotel, now lives in Seattle, Washington.

Bill Healy has opened offices in Melbourne and Sydney, and

will be looking after the overall sales and marketing efforts for Kuok Hotel Services’ four ho tels, the two Fijian ones men tioned, and the Rasa Sayang and Golden Sands in Penang, Malaysia.

After 17 years in the Western Pacific, 14'/2 in Solomon Islands and two-and-a-half in New Hebrides (Vanuatu), Anglican priest Father Brian Macdonald- Milne has returned to the

The five Solomon Islands nurses four women and a man outside the school of nursing in Honiara. In the centre background is Natalie de Julia, an Australian nurse, who was one of their tutors.

Somare, President Hammer Deoburt of Nauru, and King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV of Tonga.

Eric Tan (top), for USA and Canada; Bill Healy, for Australia.

United Kingdom. His new mission? To edit and write various books for the Pacific Islands which he was unable to finish while working as co ordinator of the Pacific Churches Research Centre in Port-Vila, Vanuatu. The centre is an agency of the Pacific Conference of Churches which Fr Macdonald Milne was asked to establish in 1978.

His work as co-ordinator of the centre was taken over in January by Father Xavier Zewen, a Catholic priest from Luxembourg, who has been working as a linguist in the Marshall and Caroline Islands of Micronesia for a number of years.

Other staff of the centre will be the administrative secretary, Mrs Idau Nafuki (from Papua New Guinea), and her husband, Pastor Allen Nafuki (from Vanuatu), who is attached to the centre by the Vanuatu Christian Council as a co ordinator of its national pro gramme of research.

Peter F. Fetchko, an ethnologist who specialises in the peoples and cultures of the Pacific, has been appointed director of the Peabody Museum of Salem in the US State of Massachusetts.

Mr Fetchko, who specialised in Pacific cultures while at the Sorbonne, Paris, is a US citizen who has been associated with the Peabody Museum for 12 years. He has been assistant director since 1977 and has worked with the museum’s ex tensive Pacific Islands collec tion.

‘Froggie’ Daly, for many years a ministering angel to countless French-speaking patients at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney (PIM Jul 1979 p 75), has been decorated by the government of France for her extraordinary work.

At a ceremony late last year at the French Consulate- General in Sydney, beneath a bust of the explorer Laperouse, Froggie received a decoration making her a Knight of the National Order of Merit.

The French Consul-General, Mr Jacques Dircks-Dilly, con ferred the honour before a group of about 30 well-wishers, who then toasted her health naturally, in French cham pagne.

Froggie has become a fam iliar and beloved figure around the hospital and her kind face, gentle manner and great patience have made her a great favourite with New Caledonian patients, many of whom speak virtually no English.

At 74, she is much more than a voluntary interpreter: she accompanies patients to special ists, meets and farewells them at the airport. Froggie is often on hand at 6.30 am to calm and reassure patients about to be operated on. ‘Sometimes, she has to be persuaded to go home at all,’ said Mrs Betty McKim, Volun teer Co-ordinator.

Froggie Daly herself came from New Caledonia, and first arrived in Australia at the age of 16, with her French mother and Irish father. She spoke no

English. Tragically, her father died the year after they arrived.

She has, over the years, been interpreter for many doctors, including Sir Kempson Maddox.

In his eloquent address, Mr Dircks-Dilly referred to her invaluable contribution to the welfare of New Caledonian patients, who, despite the excel lent care afforded them by doctors and nurses are often apprehensive because of language difficulties.

The presence of Froggie Daly and the incalculable benefits she brings to the RPAH prove that, despite the prodigious technology, miraculous com puterisation and mammoth in fusions of funds, no modern hospital functions effectively, or even satisfactorily, without the compassion and warmth that can be transmitted from one human being to another. Con gratulations Froggie! With acknowledgements to Pace maker, staff news sheet of the RPAH. Sydney.

Air Pacific’s assistant general manager Kit Naidu has been named manager Australia, and Solomon Beg will now head up the Air Pacific operation in New Zealand.

Mr Naidu will be head quartered at the new Air Pacific offices in Sydney while Mr Beg will be stationed in Auckland.

These are among changes announced by the airline’s deputy general manager Akuila Savu.

Mr Savu said that Mr

Naidu’s new assignment under scores the extreme importance the Australian market holds for Air Pacific.

Mr Beg will be managing the New Zealand operation with a Christchurch service probably beginning in October added to the airline’s Auckland desti nation.

Other changes announced by Mr Savu were: • Edward Bower, formerly cabin services superintendent has been named manager Fiji. • Kolinio Kama, previously Tonga manager, is now man ager East Pacific which in cludes Tahiti, Tonga, the Cook Islands, Western Samoa and American Samoa. • Philip Pandaram, formerly traffic controller Nausori, is now airport services manager. • Eparama Qaranivalu, for merly customer relations man ager in Brisbane, has been named traffic controller Nausori. • Vijend Prasad, formerly tariffs controller, is now sales services manager. • Taniela Bolea, formerly a systems specialist with the Carpenter Group, has been appointed systems manager in corporate planning. • Bob Hills, a Qantas auditor, has been named financial con troller for the airline.

These appointments were effective December 1 1980 while the following were effective early in 1981: • Bal Krishna, a public service commission employee, has been named training and manpower planning officer. • Emelita Wendt, editor of The Fiji Beach Press, has been named public relations and in formation officer.

The changes reflect the criti cal challenges Air Pacific will

Brian Macdonald-Milne

Froggie Daly - ‘a familiar and much-loved figure’ at her investiture. With her are Betty McKim, co-ordinator of volun teers and Jacques Dircks-Dilly, French Consul-General.

need to meet in the 1980 s including the introduction of new equipment and routes, said Mr Savu, and these appoint ments are among those that will be made to meet these chal lenges.

Gerald Barrack has been named chairman of the board of Burns Philp (South Sea) Co Ltd. He replaces Charles Wardrop who has retired, after four years as chairman and 14 years as a director. Mr Wardrop made a major contribution in developing the company’s motor division. As well as occu-

pying his new post, Mr Barrack is president of the Fiji Em ployers’ Consultative Associ ation and deputy chairman of Fiji’s Economic Development Board.

A wide range of honours for public service to Pacific Island communities is contained in this year’s New Year honours lists which were announced from Buckingham Palace in London by Queen Elizabeth. In ad dition to the three knighthoods which went to Pacific Island leaders (see Pacific Report in this issue), other awards were made to men and women from Pacific Island countries for ser vice to their own communities and several awards were made to citizens of Australia, New Zealand and UK for service to Pacific Island communities.

The awards are (CMG, Com panion of the Order of St Michael and St George; CBE, Commander of the Order of the British Empire; OBE, Officer of the Order of the British Empire; MBE, Member of the Order of the British Empire; BEM, British Empire Medal; ISO,

Imperial Service Order; QPM, Queen’s Police Medal for Dis tinguished Service):

Australian List. Mr

Stuart Inder of Sydney, who retired last year as chief execu tive of Pacific Publications, publishers of PIM, was made an MBE for services to journalism.

Mr Inder, a former editor and publisher of PIM for many years, is still associated with the company as associate editor, book publishing.

New Zealand List.

The Rev Francis George McKean, of Pokeno in New Zealand, was made an OBE for services to the community in Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands.

Over the past eight years Mr McKean, who is a Baptist minister, has organised aid proj ects from New Zealand to help hospitals, libraries, schools and village projects in Pacific Island communities.

United Kingdom

LIST. Mr A.F. Ward, the deputy high commissioner at the British High Commission in Fiji was made an OBE. He has been a member of the British diplomatic service for 31 years.

Papua New Guinea

LIST. CMG: Mr Sevese Morea, Speaker of the National Parlia ment, who has a long record of service in local government and national politics and who was once an announcer, commen tator and news reader trained by the Australian Broadcasting Commission. CBE; Dr Gabriel Gris, a former dental health administrator, vice-chancellor of the University of PNG, and now director of the South Pacific Bureau for Economic Co-operation, based in Fiji; Mr lambakey Okuk, deputy prime minister and one of the most controversial figures in PNG politics. OBE: Mr W.H. Clark, an Australian now living in Sydney who helped to establish the national banking structure in PNG; Mr Israel Edom, for several years director of posts and telegraphs and now chair man of the public service board; Mr R. Robertson, formerly from Scotland, who became official secretary to the PNG Governor general; Mr A.O. Maino, magis trate and ombudsman; Mr Mali Voi, who directed last year’s highly-successful South Pacific

Arts Festival in PNG; Mr Matiabe Yuwi, a national parlia mentarian with a long record of electorate service. MBE: Mr Hugo Berghuser, who came from Germany and is now a PNG citizen, and who has been active in the Port Moresby business community and in schemes for youth and rural development; Mr J.K. Apau, assistant commissioner for cor rective services; Chief Superin tendent A. Gawi of the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabu lary; Mr M. Kalup, recognised for his services to community development; Mrs B. Ketauwo, one of the few PNG women although the numbers are in creasing who have been active in the business com munity; Miss N.F. Lutton, an Australian now living in West ern Australia, who helped ex pand library services in PNG; Mr Jim MacKinnon, a former PNG member of parliament who came to the Sepik River area as an Australian settler nearly 30 years ago and has since become closely involved in village communities and their development; Mr G. Masa, a member of the national parlia ment; Mrs E. Pita, long in volved in women’s community affairs; Mr A. Turmurang, a community spokesman with a long record of community lead ership; Mr F.N. Warner Shand, a former Australian govern ment officer in PNG who estab lished a legal practice in Rabaul more than 20 years ago and who has been recognised for service to law. Military MBE: Chief Warrant Officer K.P. Peni of the PNG Defence Force. BEM: Mr J. Bari, corrective services officer; Mr A. Base, driver to the Prime Minister; Mr K. Heni, public service officer; Sgt- Major H.W. Naiawi, Royal Papua New Guinea Constabu lary; Mr P. Namba, aid post orderly; Mr H.M.O. Omat, medical orderly. Military BEM: Corporal G. Pilol, Corporal R.

Toge, Lance-corporal W. Yasi, all of the PNG Defence Force.

ISO: Mr N.W. Paulius, admin istrative secretary of East New Britain province.

Fiji List. Cbe: Mr L.J.

Gardiner, comptroller of cus toms and excise, for long service to the public service of Fiji.

OBE: Mr T.M. Biumaiwai, for

service to health and sport; Mr R.D. Dods, secretary for tour ism, transport and civil avi ation; Mr K.P. Sharma, deputy registrar of the Supreme Court.

MBE: Mr J.E. Beddmves, ser vice to the community; Mr M. Khan, service to the com munity; Mr S. Nayate, service to the community; Mr W.R.

Suliwaliwa, service to the com munity. Military MBE: War rant Officer I. Buadromo, Royal Fiji Military Forces. BEM: Mr I.N. Daveta, public service; Chief Fire Officer H.J.

Henderson, Suva Fire Brigade, Mr R.D. Mishra, public service; Mr R. Prasad, community ser vice. Military BEM: Chief Petty Officer W.R. Nakabea, Royal Fiji Military Forces.

QPM: Superintendent M.H.

Moore, communications ad viser; Senior Superintendent N. Panikar. ISO: Mr S.S.

Vadigar, principal collector cus toms and excise.

Tuvalu List. Obe; Mr

A. McDonald, administrative secretary. MBE; Mr T.

Manuella, public service. BEM: Mrs K. Malua, service to women’s organisations; Mr T.

Teuka, magistrate.

Solomon Islands

LIST. CMC: The Rt Rev Norman Palmer, Archbishop of the Church of Melanesia, a former school teacher and head master who was educated in New Zealand and has been associated with education and the church in Solomon Islands for many years. MBE: Mr Emilio Bulu, the government officer who organised last year’s general election as secretary to the Electoral Commission; Mr George Lepping, a chief field officer with the ministry of agriculture who has been associ ated with the development of sport and village agricultural projects; Mrs Lilly Poznanski, who was the first Solomon Island woman to be a member of parliament and who is now chief administrative officer of the national parliament. BEM: Mrs Mary Makini, a volunteer worker for the Red Cross who established a centre for handi capped children in Honiara; Mr John Baptist Tura, a former warden of Honiara Technical Institute who has been active in community service and is now a teacher in the Russell Islands.

Gerald Barrack