Press
p. 17 · Read in the full issue
From the
Islands
From the Cook Islands News, Rarotonga The people of Arorangi have again decided that enough is enough and this time the space invader machines will have to be restricted.
According to the Education, Internal Affairs Departments and the Probation Office, as soon as these machines were introduced, child delinquency and absenteeism from school came about. As the senior Probation Officer Mr B.C. Nicholls stated: ‘When after a young offender, the first place we usually look and find them is at these space invader machines.’
From an article in the Samoa Times, Apia, describing a campaign to eradicate the giant African snail discovered in two Western Samoa ports Being bi-sexual in nature, the snail’s body even if crushed can reproduce so that crushing them only helps to increase their population . . . Further, it is an extremely cunning creature which hides during the day in piles of rubbish, dirt and moisture (they particularly relish empty Vailima bottles which is how they got to Vaitele in the first place) and coming out only at night or when there is plenty of rain to forage. When it has nothing to eat it goes into hibernation for long stretches of time. It is believed the snail was first brought to American Samoa eight years ago by Oriental fishermen who regarded it as a delicacy.
Vanuatu Prime Minister Walter Uni, addressing a leadership conference, reported in Tam-Tam, Port-Via There are few of us who cannot but be profoundly disturbed at what the cult of commercialism, together with the Western creed of materialism, is doing to our Pacific values, traditions and manner of living.
From The Fiji Times More Indians are leaving the country to find alternative employment overseas. According to figures released by the Bureau of Statistics for the month of September, 1981, Fiji citizens emigrating to various destinations totalled 257, of which 226 were Indians, 11 Fijians, seven Chinese, six Europeans and seven other races.
From the Papua New Guinea Post-Courier A black American woman working as a United Nations volunteer plans to promote the sale of PNG artifacts in the US. Mrs Jacqueline Lewis-Harris says PNG has a potential to supply the US market with its different varieties of artifacts. She says not many black Americans know that Papua New Guineans are black.
Celebrating Christmas in the Marshall Islands, according to the Marshall Islands Journal .. . and they seemed to enjoy every moment of it. Especially the throwing of the candies. This is the part where wearing goggles for safety is advisable for spectators. You’ll never know what is flying in your way candies or bars of soap or cans of tuna.
From the Papua New Guinea Post-Courier ‘Suicide is the only solution to unemployment,’ reckons Oriveta Keai, an unemployed youth who lives in Port Moresby. Oriveta, 18, from Kwikila in the Central Province, says being without a job is ‘an endless struggle and a losing battle against changing times’. ‘Criminal activites are the only way for many of the unemployed to get the necessities of life,’ he said this week.
From the Papua New Guinea Post-Courier A lawyer was barred from Ela Beach District Court yesterday after he described the magistrate as ‘slack’. Magistrate Mr Clement Malaisa made the order against Mr John Gawi after Mr Gawi arrived late for the hearing of a charge against a Government minister. Mr Gawi apologised for arriving late but added: ‘This is the most disastrous and the most useless court in PNG. The policemen are most incompetent and the magistrate is slack,’ he said.
From The Fiji Times Fiji is wasting its time and its money persevering with an already depressed copra industry, says the president of the Fiji Copra Producers’ Association, Mr Robin Mercer. Its future lies in coconuts with greater use being made of by-products and more sophisticated end products, he told the association’s annual general meeting. Copra is a depressed industry, not just in Fiji but throughout the world, said Mr Mercer.
From the Tonga Chronicle About Ts4o 000 was spent in Vava’u by visiting yachts during the year 1980/81, the Tonga Statistics Department has announced. Of this amount, some Ts7ooo was spent on local produce and T 59500 on Tongan handicrafts. The most popular items of handicraft were tapa, carvings and basketware which netted T 52400, $2699 and $2BOO respectively.
From a letter by Pili Tafiaola of USA in The Observer,
Apia
I am a Samoan who was forced to emigrate to the US last year (after the strike) due to financial reasons, which is the main reason why Samoa today has more birds on it than people. Our political system is a mess and is the cause of our miseries. This present system has to go in favour of universal suffrage. I truly believe that we will never ever as a nation be able to stand on our own two feet.
I have nothing against the faa-Samoa but for Simi’s sake, I must say that we have some of the most incompetent politicians in the world who know little about politics and nothing about economics.
From the Arawa Bulletin, North Solomons Province,
Png
People in the Mamagota village in the Siwai area have claimed that they have traced the missing link of an old woman who disappeared last year. Mr Samson Karemara of Sare village said a group of men fishing in the Tipiru area last Saturday killed a crocodile which they believe ate the woman. The crocodile measured approximate!} 4 feet in length with a belly width of 17 inches. Mr Karemara claimed that after cutting the belly of the crocodile they found bones and other things belonging to the woman.
From an article on crocodiles in the News Drum, Honiara Some people think that crocodiles are dangerous many wild animals are dangerous but this is not a good reason to kill them.
They are a part of our environment and have as much right to live as other living things. After all, people kill more people, either accidentally or intentionally, than all other living things combined.
From The Times of Papua New Guinea, Port Moresby The provincial education authorities in the country have come under fire for ‘conspiracy against the education of girls’. Statistics for 1980 compared to 1981, as shown by the Education Research Unit of the University of Papua New Guinea, state that 578 girls were pushed out to let boys into high school.
From the Marshall Islands Journal Delegate Santos Olikong of the State of Koror said the first year of the Republic was ‘a step backward’ and if Palauans had any pride left at all, they would spend the holiday season quietly at home and without 100 much fanfare . . . The President’s office had been wiped out, the status talks are much in doubt, and public employees do not care much about their public responsibilities as long as they continue to receive their pay checks. Furthermore, the nation is faced with a multi-million dollar debt, and, from all indications, the Republic will continue to receive declining U.S. assistance in the years ahead.