People

Filling Vila’s hotel beds

The bed occupancy rate in Port- Vila’s hotels was down to 22% last October against a past average of 56% for that month, according to Joe Mulders, secretary-general of the Vanuatu Chamber of Com merce.

In an interview with Paul Ellercamp of the Sydney-based weekly The National Times , Mr Mulders blamed sensational and distorted reporting of the Santo secession, in the Aust ralian media in particular, for the decline.

He said that the trade had picked up again in mid- December with the approach of the high season, but he still expected it to be 12% to 15% down on normal peak tourist seasons.

Noting that practically all the secessionist action had taken place on Santo far to the north, Mr Mulders told Ellercamp that almost all of Vanuatu had never been unsafe for tourists during the period of the secession. The effect on Port-Vila was limited to strained nerves,’ he said.

Ellercamp noted that at SA2 million, tourism had been Vanuatu’s largest foreign exchange earner in 1979.

Writing warmly of the country’s attractions for the tourist, he added: k lf it can overcome the problems, it can exploit the asset: Vanuatu is the only place within easy reach of Australian tourists looking for French Pacific influence, and where the locals speak good

English willingly.’

Two top officials of the Papua New Guinea Government have been confirmed in their pos itions. They are John Gaius as secretary of the Department of Transport and Civil Aviation

and Karol Kisokau as director of the Office of Environment and Conservation.

The Republic of Nauru has appointed a new consul in Fiji.

He is Reginald Akiri, 35, who will succeed Ratu George Mataika who was due to retire in February.

Mr Akiri was the former head of the Nauru Information and Broadcasting Service, re ceiving his training for the job at a course at the South Pacific Commission in Samabula.

When 14-year-old Nadine Taufua arrived in Auckland from American Samoa at the beginning of 1980, she knew nothing of the world of opera.

But by the year’s end the sparkling eyed soprano, with only nine months’ singing ex perience, captivated a Grand Opera Society of Auckland audience with a performance of three solo sacred ballads.

Polite and softly spoken, the pupil of Dame Sister Mary Leo had been studiously rehearsing for the event.

Even while on a week-long school camp at Rotorua, she made use of an old piano and rehearsed almost every day.

Dame Sister Mary Leo says she respects Nadine’s dedi cation to her music and religion,

which stipulates no work on

Saturdays.

And that means no rehearsal classes on Saturdays.

Born in New Zealand but raised in American Samoa since the age of four, Nadine says it is easier to sing in English than speak it.

Her parents sent her to New Zealand so she could receive better secondary education than at home.

She now lives in Ponsonby with relatives one of whom is also an opera singer.

The slim, shy girl remembers waiting outside in the cold for her cousin to finish singing lessons one day when a nun called her inside and asked her to sing.

Dame Sister Mary Leo heard the voice and thought Nadine had the potential to go a long way.

Nadine is not too sure what she wants to do when she leaves school but through letters she knows her parents are proud of her.

Biga Isaya Lebasi, a prominent Papua New Guinean journalist, has been appointed manager of Air Niugini’s public relations department.

Educated at Kwato Mission, near Samarai in the Milne Bay province, he later attended Sogeri High School in the Central province from 1959 to 1964.

With extensive experience on a number of PNG and Aust ralian newspapers, Mr Lebasi, before joining Air Niugini in 1976, was chief of reporting staff for the daily Papua New Guinea Post-Courier.

His interest in Journalism was sparked when he was a paper boy with The Papuan Times , a paper produced, published and printed wholly by Papuans at the Kwato Mission Press in the 1940 s and ’sos.

Ronald Richmond, former direc tor of mineral development in Fiji’s Ministry of Land And Mineral Resources, is on an eight-months research course at the East-West Center in Hawaii.

The research work includes preparation of a minerals re source assessment of Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea, and assist ing in the design and implemen tation of the South Pacific Minerals Policy Workshop.

North Solomons Air Services have appointed their first national pilot. He is Isaiah Morok who hails from Lemanmanu, Buka. Mr Morok is on secondment from Air Niugini and hopes to build up his command time before train ing as an F 27 captain. He has about 2000 flying hours on F 27 aircraft and several other multi engine aircraft and took up his new appointment on January 1.

He is flying mainly a Britten Norman Islander aircraft.

Air Niugini legal officer Lawrence Acanufa has won a Dutch Government scholarship to study aviation law at the University of Utrecht in Amsterdam.

Making the announcement, the airline’s general manager J.

J. Tauvasa said the three months course would run from February 28 to May 29.

After education at Catholic schools in the Eastern High lands and Central provinces, Mr Acanufa graduated in law from the University of Papua New Guinea in 1977. Ten months later he was admitted to the Bar. He joined Air Niugini in March 1980.

Keen, hard-working secretary-general of the Vanuatu Chamber of Commerce, Joe Mulders, photographed in Port-Vila. Mr Mulders has been a major driving force in New Hebrides tourism for a great many years, and says independence makes the islands of Vanuatu an even greater attraction for visitors.

The governments that will suc ceed the US Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands are making appointments to official posts at the rate of knots. A few examples follow.

Federated States of Micronesia: The former Guam Superior Court judge Richard H. Benson has been appointed FSM Associate Justice, and will sit alongside Chief Justice Edward King on the two-seat bench which has jurisdiction over the states of Yap, Truk, Ponape and Kosrae.

Benson, 54, has served as a judge since the then Governor Carlos G. Camacho appointed him to Guam’s court in 1970.

Another high FSM official confirmed in office is Ildephonse Pangelinan, budget officer for the FSM national government.

Republic of Palau: Sekang Kintaro has been appointed Manager of the Social Security Branch, the first Micronesian woman to hold the position.

While the USTT still exists, it must make its appointments too. So William Stinnett, Truk state’s chief of police (and nominated by Governor Erhart Aten to stay in that post after the change-over) has been re elected chairman of the TTPI Justice Improvement Supervis ory Council.

Tom Unwin, the first United Nations official to represent the United Nations Development Programme in Papua New Guinea, has left Port Moresby after nine years there. Mr Unwin became better known during his PNG appointment for standing in on many oc casions as a representative for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees on occasions when West Irianese crossed the bor der into PNG. His new position takes him to Uganda where he has received substantive ap pointment as representative of the High Commissioner for Refugees. He is based in Kampala.

Papua New Guinea’s former Chief Liquor Licensing Com missioner, John Nilkare, has been appointed Pakistan’s

honorary consul in PNG. He becomes the first Papua New Guinean to represent another country in this capacity.

The United Church Women’s Fellowship for Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands has a new president. She is Mrs Anne Kerepia, general secretary of the Port Moresby Young Women’s Christian Associ ation.

Two officers of Papua New Guinea’s Department of Pri mary Industries have won European Economic Com munity scholarships for a three months training course in Swaziland, Africa. They are Awandum Sip of Sam Village, Morobe Province, a livestock station manager with DPI in the Morobe Province, and Rock Aoae of Veifa’a Village in Central Province, a senior live stock manager of DPI in the Oro Province.

The course will be in Plan ning and Control in Agricul tural Management, organised by the Mananga Agricultural Management Centre, a training institution which has gained a good reputation all over Africa.

This is the first time the EEC is sponsoring training of Papua New Guineans in Africa.

Swaziland was selected for the environment there is much more similar to PNG than in Europe. The country is a king dom between Mozambique and South Africa with high moun tains and semi-tropical climate, and a very successful livestock industry.

The EEC Delegation in Port Moresby has suggested to the PNG authority to make more use of training facilities in Third World countries, which quite often provide training more adapted to PNG’s train ing requirements than Europe.

Rules for EEC scholarships have been relaxed during recent years and do not only allow sponsorship of studies in the 61 African, Caribbean and Pacific States which are members of the Lome Convention, but also in other developing countries.

Tom Mitchell, 22, a sturdily

built Fijian naval apprentice, made headlines in athletics reports in the Australian press in February when he failed by only '/iooth of a second to win a 100 m sprint semi-final in a top track and field competition.

Mitchell was persuaded to do some running only last December as a means of keep ing fit during the football off season. He is a winger with the Sydney Rugby Union club, Western Suburbs, and has been selected in the Sydney squad.

One press report noted that because of his bulk, Mitchell needs special supporting blocks that won’t cave in under the pressure of his starting surge.

Mitchell left home a little over a year ago to study engin eering with the Australian navy. • PIM ‘in-house’ note: Tom Mitchell is the brother-in-law of receptionist Agnes Mitchell of Pacific Publications’ Sydney office.

US High Commissioner to the Trust Territory of the Pacific Island Adrian P. Winkel has presented major honour awards to two senior Micronesian edu cational officials, who have also been noted political figures,

David Ramarui and Dwight Heine.

On completion of their em ployment with the Trust Terri tory, they held the posts of Director of Education and Special Consultant to the High Commissioner respectively.

Bill Taylor is the new British Airways District Sales Man ager for Papua New Guinea.

Mr Taylor,. 44, was pre viously the airline’s representa tive for Indonesia. He succeeds Richard Froggatt who has trans ferred to Melbourne.

After joining British Airways reservations in 1956, Mr Taylor became chief reservations officer in Barbados in 1966. He also worked in several Latin American countries before go ing to Singapore in 1969 as area reservations liaison officer South-east Asia. He has worked for the last six years in Jakarta.

A keen golfer and squash player, Mr Taylor will be based in Port Moresby.

Kerry Jowett, manager of the Railway Square, Sydney, branch of the Bank of New South Wales, has been ap pointed chief manager of the

Fijian naval apprentice with the RAN, Tom Mitchell, 22 (right) with some of his shipmates aboard HMAS Inverell. He thought he was merely a good footballer but he’s probably also a good runner, as the story on this page indicates.

Bank of Tonga. He succeeds Doug Harry, who has rejoined the NSW Division of the bank.

The bank has an equity interest in the Bank of Tonga and is that bank's managing agent.

Mr Jowetl was manager at Railway Square for two and a half years. Before that appoint ment he had been seconded by the bank to the Thailand Bank for Agriculture and Agricul tural Co-operatives in an advis ory capacity for some years.

A fear of the unknown is one of the greatest contributors to racial tensions, according to Mrs Judith Dacre, newly ap pointed second in command of the Race Relations Office, Auckland.

A former teacher at Tuakau College, Mrs Dacre considers the racial awareness and toler ance that is being taught in schools should be extended further into the community.

Employers, businessmen and public figures should be taught such tolerance as well. ‘Edu cation should be expanded into industry,’ says Judith Dacre. ‘Students are now leaving school with some racial under standing, but they do not always meet it in the market place. ‘We should be exposing em ployers to a wider racial experi ence. Groups of employers and industrial leaders need to spend more time on maraes , attending gatherings with other racial groups, to gain a better under standing of different attitudes.’

The appointment of Faiz Mohammed Khan Sherani as Fiji’s High Commissioner to Australia has been announced by the Fiji Government.

Mr Sherani, a member of the Senate and a lawyer practising in Suva, replaces Major Jack Takala who returns to the position of secretary of the Ministry for Fijian Affairs and

Rural Development.

Mr Sherani has been inde pendent vice-chairman of the Fiji sugar industry since 1972.

He became a Senator the same year.

He is a former Fiji Law Society president and has

served on many statutory and charitable organisations.

Mr Sherani is married with three children. ’He was due to take up his appointment as High Commissioner in mid- February. Australian Infor mation Service.

To do for Samoa ‘what the Beatles did for Britain and ABBA did for Sweden’ that’s the ambition of Jerry Grey, leader and lead singer of the American Samoan musical group Ava.

Apia-born Jerry was back in his home town recently to visit his mother and to promote his group’s second album, called We Are Samoa. The first was called simply Ava, and was well received in Samoa, New Zea land, Hawaii and on the US mainland.

Ava was nominated for a 1979 award in Hawaii, but did not win it. Jerry hopes the second album will make the top 40 in the US charts in 1981, and that it too will be nominated for a Hawaiian award.

We Are Samoa is a combin ation of English and Samoan

songs. The title song calls for Eastern and Western Samoa to unite, to ‘teach the world hu manity and hospitality’. One Samoan song, Eleni, was writ ten, says Jerry, because of ‘inflation, high cost of living and the rich getting richer and the poor poorer’. He admits he is a ‘revolutionary musician in a way’, explaining that he was touched by the high cost of living in Western Samoa.

Jerry Grey is married to a daughter of a successful businessman in American Samoa who owns a leading restaurant.

A Papua New Guinean has been appointed for the first time to the Health Resource Com mittee of the World Health Organisation (WHO). He is the provincial secretary of the Madang Provincial Govern ment, Nation Derr.

The then Health Minister John Jaminan, described Mr Derr’s appointment as a ‘mile stone for the formulation of policies to ensure the constant availability of drugs and other medical resources to be utilised

by countries of the Western Pacific region and the world at large’.

The former Registrar of the High Court in Honiara, Leonard Holt, was appointed Director of Public Prosecutions on January 22, 1981.

Under the Solomon Islands Constitution, the director has power to start criminal cases against any person in court; continue a court case started by any other person; or discontinue a criminal case before final judgment is given.

The effervescent Dr Lindsay Verrier, 73, long-time Fiji medi cal officer, forthright politician, and controversial newspaper columnist, returned to Suva in early March after a long bout as a patient in Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, where he was operated on for cancer.

Dr Verrier said his specialised medical attention was made possible by the personal generosity of Fiji Prime Minis ter Ralu Sir Kamisese Mara and Adi Lala.

Crown Prince Tupouto'a, heir to the Tongan throne and Tonga’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, has a warm greeting for Israel's President Yitzhak Navon, when the President received him in Jerusalem during Prince Tupouto'a's recent official visit to Israel.