from the islands press

From a speech by Marshall Islands businessman Robert Reimers in favor of U.S. Commonwealth status for Marshall Islands reported in the Marshall Islands Journal. . . . When asked why the people did not go to the outer islands where there is not too much population and food to gather, Robert said: “No way they want to go to the outer islands there is no beer in the outer islands, no taxis in the outer islands, no icc cream either. At least there is beer in Majuro. Better when the Japanese were here, at that time everyone had everything they wanted. The Japanese government took good care of everyone.”

From an editorial in The Samoa Observer, Apia, commen ting on a government decision to declare April 19 a public holiday for the purpose of “beautification and cleaning of cemeteries.”

Quite apart from the economic cost to the country in terms of lost production, especially in these difficult economic times, the very act of according an honor normally reserved for occasions of national and historical importance to such a non-event as cleaning cemeteries reflects a misguided sense of priorities. But why cemeteries?

From the Marshall Islands Journal: On Tuesday at Bing’s restaurant a little boy got real lucky; he was having lunch with his father and to play he put a quarter in the poker machine. Then, lo and behold, a full house appeared. Of course the machine mal-functioned and the cashier had to give the tyke twenty quarters ($5.00) and with this the papa and son paid for their lunch. They left with a smile leaving behind the envious stares of other customers . . .

From Radio Vanuatu, Port-Vila: The latest bulletin of the Chamber of Commerce contains an article which analyses where your money goes when you buy a tin of beer or a packet of cigarettes. Close to half the cost of the tin of beer (44 per cent) goes to the Government as duty, and two-thirds of the price of a packet of cigarettes (67 per cent) goes into general Government revenue. Along with the duties on fuel and vehicles, the beer, wines, spirits and tobacco duties provide 20 per cent of Vanuatu’s total Budget. It could be said that they are able to finance a service like Health, which absorbs 15 per cent of the total budget.

From Te Uekera, Tarawa, Kiribati: A new history page was recorded on Saturday when the women in their colorful uniforms stood gentlemanly and listened to an address by the wife of the Vice-President of the Republic of Kiribati, Mrs Maria Teannaki, at the opening of the first women’s soccer league ever in the Diary of Sport in the country . . .

From a letter by Concerned, Mt. Hagen, in the Papua New Guinea Post-Courier: I am concerned about the high bride-prices paid in Papua New Guinea. My special concern is that you, the fathers and mothers, of the girls should try to lower the bride-price. Sometimes, bride-prices go up as high as K 20,000. I would like to ask the parents of the girls this: Is your daughter a big ship or truck which you want to make a business out of. Shame on you, parents. Your daughter will just get old and bear children and she may even die after a year or two of marriage, then the man has just wasted his money.

From the Papua New Guinea Post-Courier, Port Moresby: Stories of a disease-infected “mushrooms man” are turning people away from using Goroka’s main water supply system. Most residents and nearby villagers have stopped using water from the town’s supply since last week following rumors that a man who grew mushrooms on his body was bathing in the water supply dam at Komiufa. They fear catching the man’s disease if they used the water for drinking or washing . . . According to the rumors, the man’s skin cracks open when it is hot and mushrooms grow through the cracks . . . However, the Town Council clerk, Mr Himony Lapiso, has dismissed the rumors. He said three tests were done on the dam water last week and proved the water to be safe From Tam-Tam, Port-Vila: The people of Paama Island are suspicious of the latest shark attack on a young woman in their lagoon this month, they even urged their Local Government Council to investigate the incident, and a man currently believed to be in Vila, has been summoned to return to Paama for questioning. They said the suspected man, Marcel of Pentecost, is known to be involved in “black magic” and that, between 1977 and 1978 in Tavulai Village, he was seen to be performing custom rituals to attract fish to catch them, and that on one occasion he caught a fish in this spot and threw it to the graves.

Another reason for their suspecting human involvement, they claimed, is that each time a victim was dragged ashore, the victim’s wound just stopped bleeding which to them “is not normal.”

From The Drum column, Papua New Guinea Post-Courier: Selecting a top spot to watch the eruption is a popular pastime in Rabaul. Walter Darius, our man there, says many people have picked vantage points from where they hope to capture the blast on video or film. Malmaluan United Church’s training centre, on a safe ridge overlooking the caldera, has had numerous inquiries from people wanting to book rooms. Villagers in the same area have also given permission for people to camp on their land.

From the Papua New Guinea Post-Courier: The men had been fighting for some time on land that had been earmarked for women’s gardening project. The members of the Kumak Pinat Women’s Group stepped in. The male fighters received, so it was reported at the time, quite a tonguelashing, which obviously hurt more than the spears and bows and arrows as the two clans laid down their arms and departed from the scene of the fighting . . .

From The Fiji Times Disgruntled members of Labasa Club bombarded the club house with empty bottles, smashed doors and windows and assaulted other members at the end of the annual meeting on Sunday. Only the intervention of the Divisional Police Commander Northern, Superintendent Waisele Vakaloloma, stopped the dozen or so members from wreckng the place . . .

A Fiji gold rush? From a caption under a photograph in The Fiji Times Yellow affluent from the Fiji Foods Limited factory at Walu Bay.

The yellow discharge from the plant has been the cause of much concern for National Trust of Fiji officials.