Islands

From the

Press

From the Samoa Times, Apia Mr Hadley (general manager of the Pacific Commercial Bank) explained that the bank has a lot of money to lend but needs to lend to people who could pay the loans back.

From the Arawa Bulletin, Papua New Guinea No Labour Day for Bougainville. The Provincial Executive Council yesterday resolved not to have Labour Day as a public holiday this year. The legal advice received by the council was that the proclamation of Labour Day as a Public Holiday in the province is illegal.

From Tuvalu News Sheet, on the problem of freight levies between the islands He (Mr Sione) suggested that there should be one flat rate for all bags of coconuts from the outer-islands. He sees the present system as discriminatory although he said he is aware of the distance between the islands. Even in spite of this fact, Mr Sione repeatedly argued that a bag of coconuts ‘does not eat like a normal passenger’.

From a letter in the Tonga Chronicle I have many honey bees at my place and many times I have sprayed and put smoke to remove or destroy them. But I have never succeeded. So, I am making a request to the authority concerned or the public in general who may be interested in honey or bee keeping. Please come at any time to remove or destroy them.

From The Times of Papua New Guinea, Port Moresby One of the policeman said that people in the Chimbu Province seemed to prefer fighting to talking. For them the elections in Papua New Guinea were merely the continuation of tribal warfare by other means.

From a letter by ‘Not Hungry’ in the Norfolk Islander The Chamber of Commerce is to be commended on organising activities surrounding Anniversary Day but, surely, someone with a little more feeling could have arranged something else except a ‘Pie Eating and Soft Drinks’ competition. In these days of starvation, poverty and need, the sight of children(?) stuffing their mouth with unneeded food and drink surely comes under the heading of‘gluttony’.

From the Fiji Times, Suva, commenting on a report that Fiji has one of the world’s highest rates of death

by drowning

About 230 adults have learned to swim under the Red Cross scheme. Most of them have been Indian. The Fijians? You hardly ever see them. Can they all swim? That’s a myth. The statistics show that the Fijians drown the most. They’re not afraid. They fool around. They just jump in, thinking they can swim. They can’t and they don’t come and learn how.

From the Cook Islands News ... the citrus growers on Aitutaki are very annoyed in the fact that people are just going into the orchards and picking fruit at will without any thought whatsoever on the poor grower who has to face up to the bank at the end of each year to pay off the money he borrowed for his fertiliser and chemicals.

From Uni Tavur, magazine of the Univerisity of Papua

New Guinea, Port Moresby

The university mess was able to change its menu last week with a deer for dinner. . . the catering manager said it was good that something different was added to the menu for students. ‘If

anybody wants to bring a deer, I will buy it off them. I can even take crocodiles or turtles’, he said.

From a parliamentary report in the Tuvalu News Sheet, Funafuti The member for Nanumea, Mr Maheu Naniseni, moved the second motion which requested the Government that deck passengers travelling on Nivaga (the government-owned ship) within Tuvalu should not travel together with pigs or benzine and that separate trips be made for the people of Tuvalu alone and separate ones for pigs and benzine.

From an article in the Fiji Times, Suva, warning joggers running at night to beware of traffic The same message should go for people who like sitting on sealed roads after dark.

From Coconut Gossip in the Cook Islands News SSOOO for a bride? You’re kidding! Apparently, in some Pacific countries like the Cook Islands bride price is a way of life. The price is given in the form of materials useful for the couple’s married life.

Such things as pigs, cows, goats, fowls, mats, cooking pots etc are common bride price commodities. Recently money has entered the bride circle. In this respect, it is the tourists who come ‘buying’ women with their ‘useful’ money. Ironically, the bride can’t cook in a two dollar note nor have coffee in a hundred dollar note. Still, some tourists are persistent in buying ‘brides’. Such people are known to frequent ‘pick-me-up’ spots on the island.

From a report in The Observer, Apia, on the long-boat race during the Western Samoa independence celebrations Nervousness was the lot of many people who had obviously put money in the race. Clearly, most Western Samoans, who bet did so on Western Samoan boats while visiting American Samoans staked their money on the two boats from American Samoa, the ‘Aeto’ and the ‘Faasaulala’. And the outcome of the race proved a staggering blow to Western Samoans who were said to have gambled up to ten grand plus sections of land on the race.

A caption to a picture of a cow in The Fiji Times, Suva Strange but true. Mrs Brijpati, of Nacilau Point, Teidam, milks Kamadhenu, the family super cow. Kamadhenu looks ordinary enough but she has been supplying the family, located halfway between Lautoka and Ba, with milk daily for 16 years. She has never given birth. The farming family regard Kamadhenu as something sacred and many people have braved even bad weather to get a glimpse of her.

From The Observer, Apia, Western Samoa Shoes and at least one empty bottle were thrown on the stage where the Miss Universe contest was held Wednesday night last week when the contest’s winner was announced. It is believed that the shoes and bottle were thrown by sponsors and others who did not agree with the judges’ decision.

From a letter in Our News, Port Moreseby, Papua New Guinea I would like to complain about prostitutes in PNG especially from the Highlands regions. I think they are the cause of so many tribal fights in the Highlands. Men get killed because the women’s relatives do not agree with them going around with them. This leads to payback killing when compensation demands are not met.

From the Fiji Times, Suva Sending Fiji troops to Lebanon had served the twin purposes of helping many unemployed people get jobs and enhancing the reputation of Fiji soldiers. The Minister of State for Lands, Mr Sakiasi Waqanivavalagi, told the meeting the arrangement allowed 600 youths to leave for peacekeeping duties every six months.

From a Radio Vanuatu news bulletin The National Council of Chiefs meeting at Epau on North Efate has agreed to impose a three-month term during which people in the islands could go and live in the towns with friends or relatives.

The chiefs are discussing this subject following increases in problems related to urban-drift. The chiefs have agreed that people who come to towns and can’t find work in three months have to return to their islands.