people

Captain James Cook effected the first sea link-up between Europe and New Caledonia when he landed at Balade on the east coast of the main island on Sep tember 4, 1774.

The first link-up by air was effected when a three-engined Biarritz-type aircraft landed at Noumea on April 5, 1932, hav ing taken off from Le Bourget airport, outside Paris, on March 9. (The aircraft was built by R.

Couzinet and carried a crew of three: pilot C. de Verneilh, navigator M. Deve, and engineer E. Munch.

But nobody, simply nobody, had ever attempted a link-up by land.

That is, until the restless spirit of 43-year-old French engineer Jean-Claude Hunin got to work on the problem.

December, 1982, saw the cul mination of Mr Hunin’s dream to become the first to do the trick by land except for the long wet bits, for which he and his beaut iful French/Vietnamese wife Jocelyne, 23, wisely took to ships and planes.

The couple, and the trusty Toyota Land Cruiser in which they made most of their 50,000 kilometres-plus journey, were honored at a public welcome in Noumea last month, having pass ed through Australia on their way.

Countries visited by the in trepid pair since they left Paris on May 24, 1981, included: West Germany, Austria, Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Thailand, Malaysia, Sin gapore and Indonesia includ ing some very tough times, in Sumatra.

They’re not done with travel ling yet, they told PIM in an interview in Sydney. They’re planning a book, tentatively en titled Around the World in 800 Days, and they’ve got to go right round the world to write it.

Their trip has the sponsorship of the Concorde La Fayette Hotel, Paris, the Boutiques du Palais des Congres, Paris, and of two French Government ministries.

Captain Veer Vijay Singh, 42, of the Royal Fiji Military Forces,

has been promoted to the rank of major, the first Indian to attain this rank.

A Territorial officer. Major Singh has served a year’s stint with the Fiji Battalion on peace keeping duties in Lebanon, and will do another term later this year.

In civilian life. Major Singh is a senior administrative officer in the Ministry of Education.

Hawaii’s Office of Hawaiian Af fairs was represented at the 22nd South Pacific Conference in Pago Pago in October by a dele gation headed by Moses Keale.

In a speech of thanks to the South Pacific Commission for the invitation to attend, he said: “We have learned many things in our development from a Kingdom to a member of the United States of America.

“We have reaped the benefits and opportunities of higher health standards, education, economic opportunity and the skills of high technology.

“We have also experienced the lessons of what can happen to single cash economies, of over development, and the concentra tion of the population upon one island . . .

. . I would like to offer to the SPC and all its Pacific Island nations our services, perhaps as a translator in the dialogue bet ween modernity and Pacific life.

“We will make available all the technical and advisory mate rials to which we have access in Hawaii. We would like to enter into co-operative agreements, and pilot projects, to properly train and motivate our peoples in mutual trust, respect and benefit.”

Dr John Atherton, chief sur geon at Western Samoa’s Apia National Hospital, has returned to England after five years in the country. His wife. Dr Viopapa Annandale, who heads the Publ ic Health Division at the Hospit al, was expected to join him soon after with their children. Dr Eti Enosa replaces Dr Atherton as chief surgeon.

Sang Yee Joy, a Suva exile in Sydney and doing nicely thank you as an importer/exporter, has gone into the restaurant business in the Sydney suburb of Neutral Bay. Naturally, it’s a Chinese restaurant but also caters for those gourmets who like Indone sian, Malaysian and other Asian dishes. His two partners are Pat rick Lam and Richard Leong, the latter also a Suva exile. The grand, opening ceremony was

performed by Mayor of North Sydney Alderman E. C. Mack before almost everybody in Syd ney. There were Chinese crack ers and a dragon, relating, of course, to the name of the re staurant, the Great Wall Palace Restaurant.

But restaurants run in Mr Sang’s family, which owns the Wan-Q Restaurant in Cummings Street, Suva, plus the fruit and veg merchants’ business, also in Cummings Street. Before going to Sydney, Mr Sang was adver tisements manager for the Fiji Broadcasting Commission.

The board of New Guinea Aust ralia Line Pty. Ltd. (NGAL), has announced the appointment of Ron Smith as chairman of the company to succeed E. J. R.

Scott, who will continue to serve as a director.

Jean-Claude and Jocelyne Hu nin: Around the world in 800 days.

Ron Smith

Mr Smith, of John Swire & Sons Pty. Ltd., has been a direc tor of NGAL since 1975 and was appointed deputy chairman in 1978.

NGAL is part of the Chief Container Service, which pro vides sailings from major East Australia ports to main ports in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands.

German racehorse trainer Ohm Goebel turned 82 last November 20. But he is still fit enough to help Tongan racehorse-owners with the training of their animals.

Arriving in Tonga in 1977, Mr Goebel’s skill as a trainer is probably best seen in the per formance of the horse Hoosikau, which he has trained to win many races since the Manamo’ui Racecourse was opened on Ton gatapu in 1977.

Mr Goebel spent 35 years in Indonesia, where he owned a tea plantation and a string of racehorses. After World War II he returned to Germany, but he went back to Indonesia in 1970

before migrating to Brisbane, Australia, in 1972. Five years later he went to Tonga a country which he finds “calm and peaceful.’’

Alphonse Poherui is a 51-year old mechanic on the idyllic is land of Moorea, across the Sea of Moons from Tahiti.

He gave the best years of his life serving in the French colo nial forces. Today he is a bitter man.

“I was three times wounded fighting for France in its colonial wars in Algeria and Indochi na,’’ he told me.

“And for what? Where has it got me today? Many old Tahitian soldiers think like me.

“France tried hard to keep Algeria and Indochina under its colonial thumb. But they became independent anyway.

“And now it’s our turn in Tahiti.”

Mr Poherui was one of almost 10,000 Tahitians who voted for one of nine pro-independence parties contesting the French

Polynesian general election in May, 1982. Their votes repre sented more than 15 percent of the ballot the strongest sup port ever shown for outright independence.

At a glance, the figures could suggest the independence move ment is making no real impact in Tahiti. However, this is misleading.

While the situation in New Caledonia might be making more headlines, the independence movement in French Polynesia bears close watching as well.

A talk with a man with the experience of an Alphonse Poherui is enough to convince

one of that.

David Robie.

At an age when most business men have retired, some religious leaders keep soldiering on. One is the new (and first) Catholic Archbishop of Mt Hagen, Papua New Guinea, the Most Rev.

George Bernarding SVD. At 73, the Pennsylvania-born mis sionary was appointed last year as first Metropolitan Archbishop for the Highlands by Pope John Paul 11.

The suffragan dioceses are Mendi, Goroka-Kundiawa and Wabag (newly-elected). The new distinction for Mt Hagen brings

to five the number of Metropoli tan Sees in PNG and the Sol omons, the others being Port Moresby, Rabaul, Madang and Honiara. William Sharpe- Dunn.

When newly consecrated Bishop Herman Raiche SVD took up his new job as first Catholic bishop of Enga, Papua New Guinea, he didn’t even have to shift house. The former parish priest of Wabag was consecrated in late April for the new diocese whose boundaries coincide with the province of Enga. It is suffra gan of the new Archbishop of Mt Hagen.

The new prelate was bom in Tyrol, Austria in 1934. He joins three Australian, five US, one Canadian, one Belgian, one Ger man, one Dutch and five PNG bom Catholic bishops in a truly international religious setting.

William Sharpe-Dunn.

Joketani Cokanasiga has been made director of sales for the Hyatt Regency Fiji. He had ear lier held the posts of general manager of the Fiji Visitors Bureau and director administration of the Ports Au thority of Fiji.

Announcing the appointment

Joketani Cokanasiga: New director of sales

Hyatt general manager lan Dun can said that Mr Cokanasiga would be responsible for co ordinating sales in the local mar ket, and for developing overseas markets in New Zealand, Canada and the US.

The company planned to ap point a sales agent to look after the Japanese market. The new appointee would work under Mr Cokanasiga.

Piawe Akilo from Papua New Guinea has won a pilot-training

scholarship from the Sydney

based company, Australian Fly

ing Training School (AFTS).

The company trains pilots from other countries, including Malaysia and Indonesia. One of its major clients is Malaysian Airline System, which sends stu dent pilots to AFTS to get their commercial licences, study, and obtain first-class instrument

ratings.

Cardinal Pio Taofinu’u has been made Archbishop of the Diocese of Samoa Apia and Tokelau, and has also been appointed Ordinary of Tuvalu.

The Vatican last November announced the separation of the American Samoa Catholic Dio cese from the Western Samoa and Tokelau.

The archbishop announced in a press release that the separa tion, providing independence in church matters for American Samoa, “reflects the thinking of the Vatican to give more control to various localities.” The deci sion in effect gave greater local autonomy for the church in American Samoa.

With his appointment as Ordi nary of Tuvalu, the church in that country becomes an independent ecclesiastical mission, with rights of its own. Earlier, it had been a part of the diocese of Tarawa Naum and Funafuti.

Cardinal Pio will also be the Apostolic Administrator in American Samoa until a new bishop has been named.

The first Catholic missionaries arrived in Samoa in 1845, com ing to what was then the Vicariate of Central Oceania. It was not until 1966 that the Catholic Church in Samoa be came a diocese on its own.

Fiji’s Governor-General, Ratu Sir George Cakobau, has ap pointed Richard Kearsley a judge of the Supreme Court fol lowing a recommendation of the Judicial and Legal Services Commission.

Mr Justice Kearsley, who will assume office on December 6, is a Fiji citizen. After serving with the Fiji Military Forces during World War II he joined the Royal

Fiji Police Force, in which he rose to the rank of Senior Inspec tor before resigning in 1951 to study law.

He practised law in Suva for 10 years until 1967 when he was appointed a First Class Magistrate.

In 1970 Mr Kearsley resigned in order to take up an appoint ment as secretary of the Law Society of New South Wales, an appointment he held until recently.

Richard Barnes has been ap pointed financial controller of the International Sector of Bums, Philp and Co. Ltd.

P. H. Evans, formerly chief internal auditor of the Mauri Sec tor of Bums Philp, has replaced Mr Barnes as group internal auditor.

Fiji’s Minister for Foreign Af fairs Mosese Qionibaravi was forced to read out an invitation list of 1001 names at a late- November session of the House of Representatives, as deputy leader of the National Federation Party Mrs Irene Jai Narayan insisted that her question be ans wered orally.

Mrs Narayan wanted to know who received invitations to the seven public functions hosted by the government during the Oc tober Commonwealth Heads of Government Regional Meeting

(Chogrm).

“These are the names,” said Mr Qionibaravi, holding a wad of papers. “There are 1001 of them . . .”

Mrs Narayan, asked if she wanted the list tabled or read out, said; “The question is to be answered orally.”

“Can I have a glass of water, please?” said Mr Qionibaravi to laughter, as 10 members on the government side slowly rose and left their seats.

The reading took more than half an hour as Opposition mem bers sat and listened.

Asked later by Opposition frontbencher, Harish Sharma to confirm that only three Opposi tion members the Leader of the Opposition, Jai Ram Reddy, Mrs Narayan and the Deputy Speaker of the House, Vijay Parmanandam received invi tations to any of the functions.

Mr Qionibaravi said many Cabinet members had been ex cluded also from the functions, as had members of the govern ment side.

The House heard also that, while the bills for the CHOGRM meeting were still coming in, so far expenses of nearly $518,000 had been accounted for, com pared with a House allocation of $435,000 for the event.

Mr Qionibaravi told the House that the Government had “very much underestimated” the cost of CHOGRM in its earlier alloca

tion requests.

The Fiji Times.

Richard Barnes: New interna tional financial controller for Burns, Philp and Co. Ltd..

Sydney.

Irene Jai Narayan: Asked for 1001 names

Mosese Qionibaravi: Asked for a glass of water