from the islands press

From The Fiji Times, Suva The Fiji National Duty Free Merchants Association has threatened to expel or suspend members who employ touts to entice tourists to visit their shops.

The association’s executive committee discussed the problems of touting at a meeting last weekend and decided to warn duty free dealers who support touts.

If they persisted in employing touts, then they would be suspended or expelled from the association, the association’s secretary, Mr Nand Kishore Gandhi, said.

From “the drum” in the Papua New Guinea Post-Courier commenting on the cover photo of PlM’s August issue of the new National Parliament buildings.

No more calls, please, about the cover photo on this month’s edition of Pacific Islands Monthly. The lads in Sydney got it all back to front the pic is reversed. One reader wonders whether this is an outsider’s view of how Parliament is operating.

From Vanuatu Weekly, Port Vila A concerned car driver who tried to avoid running over a dog crossing the Kumul Highway above Yachting World in the Capital this week, found both herself and her boss’s Cressida car upside down!

It is understood the driver tried to apply her brakes but went over the footpath and turned over. She was slightly bruised.

From a reader’s letter in Tohi Tala Nive We were provoked, abused, sneered at and even called monkeys on the field, yet we kept playing the way we do clean hard rugby. We may have through the game broken a few of your polished fingernails, or stepped on a few padded feet, but that’s expected from a man’s game. If we were too hard on you then you should confine your activities in future to playing bridge or knitting From an editorial in Rengel Belau, Koror Four years ago, Republic of Palau was born out of centuries of foreign rule and domination. We drafted and approved a unique constitution that gave not only our people but the whole world an inspiration and hope from nuclear holocaust. The Constitution seems to give credence to our unique Palauan character that ethnocentric opinion of ourselves that somehow we are better than most people. That we are a breed apart from our Pacific and Micronesian neighbors.

But, in the past four years, those bright hopes of the heady first days of our nation have been dashed. Once an enterprising and proud people, we cannot now stand high and tall. Overseas, it is embarrassing to say who we are, what we are doing with our nation or what our future will be like . . .

From the Cook Islands News, Rarotonga.

Auckland advertising executive Allan Bowe wil never forget his $l7OO peep at Rarotonga early this month. “It was awful” Mr Bowe said when he arrived home after spending just two hours of his planned week-long holiday in the Cook Island. Mr Bowe left Auckland in a first-class 747 seat arrived Rarotonga about four hours “lt was blowing a gale and raining heavily, just like Wellington,” he said. “I got straight back on the plane and flew home again. ”

From the American Samoa News Bulletin, Pago Pago.

Traffic was congested in Matu’u Monday as hundreds of people stopped or slowed down to view a dead sperm whale’s carcass lying on the reef. Director of Marine Resources Henry Sesepasara said that some fishermen noticed the whale floating outside the reef around 5 a.m. Monday. The tide apparently carried the body on to the reef sometime later. Sesepasara said that the sperm whale is over fifty feet long and could weigh up to 20 tons. He added that indications are that the huge mammal had been dead at least 24 hours before it washed ashore.

From the Marianas Variety, Saipan.

Sexual abuse of children has reached serious proportions, running to about 90 cases reported to the authorities from January to August this year. The eight-month figure is already nearing the 100 cases reported for the whole of 1983.

From an editorial in the Marianas Variety, Saipan.

Is it time to ban sex movies on television? The question surfaced following revelations on the magnitude of the child abuse problem in the Commonwealth, particularly sexual abuse. Social workers, religious leaders and some law-makers agree that television is among the factors that contribute to the increase in the number of sexual abuse cases. Children exposed to sex movies tend to shed any inherent inhibition and are encouraged to try what they see.

There are not a few cases of sexual abuse involving minors as victims wherein the children are consenting victims. Now is the time, when it is not yet late, for the Commonwealth to decide on an answer for the sake of our children: Should we ban sex movies on television? N.L.

Lack of a typist at the Lae District Court office has meant that 31 prisoners facing serious charges have been held at the Buimo Corrective Institution, outside Lae, for several months without the knowledge of the State Prosecutor and Public Solictor. Without a typist no court files went to the lawyers. An officer of the prosecutor’s office discovered the problem when he asked for all prisoners awaiting trial to be transported to the courthouse. A van containing 31 men turned up. Charges ranged from carnal knowledge through breaking and entering to wilful murder. One of the men hed been in jail since February. A typist at the court was acting as clerk so that nobody was available to type the charges or prepare information. (Condensed from the Papua New Guinea Post Courier, Port Moresby.)