The Island Press
p. 48 · Read in the full issue
Compiled by John Carter
THE MINISTER for Civil Aviation and Acting Minister for Culture and Tourism, Mr Berghuser, has described as deplorable the lack of publicity and hospitality dur ing the 14-hour stopover by the Russian cruise ship Maxim Gorky in Port Mo resby on the weekend.
Mr Berghuser said despite its short stop, an effort should have been made for the 600 tourists who had made the effort to see the country.
From the Papua New Guinea Post-Courier , Port Moresby.
DURING THE week members of the Norfolk Island Police Force cleared a cul tivated plot of well established marihuana plants conservatively valued at some $20,000.
Discovery of the plot was due to the community spirit of the owner of the land who, during clearing operations decided to lake a walk down his/her valley and came upon the well-grown plants in a shel tered spot quite near the walking track.
There were bags for seed, trays for drying, a spade and shovel and some fer tiliser, together with a half-44-gallom drum used for watering.
From The Norfolk Islander.
HA'ANO ISLAND hasjusl four small vil lages. The largest is Ha'ano village, with 214 residents, according to the latest cen sus. The island has only one vehicle a motorbike owned by the Health Depart ment. and one public telephone, which stands at the Ha’ano Primary school building, but the people are served by five churches: Free Wesleyan, Free Church of Tonga, Church ofTonga, Seventh Day Ad ventist, and Mormon.
From an article in the Tonga Chronicle on life on the island of Ha’ano in the Ha’apai Group.
PORT MORESBY’S first baby of the New Year .. . and his mother .. . have set the nurses and doctors to check the record books. For Mrs Dayleen Sylvester, the mother, it was her second baby born on New Year’s Day. The first one was born exactly one year earlier, on New Year’s Day.
From the Papua New Guinea Post-Courier , Port Moresby.
A HONIARA court has fined an Aus tralian $4OO after he admitted having sex ual affairs with two local male partners.
The Australian told the court he had for gotten he was in another country when he committed the offences.
From the Cook Islands News , Rarotonga.
GOROKA: A total of K 99.503 was raised through the singing of Christmas carols in Australia to build a new office and train ing complex in Goroka.
The new office and training complex is part of the Christian Institute of Coun selling, an ecumenical institute that trains church and government workers in coun selling and communication skills.
From The Times of Papua New Guinea.
AS OUTSIDERS in Tonga, we have been worried about the large consumption of beer by the local people and also by the lack of censorship on videos. We have been
concerned about these problems here be cause alcohol and videos are helping to ruin tens of thousands of young lives back in New Zealand. We feel sure that unless the problems are seriously addressed here you may very well have the same problem in future despite Tonga’s being a bigger church-attending nation per capita than New Zealand.
From a letter in the Tonga Chronicle from Paul Somerville, leader of the New Zealand, Te Hou Ora- Tokoroa youth group in Tonga to play rugby.
FOUND: A pair of brown ladies shoes. . . at the National Stadium.
From Laucala Campus Informa tion in the University of the South Pacific Bulletin.
A 30-YEAR-OLD man died and another was seriously injured after a dynamite blast at Palakau Village, Mussau Island, in the New Ireland Province.
The dead man was Gordon Uri, and the injured man is Keven Levai.
They were out fishing in a canoe when the incident occurred.
According to police reports, Uri had lit the home-made dynamite and was about to throw it at a school of fish when it ex ploded. killing him instantly and injuring Levai.
From the Papua New Guinea Post-Courier , Port Moresby.