The Island Press

Reports from the papers, compiled by John Carter

NAUSORI farmer Meli Baleilakeba told the Constitutional Inquiry and Advisory Committee that women should not be allowed to drink liquor.

He told the committee that drunken mothers produced drunken children and blamed nightclub-wandering mothers for having produced the

drunken youths of today.

Asked if males should be stopped from drinking liquor, he said if fathers were drunk, mothers could look after the family, but if mothers got drunk, the children would have nowhere to go.

From the Fiji Times, Suva

AIR PACIFIC’S early Sunday morning

Tokyo service was first delayed be cause of mechanical failure and finally cancelled because the flight engineer had consumed liquor.

About 100 stranded passengers were flown to Tokyo on Monday by Air New Zealand.

From the Fiji Times, Suva I HE DEBATE in the House on

Wednesday flared into name-calling

when the Prime Minister, Tofilau Eti Alesana, called Fuima-ono Mimio a “dog” and was branded a “pig” in re turn.

From the Samoa Times, Apia A LITTLE boy with a big heart for the needy, 10-year-old musical pro digy Christian Gante has given to the PNG Rehabilitation Centre and the Cheshire Homes.

Christian raised the money by giv ing a solo piano recital at the Port Moresby Travelodge last month. He said he wanted to use his natural ta lent to help the poor, and on Thurs day he went to the Rehabilitation Cen tre to hand over his Christmas gift.

From the Papua New Guinea Post Courier, Port Moresby

AIR IN the Cook Islands is among the best in the world, says American atmospheric researcher, Dr Dale Hurst.

Dr Hurst, of the University of Cali fornia, Irvine County, has been in volved in atmospheric research throughout the Pacific for the past five years.

He says the air samples taken from here show better, clearer results be cause of Rarotonga’s isolation in the Pacific Ocean, and because of the lack of industrial development.

From the Cook Islands News, Rarotonga THE MAJORITY of wheelchairs used in the Pacific have been designed for and donated by ‘developed’ countries.

Chairs fall to pieces at an alarming rate; arrive with no spare parts and no instruction or training provided for upkeep; become a ‘barrier to mobility’ because they cannot cope with Pacific environmental factors, and suitable design adaptations need to be made.

From the South Pacific Disability Council magazine Lali, Apia WITH everyone asking what the fu ture holds for this troubled nation, I decided to drag out the old crystal ball and have a quick preview of the year ahead . . .

January: Torrential rains wash most of Irian Jaya into PNG. The Indonesian army follows on the principle of de fending its sacred soil. The PNGDF is unable to respond because it is busy

burning people’s homes in Milne Bay

province.

February: The Prime Minister of a much-reduced PNG is toppled in a vote of no confidence. Somebody re

places him.

March: Ihe new Prime Minister res igns in the wake of allegations about an improper relationship with a women s soccer team. He is replaced.

April: The new Prime Minister resigns because he has lost confidence in the Parliament. The women’s soccer team forms a coalition government.

May: The Government is pack-raped during an inspection tour of rural

sporting facilities.

June: PNG’s first rape crisis centre is established in Waigani. LoMet troops burn it down.

July: New liquor restrictions are intro duced in the NCD in response to the alarming rise in rape and arson.

August: The new liquor laws are re voked. Black marketeers march on Parliament and, finding it vacant, take over.

September: The Government succeeds

in selling Bougainville and Enga to

CRA, thus preventing total economic

collapse.

October: The Government awards it self massive salary increases.

November: There is a total economic

collapse.

December: The Government is de posed in a vote of no confidence in itself.

It’s not all bad, of course. The Kumuls finally win a game and Miss PNG is crowned Miss World (but is subsequently defrocked when she turns out to be a 42-year-old mother of ten).

From a letter signed ‘Nostradamus’ in the Papua New Guinea Post-Courier , Port Moresby