Pacific Islands Monthly

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If Getting There Is Half The Fun

GETTING BACK SHOULD BE, TOO.

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Vol. 48 No. 5 May, 1977 Up Front with the Publisher Sydney, oldest British settlement in the South Seas (it was founded in 1788) naturally has a number of buildings that are both beautiful and historic, and one of the most pleasing bits of architecture is a row of terraced shops which recently appeared at Circular Quay, where the big cruise ships come in, I say ‘appeared’, although the terrace no doubt dates from last century. But nobody noticed those shops until somebody with a good eye for line and colour had them painted so as to bring out their most attractive features, and hung out new shingles in the style of the period.

This sort of thing is being done everywhere these days. I saw some beautiful examples in the city area of Auckland recently, and in muchmaligned Chicago I’ve seen some large areas of restoration done in great good taste. But I know of no similar activity going on in the Islands.

I was reminded of this the other week when I, and wife Jo, spent a pleasant fortnight in old Levuka.

Levuka was the capital of Fiji until the seat of government was moved to Suva in 1882, but it retains an old world charm that continues to attract all manner of visitors.

The buildings ramble along the beach road and up into the sharply rising hills, so reminiscent of Tahiti, where the paths are so steep they give way to stone steps.

The views out across the Koro Sea, of course, are nothing short of wondrous.

But the charm is in the town itself. There’s the quaint Ovalau Club, and next to it the town hall, and within a stone’s throw the equally historic Royal Hotel (rebuilt in the 1880 ? s, but little changed in outward appearance since). These are some of my favourite buildings, but as a single architectural vista there’s nothing to surpass the whole line of the Beach Road stores.

Beginning with Burns Philp, there they sit, with their verandah posts and awnings, their fretwork scrolls, facing out to sea like a setting of Somerset Maugham’s.

Until April 1, Morris Hedstrom’s store was among them, but it’s closed now after almost 100 years, and the land will be used by the government for a different purpose.

And that’s the point. There’s history in Levuka, but it’s architectural history as much as the history of old wars, blackbirders and cession.

It shouldn’t be allowed to disappear, little by little, for the lack of a coat of paint, or some repairs, or because renovations are done from time to time for reasons of commercial expediency, but with no appreciation of a heritage.

I might be wrong but I doubt if the heritage can be safeguarded, let alone enhanced, by individual owners unless they are offered both professional and financial help.

Beach Road can be made even more pleasing than those terraced shops at Circular Quay if the Levuka council organises a planned restoration programme. This might require little more than paint in the first instance - but it has to be an integrated plan.

Levuka begs for this attention, and the town is in so confined a space that the results would be seen immediately. But there are other parts of Fiji, and the South Pacific, where the architecture needs safeguarding. The most obvious is historic Apia, but there are buildings of charm that I know of in Nukualofa, Papeete, Pago and Rabaul, among other places.

If anybody wants to come up with his own list of priorities, or suggestions, in this appeal, I’ll be glad to publish it.

Stuart Inder 5 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977 FOUNDED BY R. W. ROBSON IN 1930

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T. 6 6 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

OUR COVER This attractive study from the camera of Ned A vary of a Rarotongan beauty at Papua Falls on Rarotonga is linked with inside pages in this special issue which features New Zealand’s trading links with the Islands and the opening of the new Rarotonga Hotel and underlines the importance of New Zealand’s influential connections with the Islands.

Pacific Islands Monthly Vol 48, No 5 May 1977.

In this issue GENERAL Hokule'a lesson 37 First mail by canoe 39 Poison in fish 45 NZ trade feature 55 NZ's interests in Islands 59 What makes New Zealanders tick. ... 69 Australian aid for Forum Line 81

Cook Islands

Kia Orana painting 11 Census figures 21 Anthropologist's visit 21 Armour-plated hats in fashion 27 Cut-price haircuts 29 Bali Ha'i or Rarotonga 43 How the Mynah bird came 48 Rarotonga Hotel opens 73 Tourist industry benefits NZ 75 Atiu airstrip opened 83 FIJI Election turmoil 8,9, 10 Mr Stinson sues for libel 21 Emperor Mines losses 72 Burns Philp's profits 77 Sugar agreement 78 Heavy chemical factory planned 79 Better days for Air Pacific 81 Australia helps Forum Line 81 Roll on/roll off ships coming 87

French Polynesia

Unavoidable path to independence ... 17

Gilbert Islands

Fiji sugar agreement 78 NAURU Nauru House opened (pic) 21 A name for Nauru House 27 Air and shipping lines in Suva 83

New Caledonia

The municipal merry-go-round 15 The economic switchback 15 Soccer field fight 23 Aquarium's new director 29 Navy's part in yacht race 89

New Hebrides

The political storm 11 NIUE NZ aid for fisheries scheme 57

Norfolk Island

Knockback from the UN 18

Papua New Guinea

Queen's visit 12 Political parties on trial 19 Chinese gifts to parties 19 Vatican relations 21 Women join Police Force 21 Wages rise 21 Regiment's birthday 27 Sir John Yocklunn's job 31 Torres Strait argument 35 History of gold-mining 63 Purari River electricity 71 Copper prices 71 Buffalo farming plan 79

Pitcairn Island

A nation of motorcyclists 29

Solomon Islands

Independence problems 13 Tin gods 13 Fred Maedola, the troubadour 14 First trade mission to NZ 77 TONGA Seaman reported drowned in China. . . 21 Queen's award to Tongan 25 Burns Philp's profits 77 Boat with a date 83 Hopes for oil strike 91 TUVALU Fiji sugar agreement 78

Us Trust Territory

The return to Enewetak 16 Peter Coleman resigns 25 Bugging a new approach 33 Party politics 33

Wallis & Futuna

St Peter Chanel's relics 23

Western Samoa

Burns Philp's profits 77 Fiji sugar agreement 78 DEPARTMENTS: Up Front with the Publisher, 5; News in a Nutshell, 21; People, 25; Tropicalities, 27, Editor's Mailbag, 31, Magazine Section, 46, Islands Press, 49; Business & Development, 55; Books, 63; Transport, 81; Cruising Yachts, 89; Deaths of Islands People, 93; Shipping Information, 96, Produce Prices, 101 7 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

‘Fiji for Fijians’ brings these islands to the brink From ROBERT KEITH-REID in Suva Complacent supporters of Fiji’s ruling Alliance Party who thought the country’s complex voting system gave a virtual guarantee of perpetual power for the Alliance, were shocked numb in March/April after the first general elections for the House of Representatives since 1972. Fiji’s 278,000 voters (out of a population of half a million) handed out a result which sent the nation into constitutional crisis.

The general election was the second since independence from Britain in 1970. But, compared with the election of 1972, it was a far, far more complex process due to the emergence of a third significant political force, the Fijian Nationalist Party, and factional pressures inside both the Alliance and the NFP.

In 1972 it was a straight fight, the Alliance versus the NFP.

Race is a fact of life, as Fiji politicans comment frequently in discussing the communal problems confronting a country in which 51 % of the population is Indian and the balance mainly Fijian, with a smattering of Europeans, Chinese, other Islanders and mixed-race peoples.

In 1972, it was a forgone conclusion that, as the Fiji Constitution guaranteed non-Indians control of 30 of the 52 seats in parliament, and as the Alliance had the total support of this group, plus the support of about 25% of Indian electors, it would win.

So it did, 33 seats to 19 over the NFP. But, a lot of things have happened since then.

First, one of the Alliance’s Fijian MPs, Mr Sakiasi Butadroka, turned out to be too anti-Indian for a party basing its policies on the preservation of communal harmony.

He left it three years ago, although not resigning his Fijian communal seat, and formed the Fijian Nationalist Party with the motto “Fiji for the Fijians”.

Since then, there has been wavering in the Alliance in other directions, although the disunity there has certainly been nothing compared to the troubles in the National Federation Party.

The results of the elections were known by early April.

While the NFP won 26 seats, the Alliance got 24, eight less than its previous 32.

The Fijian Nationalist Party which, as far as the Alliance was concerned, was the cause of the whole upset, won one seat and independent candidate Ratu Osea Gavidi took one of the Alliance’s 12 Fijian communal seats.

The result left the NFP with a majority that did not give it the control G f parliament it had to have if it was to ge t any legislation passed. The NFP sat down to hours of discussing a way out of the impasse while stunnec i Alliance cabinet ministers, after nearly 11 years of unchallenged power, packed their bags and left t h e ir ministerial offices.

Prime Minister Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara handed in his resignation on April 5, coldly refused offers of a coalition deal received from the NFP and challenged it to try to form a government.

The Alliance expectation was that t h e NFP would be forced to do so but WO uld soon topple not only because of its nil majority but because of intense leadership rivalries within its ranks.

But then Ratu Osea Gavidi, who had campaigned with the promise to remain an independent, threatened to upset the applecart by announcing that he would back the NFP and give it a working majority to be able to form a government in the national interest.

Next day, he said he had changed his mind, apparently after persuasion by the Alliance, The NFP was back to the prospect ofrule without power again, and after much haggling amongst members of its parliamentary group, agreed logo for a deal with the Alliance. While some local observers had predicted that the Alliance might get its majority cut by an alarming amount, no one, least of all the NFP had expected it would lose the election, “A very pleasant surprise,” was how the NFP’s boss, Siddiq Koya, put it after keeping his Lautoka Indian seat in a tough battle against a former NFP man, Raojibhai Patel.

So why the Alliance loss?

There were several factors, but the main one was undoubtedly the decision of about 20,000 Fijians to vote for the two-year-old Fijian Nationalist Party and its unpleasant “anti-Indian and Fiji for the Fijian” creed instead of for the Alliance as before.

The Alliance, which had completely underestimated the draw of the Fijian Nationalists, predicted that all its 17 candidates would lose their deposits, had a horrible surprise, True, only one Nationalist did get to parliament and this was the party’s leader, former Alliance assistant minister Sakeasi Butadroka, who kept his Fijian communal seat by

soundly beating his Alliance opponent. But many other FNP candidates got up to 4,000 votes each, so splitting the Fijian vote in many of the 25 “national” seats, of which the Alliance had held the majority and, hence, the overall parliamentary majority.

This lack of support meant that the NFP picked up seats it would never have otherwise obtained.

Alliance losses included three cabinet ministers, Ratu Josua Toganivalu (Agriculture) and Mr Sakiasi Waqanivavalagi (Lands and Mines) while Education Minister, Peniame Naqasima was beaten unexpectedly for his Fijian Sigatoka seat by Ratu Gavidi, a popular young chief of the area.

A jubilant Sakeasi Butadroka, who said he was praying for an NFP victory to prove his claims to Fijians tuat Fiji was really controlled by the Indians, was able to cry; “My prayers have been answered,” which he did.

Ratu Mara took the defeat a little cynically, saying, “It is quite obvious that the Fijians blame us for being pro-Indian, particularly the Nationalists and the Indians have blamed us for being pro-Fijian.”

Fijians would have to “blame themselves” for any mess they found the country in as a result of deserting the Alliance, he warned, and added that he still thought the Fiji Constitution was the best one the country could have.

At this point, events began to move quickly.

Fiji’s burly, belligerent Opposition leader, Siddiq Koya, 53, drove up to Government House in Suva four days after the end of the election, supremely confident that he was about to become Fiji’s first Indian Prime Minister.

Half an hour after his departure from the Opposition office in the Government Building he returned a downcast, and furious man.

He’d been told by the Governor- General, Ratu Sir George Cakobau, Fiji’s paramount chief and a former Alliance Minister, that Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara had been reappointed to the post.

A Government House statement broadcast to a stunned nation a few minutes later explained why.

The Governor-General, it said, having considered all relevant circumstances, had come to the conclusion that despite the NFP’s 26 seats in parliament, it was Ratu Mara who commanded the support of the majority of the 52 parliamentarians, and who therefore, under the terms laid down by the Constitution, was the man who should be made Prime Minister.

Ratu Mara was back in his hastily vacated Prime Minister’s office and had appointed a new cabinet just over an hour after Koya had been dismaved by the Governor-General.

“It’s amazing,” confessed Ratu Mara, describing how he felt about the sudden reversal of his fortunes.

“The summons to Government House this afternoon came out of the blue. I did not expect it at all.”

The NFP quickly put out a statement complaining that the Governor-General acted without consultation with Koya or any other party source.

"We have a written Constitution and it is a pity that the constitutional processes were not allowed to take their course” it said.

As Ratu Mara went to mass at the Mr Siddiq Koya, leader of the National Federation Party, a Fiji-born Muslim and, like many Fiji-Indian politicians, a lawyer who has practised with considerable success. Right-hand man of the NFP's founder, A. D. Patel, he succeeded to the leadership on Patel's death in October, 1969. He has had to struggle in the last few years to keep that position and, even in the days following the election, when the NFP had the chance to rule, his position was assailed. Today he is described as "belligerent"; a few years ago he was attacked by his own party for being too "friendly” with Prime Minister Mara and the Alliance government.

Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, educated at Otago University and Oxford, leader of the Alliance Party in its 11 years as the government. He wanted to be a doctor but the late Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna, who saw him as a potential leader, persuaded him to take up a government career. His dearest wish, after the Alliance won the 1972 elections, the first since independence, was to retire this year to his own home in the Lau Group.

Now he seems committed to lead the Alliance in the fight back to power. He worked hard to establish and preserve racial harmony. His hopes could be shattered.

Governor- General Ratu Sir George Cakobau.

Sakiasi Butadroka, founder and leader of the Fijian National Party and inventor of its slogan "Fiji for the Fijians”, a slogan which speaks for itself. Before the elections, he said he prayed for the Alliance defeat His prayers were answered through the action of about 20,000 Fijians who voted for the National Party, thus paving the way for an NFP victory, which no one could have foreseen; which, everyone thought, could not have happened under the present system of voting which seemed to guarantee permanent power for the Alliance to which almost every Fijian had previously given allegiance. 9 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

Roman Catholic cathedral in Suva, which played its recording of ringing bells for him, and Alliance supporters celebrated throughout the night, the question being asked was: “Why did the Governor-General pick Mara and not Sid?”

The explanation that seemed most convincing, although the NFP continued to publicly deny it* was that as NFP parliamentarians sat in secret session all through Thursday (April 7), first to choose a new party leader, and then to haggle over the allocation of cabinet portfolios, some of Koya’s NFP enemies had got word to Government House that if he became Prime Minister they would not support him.

This information, it was presumed by most observers, was what made the Governor-General conclude that it was Mara, not Koya, who had the support of the majority of parliamentarians.

Koya was re-elected as NFP leader, but only just, after the two people who are considered to be his main opponents, the NFP president, Mrs Irene Jai Narayan and secretary, Karam Ramrakha, put a Fijian, Atunaisa Maitoga, as an alternative leader. Koya scraped home by a reported 14 votes to 12.

One of Koya’s supporters summed up the situation succinctly: “He was sold out”.

But by whom? People would say nothing about that point, at least not in public.

The following Saturday, Koya went on the air to blast the Alliance, Mara, and to a lesser extent, Ratu Sir George. Events had shown that the Alliance would never allow an Indian to be Prime Minister, he alleged, and added that Mara’s decision to head a minority government was “an insult to the entire Indian community of Fiji and its selfrespect.”

Ratu Mara retorted that Koya’s words were “racialism at its worst” and a “deep personal insult, and a gross lie”.

On April 12 Mara held the first meeting of his new cabinet and announced afterwards that the new parliament would meet on April 28 and 29. He did not know if the NFP would allow his government to survive beyond then. “If they wish to move a vote of no confidence they have the necessary numbers to carry it through,” he observed.

The Prime Minister more or less shrugged his shoulders over the immediate future and admitted; “Anything can happen.”

Koya ordered his parliamentarians to go back to their constituents to consult with their followers to decide, as he put it, what the NFP should or should not do.

Both parties were saying privately that after the exhaustion and expense of the general election, they were in no condition to fight another one quickly.

The constitutional crises hit Fiji as it hosted 60 countries to the AGP- EEC Council of Ministers meeting in Suva, at which Mara was to chair the ACP Council as its president.

African and Caribbean delegates watched events unroll with deep interest and remarked that they were amazed, even moved, to see that Fiji Islanders were taking it all so calmly.

“There’s no soldiers or guns to be seen,” remarked one.

Many delegates said the peaceful way Fiji dealt with the crises was a tremendous tribute to the land and its people.

An attempt was made by the NFP through trade union leader Mr Apisai Tora to enlist support from Australian trade unions. It was probably Mr Tora J s own idea to fly to Australia and, as he said when he arrived, seek advice from Gough Whitlam, who had been “sacked” by Governor-General Sir John Kerr, and Tora’s friends Dr Jim Cairns and Communist trade union leader Pat Clancy.

It’s not clear what advice Mr Whitlam could have given. Patently, he has needed advice himself.

As a last resort, Mr Tora said, he would ask the Australian trade unions to “black” trade and communications between Australia and Fiji, but the immediate reaction of some trade union leaders was to shy away from any action which seemed to interfere with Fiji’s internal affairs.

Mr Tora was in Sydney and then in Melbourne where he was to see ACTU president Bob Hawke, but it looked, at the time of writing, that Mr Tora drew a blank.

His position in all this is rather peculiar. In an NFP government he would, presumably, be Minister for Labour. In the mid-19605, like Butadroka today, he was anti-Indian and even called for the expulsion of the Indian community.

Members of the Fijian National Party sit around the yaqona(kava) bowl outside the polling booth at the Suva Grammar School. Photo: The Fiji Times.

Mr. Karam C.Ramrakha, the NFP's general secretary, a consistent opponent of Mr. Koya as the leaderof the party. 10 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

New Hebrides - Of Storms

And High Commissioners

From a Vila correspondent Tropical cyclone Norman wended its way through the New Hebrides archipelago in mid-March teasing the islands with threats of damage, only to veer off at the last minute. At the same time the political storm, which had been brewing for many months, blew a similar course of mounting force but no one yet knows whether or not it has been quelled.

The political depression in question is by no means new to the New Hebrides, having its origins way back in 1975 with the first general elections for the country. Widely acclaimed as something of a milestone in the stagnant history of the Condominium the elections for a Representative Assembly appeared to go smoothly. But incomplete elections for the four chiefly representatives, delays in the assembly’s opening, and behind-thescenes manipulating, meant that by the time the assembly finally got down to pass its own standing orders a year later in November, 1976, the sugared pill had turned very sour indeed. And the bitterness was largely centred on the question of exactly how “representative” the assembly could be when six of its 42 seats were occupied by Chamber of Commerce members, representing an electorate of only 500 out of a population of 100,000.

At its congress this year, the Vanuaaku Pati (ex-New Hebrides National Party) finally demanded the exclusion of these members, and the establishment of a Governing Council with executive powers of government. Other parties countered their demands, and the stage was set for a showdown at the scheduled opening of the assembly on February 21.

As reported (PIM, April, pi 7), the assembly found itself deadlocked 20-20 when the Vanuaaku Pati motion was finally discussed on February 24.

On February 28, speaking to a half-filled chamber, French Resident Commissioner Gauger announced the session’s permanent closure. A statement from the Vanuaaku Pati called for “a major constitutional conference . . . and re-elections”.

Meanwhile, events outside had not been standing still. Following the Vanuaaku Pati’s walk-out of February 24, TANUNION the newly formed opposition alliance of UCNH, MANH, Tabwemassana, Kabiel and Frend Melanesia Party held a march of 200-300 supporters through Vila.

At the Condominium Building, Vincent Boulekone of UCNH read out a list of demands for “order and peace”, mainly seeking to force administration reaction to Vanuaaku Pati land claims and the party’s abandonment of the local councils.

During the same period, a pressure group of the best-known settlers and plantation-owners held audience at the French Residency, and an oldtime colon spoke frankly in a French radio interview of how he and others like him —were going to fight for their property rights.

In the mounting tension, the opposition, inspired by the success of their demonstration, called for a further show of support on March 3 in Vila, Santo, Malekula, and Tanna. Unsigned posters scattered through the towns called for “progress to a serene and peaceful independence . . . cannot be prepared by voluntarily destroying our first democratic institutions”. In Vila, the Vanuaaku Pati organised a simultaneous gathering of their supporters, and the capital was treated to the rather alarming spectacle of two banner-waving forces diametrically opposed to one another on the green turf of the British Paddock one side almost entirely black, and the other outnumbered, and somewhat paler.

With the chips unequivocally down, the administrations responded, calling for a meeting of the leaders of all political parties, and High Commissioners Eriau and Stanley, “to consult ... on the current situation, including their ideas and proposals for a new electoral system, and thereafter to make recommendations to the two metropolitan governments for an early solution to the present political impasse”. A ban on further rallies and demonstrations was to establish “an atmosphere of calm and mutual confidence”.

Before the meeting objected to from both sides for not being at ministerial level TANUNION and Vanuaaku Pati representatives met for several days to reach certain “understandings”. So, too, supposedly, did the government representatives, in Noumea. However, on March 14, final preparations were apparently being still undertaken by the Vanuaaku Pati on a joint party position. This entailed their being one hour late for the meeting, and in a style not well-ad- KIA ORANA Rock Welland, Californian artist who is based in Rarotonga, with Kia Orana, a painting of a Polynesian girl against the background of The Rarotongan. The oil was specially commissioned by Air New Zealand Kia Orana is the Cook Islands greeting Welland has lived and painted in Rarotonga for 15 years. 11 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

justed to Melanesia, the two High Commissioners called the meeting off until the following day. March 15 revealed that the governments had no agenda, and so in the afternoon the parties excluded them from the talks in order to prepare one.

The talks closed on March 18 with no agreement reached. As both High Commissioners have to travel (Mr Eriau to Wallis and Futuna and Mr Stanley to the Solomons), talks could not resume until March 27.

Discussions had included new elections before the end of 1977 on the basis of universal suffrage, and the composition of an executive council.

Later Mr Eriau said that as demanded by the Vanuaaku party, new elections would be held for the New Hebridean Assembly with voting by universal suffrage and that an executive council would be formed. At the first elections in 1975 the population was divided, with members representing the Chamber of Commerce (6), co-operatives (3), chiefs (4) and universal suffrage (29).

The French High Commissioner said, however, that before new elections could be held a complete register of the population should be drawn up. New elections could not be held immediately, but the date could be decided upon by a joint meeting of British and French ministers due to be held in the northern hemisphere in autumn.

And so the waiting game continues, with the Vanuaaku party (ex- National Party) urging speedy progress to independence.

Unofficially, an interesting rumour held that France is prepared to leave the country before Britain.

What is perhaps most significant is that it appears that with some difficulty Melanesians from the different parties are at last beginning to shake off their largely European-inspired differences and come together. If there is any long-term truth to this, then the recent storm, and the anti-climactic appearance of the two High Commissioners will have achieved something that few would have believed possible in this uniquely and tragically divided colony.

Queen's PNG visit, a silent sermon on independence Port Moresby, probably the fastest-changing city in the South Pacific today, couldn’t quite make up its mind about the Queen when she made her Jubilee visit to Papua New Guinea.

The crowds were there in their thousands there was no doubt of that and the city had some of the worst traffic snarls it has known. Tree branches broke under the weight of high-climbing spectators trying to get a better view and extra police had to be called in to man some of the roadside barriers.

Children vied with each other to see who could tear up the longest bamboo to use as a pole for flying home-made flags. But frank curiosity rather than warmth was behind it all, and the crowds came to stare rather than to cheer or even smile.

What cheering there was became a pale echo of the sort of noise which a Port Moresby crowd can raise at a football match.

Not until the Queen and Prince Philip flew north-east over the mountains, leaving the sprawl of Port Moresby behind, did the tour really begin to sparkle, showing some of the warmth and colour which new nationhood has tended to damp in the capital.

The four-day visit was spent mainly in Port Moresby, with one day in Popondetta and Milne Bay.

The PNG National Broadcasting Commission, no doubt wanting to be fashionable, unashamedly canvassed university students for pre-visit comments relating to the Queen’s position as Head of State. Despite the predictable reactions “an utter farce”, “what does the Queen mean to us?”, “a waste of money” a revealing sidelight emerged.

This was that Paupa New Guineans, independent for only 18 months, fully accept the reality of their independence.

Their main concern is that the sovereign head of state arrangement is pointless, a widelydivergent view from that of the minority Australian republican movement which tends to present the monarchy as a sinister influence on national freedoms.

Whatever may have been the crowd reaction, however, there was no mistaking the nature of the welcome extended by PNG political leaders, or the depth of the commitment which the Government showed to its membership of the Commonwealth and to the Queen as Head of State.

There was even blatant politics in the welcome, with the Prime Minister, Mr Somare, outlining the raw, practical advantages which he saw in his country’s constitutional arrangements.

The Deputy Prime Minister, Sir Maori Kiki, used the occasion to criticise Papua separation politics. The need for unity was an over-riding political problem.

Sir Maori said.

But it was not until the tour was in its third day that the Queen and Prince Philip began to see the real Papua New Guinea the older, warmer Pacific islands with their long tradition of friendship to visitors.

Since the Queen’s departure, a few voices almost exclusively confined to non-elected representatives of the community have questioned the appropriateness of the Head of State arrangement.

It is a revival of the argument which occurred when the National Constituent Assembly adopted the Constitution.

But if anything, the political side-issues from the visit have tended to strengthen rather than weaken acceptance of the constitutional arrangements.

Because of a real belief in the reality of their political independence, Papua New Guinea political leaders are increasingly accepting a measure of practical value in the arrangements. 12 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

Solomons independence problems of “when?”, “how?”, “who?”

By ALAN GILL who was in Honiara Members of the Solomon Islands Legislative Assembly will travel to London soon to thrash out with the British Government questions affecting the “when?” and “how?” of Solomons’ independence.

As this issue of PIM went to press, it was not yet decided who, or indeed, how many members of the assembly, would take part in the actual negotiations.

A suggestion raised a few weeks ago, that all 38 members of the assembly make the trip to London leaving the Governor, Mr Colin Allan, to mind the fort is likely to cause raised eyebrows in Whitehall.

And Her Majesty’s Government’s collective eyebrows are likely to rise even higher at the formula for independence proposed by the assembly on March 3.

This calls for, initially, a monarchy with the Queen as Head of State, to be followed, a year later, by the automatic creation of a republic unless the move should be blocked, in the interim period, by a two-thirds vote in the assembly, in which case a constitutional monarchy would be retained.

Not that Britain is opposed to independence for the Solomon Islands. Indeed, HMG (to use the jargon of expatriate public servants) has shown a willingness, bordering on relief, which some residents find unflattering.

However, diplomatic sources in Honiara believe that Britain will reject the proposed independence formula on the grounds that it is too complicated a not-very-practical compromise aimed primarily at placating the various shades of opinion within the assembly itself.

Britain is expected to make a counter-offer of immediate independence as a constitutional monarchy or immediate independence as a republic ... without ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ or half-measures. In either event, full independence could be achieved before the end of 1977.

The proposed independence constitution was drawn up with the help of a globe-trotting Kenyan Indian lawyer, Professor Yash Ghai, 38, who specialises in constitutional matters. Professor Ghai, who was warmly thanked by MPs of all viewpoints and political persuasions, is professor of law at Uppsala University in Sweden.

The Solomons has had internal self-government since January, 1976, with the idea, at that time, that full independence should follow 12 months later or as soon after as practicable. The original independence scheme, drawn up by a constitutional committee, was referred back to the assembly, last September for further consideration, in the belief that the general public had not been given sufficient chance to air their views. To remedy this, the assembly arranged for consultations with eight local councils and seven special interest groups.

The original report called for the creation of a constitutional monarchy within the British Commonwealth. Differences were primarily over the extent of power that should be held locally and how the decision should be made to appoint someone to represent the Queen in the Solomons.

Curiously, the Australian press and television, while making much of Mr Whitlam’s “Queen of Sheba” remark in his address to Queen Elizabeth during the recent Silver Jubilee royal tour, hardly mentioned the issue independence for the Solomons which had inspired the Australian Federal Opposition Leader’s jest. (The incident took place during the Queen’s official welcome in King’s Hall, Parliament House, Canberra. After an address by the Prime Minister, Mr Malcolm Fraser, it was Gough Whitlam’s turn to speak. It was a lighthearted convivial welcome until Whitlam paused to note that the people of the Solomon Islands had asked Elizabeth to be their Queen. “What next?” cracked Whitlam. “The Queen of Sheba?”) The Queen of the Solomons- Queen of Sheba just might have been relegated to a lower place in Mr Whitlam’s repertoire of gags had he been present at the debate, a few days earlier, in the Honiara Assembly building.

Events of November, 1975 (when the Governor-General of Australia, Sir John Kerr, sacked Whitlam from office) were much in the assembly’s mind.

It was decided that on independence the Queen’s representative would be a Governor-General who must be a Solomon Islands citizen.

A year after independence, the Governor-General would automatically become the first President of the Republic of Solomons. (The words ‘British’ and ‘Protectorate’ were dropped from the former title, British Solomon Islands Protectorate, upon the granting of internal self-government, in 1976. The change caused confusion to librarians and archivists in consular offices, who now have to file material about the region under a different letter of the alphabet.) The proposals infer that the head of state will not be what is termed an “executive President” as in the United States. He must act on the advice of his Prime Minister who will be elected by the House.

The exact powers of the President are open to doubt. A chart in the official newspaper, the Solomons TIN GODS??

A suggestion that members of the Legislative Assembly in the Solomons be put in a privileged position if they committed crime did not get very far when the assembly was considering proposals for a new constitution. Mr Faneta Sira (East Malaita) said there should be a separate court for politicians. It would be a shame for honourable members to appear before public courts.

Mr Daniel Ho'ota, Minister for Health and Welfare, put in a nutshell the view of many other members when he said Mr Sira’s proposal would puzzle people in the villages. They would question whether members were making the right decision if they adopted the proposal. 13 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

News Drum, published by the Solomon Islands Information Service, describes the President’s sole as “ceremonial”. Elsewhere, the paper states that the President can dismiss the Prime Minister if parliament passes a motion of no-confidence in him by an absolute majority.

Inevitably, there is speculation as to who will be the first Governor- General (and a year later the first President) of the new nation, and who will be its first Prime Minister.

A government messenger who taught himself to read in his spare time ... rising to become Speaker of the Legislative Assembly and. in January, the first Solomon Islander to receive a knighthood. That is the success story of Frederick Aubarua Osifelo, who is odds-on favourite for the Governor-Generalship (and Presidency).

Sir Frederick, who received the knighthood in the Queen’s New Year honours, still recalls clearly how he started his working life 31 years ago as a government orderly in the leaf-roofed secretariat building, now demolished, Sir Frederick, who is aged 48 and comes from North-east Malaita, was transferred to Auki a year later.

Each morning, instead of burning the waste paper he emptied from the rubbish bins, he would take them to the makeshift “office” he had constructed under the old District Office in Auki and try to puzzle out what they meant. Gradually, with the help of clerks and superiors, he learned to read. (Textbooks were unobtainable at that time.) By 1949, he could read well enough to work as a clerk in the Auki post office and, at the same time, write out the reports for local policemen who did not know how to write.

The present Chief Minister, Mr Peter Kenilorea, will barring unforeseen events became the new nation’s first Prime Minister.

He is a cautious, highly cultured man, who weighs decisions carefully, and exercises a moderating and sobering influence on Solomon Island politics. Some prominent Solomon Islanders consider that he lacks the “firebrand” qualities to govern a newly-independent nation. Time alone will tell.

Peter Kenilorea is only the second Chief Minister of the Solomons. His predecessor, Mr Solomon Mamaloni, resigned from parliament, unexpectedly, in January, without giving a reason.

Despite his resignation a friend described him as the “resigning type” he is likely to bounce back into high office possibly, if this turns out to be a position of power rather than a “show” job, into the Governor-Generalship and Presidency, or as Prime Minister.

Mr Mamaloni’s resignation came a few days after the death, in December, 1976, of Mr Francis Aqorau (also known as Francis Talasasa), who was also considered a candidate for high office.

Continued on p. 91

Fred Maedola, The Solomons

Troubadour Extraordinary

By staffman MALCOLM SALMON "Send a telegram or a letter addressed 'Fred Maedola, Solomon Islands', and it'll get to him all right," Mr Fraser Hickox told PIM in March.

Mr Hickox, a representative of Sohbu (Australia), was in Sydney with a particular job on his hands helping to see that everything went smoothly with the making of a cassette recording of 12 songs written and sung by Fred Maedola, troubadour-extraordinary of the Solomon Islands.

He wanted to make the point that Mr Maedola's fame in his own country spreads far beyond Fote Village on Malaita, where he was born 37 years ago. Indeed, it is rapidly growing in other Island countries Papua New Guinea, the New Hebrides, and as far afield as Nauru.

The cassette recording project (under the Singsing label) is jointly sponsored by Sohbu, a Japanesebased firm active in forestry, fishing and the making of video-cassettes in Papua New Guinea, and Living Sound, a subsidiary of Channel 9 of Sydney.

Taking time off from his recording work, Fred Maedola talked to PIM about how it all started.

He said; "When i was a boy at district school, I was already interested in music. I particularly liked the records of Slim Dusty. I suppose I wanted from the start to do something like them about the daily lives of my own people."

So, Australia's renewed exponent of the country-western style of music really started something.

Fred has already written about 30 songs in Pidgin, many of which have been recorded.

PIM asked him to outline some of the themes of his songs. His answers gave more than one clue to his success, especially among town-dwelling Melanesian communities.

There were straight love songs -Come Close Long Mi, Think Long Mi.

There was zest for the good things of life, personal and material his song Pick Up Girl Long Mote Bake (motor bike) expresses a common aspiration of young men from just about anywhere. 14 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

There was pathos Come Home Boy tells of a father writing to his absent son, informing him his mother has just died and that now he must return home.

There was acid social comment Lucky Girls tells of the envy of married folk for the "freedom” of women who are divorced; Oh Darling Me Losim You Now is the lament of an absent boyfriend who has heard that his loved one is playing fast and loose with other fellows while he is away.

There was humour Time Mi Sick Long Number Nine recalls a spell Fred had in hospital ("Number Nine” was a World War II US servicemen's term for hospital) and tells how pleased some people were to believe that Fred was "finis”, and the nasty shock they got when they eventually learned he was out of hospital and still alive and kicking.

There was straight descriptive material, laced with humour Waitim Fish Long Market Place describes the crowds waiting for the fishermen to come in with their catch at Honiara, the smelling of the fish by prospective buyers to make sure they were fresh and the haggling over prices.

Fred drew on his nine years' experience as a policeman to write another song. Mi Sit Down Inside Jail, which tells of the brooding of a prisoner on his fate.

Fred Maedola, tall, good-looking, with a relaxed manner and an easy smile, is a "natural” for popular appeal.

His first recording, an LP, was made 10 years ago in collaboration with a New Zealand group called Viking. It is still selling in the Islands (The estimated selling life of pop records in Australia is 27 weeks!) Mr Hickox said the Fred Maedola cassette project was in line with the principle often expressed by Sohbu's managing director, Mr Karl Matsuura, that it was important not only to develop the natural resources of the Islands, but the human resources as well.

"This is the first time we have brought anybody out of the Islands for a fully professional production, but in view of the enormous reservoir of talent that exists in these countries. I'd be very surprised if it's the last,” Mr Hickox said.

Caledonians municipal merry-go-round From a Noumea correspondent Almost every New Caledonian had a friend or a cousin among the 2,413 candidates hopping on the merry-go-round of the municipal elections on March 13 and 20.

As in metropolitan France, the municipal elections are a piece of French political folklore a grassroots operation for letting off steam throughout the country. They precede the elections for the Legislative Assembly and for the presidency and are thus regarded as a testing of the political climate.

Another distinctive feature of “les municipales” is that these elections don’t really matter, except as a safety valve. The isolated New Caledonian mayor, for example, may receive generous trips to Paris, he may wear a colourful red, white and blue sash as he stands in an impressive town hall to officiate at local wedding ceremonies; but he has no significant power. Under the French system his action is supervised and controlled by a public servant chef de subdivision, or district offleer who is responsible to the governor.

Outside the capital, for just 451 seats, the 31 municipalities recorded 2,238 candidates forming 119 party or group lists, In Noumea, as expected, outgoing Mayor Roger Laroque led a team of prominent businessmen back to the impressive new “ mairie ” building, with socialists in second place. Inland, however, saw a greater influence of Melanesian voters, ineluding autonomists and independence-seekers, especially on the east coast and the Loyalty Islands.

Caledonians’ economic switch-back For those who share Paris’ keen interest in plotting out the New Caledonian economy, Noumea’s hardworking computer operators turned out a mass of figures in February detailing the state of the territory.

Most important are the nickel production figures. These showed that in 1976 nickel ore output was 5.9 million tonnes, a drop of 12 percent on the 6.7 million tonnes extracted in 1975. Similarly the production of smelted nickel at the SLN furnaces dropped 13 per cent to 61,911 tonnes.

On the export side, nickel ore shipments to Japan rose nine per cent to 2693 million tonnes. However, there was a significant drop in shipment of metal, which totalled 51,489 tonnes, a cut of 17 per cent in volume and six per cent in value. Metal exports were worth 18,330 million CFP (about SAIB3 million) in 1976. Together with ore exports, this carped nearly SA2O million for the territorial budget by way of export tax. In addition, chrome exports totalled 9,105 tonnes.

Another movement out of the territory last year concerned persons, and resulted in a population loss of over 2,000, including 1,670 Europeans.

This was out of a total island population of 133,000. This reflected the drop in employment opportunities, with about 4,000 persons counted as unemployed, although such figures are hard to assess due to the numbers of Melanesians reabsorbed into tribal living. The active working population was estimated at 46,700 last year.

The territory’s trade balance, however, showed up a surplus of 1,952 million CFP (almost SA2O million).

This was due to the higher value of mining products and a 10.6 per cent drop in the value of imports. Payments for the latter amounted to about $ A 242 million, with major cuts in textiles, heavy equipment and transport items.

France supplied 39 per cent of goods, with Australia and New Zealand lifting their shares to 13 and 3.5 per cent respectively. France was similarly the top buyer of Caledonian nickel, taking 51 per cent of total exports, the territory’s full exports for the year being valued at 26,131 million 15 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

Return to Enewetak: every silver lining has a grey cloud By Jim Hall of Micronesian News Service A participant in the March return of the Enewetak people to their ancestral home expressed one reservation along with his feeling of elation. He was Representative Ataji Balos, 38, of the Congress of Micronesia, who represents not only the people of Enewetak but those of Bikini, Kwajalein, Rongelap and Utirik.

Balos, speaking to the press after the luau in honour of the returnees, said that he hoped that the United States would have a programme of periodic medical examinations for the Enewetak people.

He said that the US "had gained much scientific knowledge because of the testing and so it should bear the responsibility if someone becomes ill as a result of living on these islands”.

Balos noted that because of fallout from the Bikini tests, the people of Rongelap and Utirik were still affected after 20 years. He said: "I am not a scientist, but who knows what will happen in the future?”

Balos also expressed some disappointment with the conditions at Japtan Island. He said that although Japtan has much better soil than Ujelang and there are more fish in the lagoons, there was not sufficient water for the Enewetak people when they arrived. He said that their main staples were breadfruit and pandanus, and yet there were only coconut trees on Japtan. “I wish there has been more preparations for the return,” he said.

Representative Balos had played a significant part in effecting the return of the Enewetak people to their home.

In 1968, after Balos graduated from the University of Guam, he worked for the Trust Territory Government as an assistant district affairs officer. His duties consisted of travelling to the various outlying islands by field trip vessel and meet- Enewetak in the not-so-long-ago when it was one of America's top-secret misile-testing bases. 16 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

ing with the island leaders to learn of their problems.

Early one morning in October of 1968, his ship docked off Ujelang and he went ashore to meet with the magistrate and members of the municipal council. He was unaware of the fact that the people of Ujelang had decided to abandon the island and so while the council was conducting the meeting, all the rest of the islanders, over 300 of them, went aboard the field trip vessel, crowding it with men, women and children from bow to stern.

Finally, the council told Balos of the plan to go to Majuro and abandon Ujelang. They told him that “nobody really cares about us”.

They said they were virtually starving and did not even have copra to trade.

Balos told me: “I totally agree with you. Give me a chance to see what I can do.” He noted that the ship was severely overloaded and he feared that many people would die should the ship leave and encounter a storm.

Balos pleaded with them to come off, but they refused. “The women were particularly adamant,” Balos said. The magistrate. John Abraham, brother of the chief, said, “Give him a chance.” But many persons refused to leave the ship. The negotiations continued for four hours.

Finally, an agreement was reached in which the ship was to put ashore whatever flour and rice was available. In addition, Balos agreed to remain behind until the situation on Ujelang was alleviated.

Balos said that the people wanted a field trip vessel to return in two weeks with supplies or they would “feed him to the sharks”. Word was sent by the ship’s captain to the-then district administrator Dwight Heine, concerning the situation on the island and exactly two weeks later the field ship returned. Balos said that the people were very happy and killed chickens and pigs for a big party.

“They trusted me from then on,”

Balos said.

Afterwards Balos quit his government job because it was too restrictive. “I decided to run for the Congress of Micronesia,” Balos said, “so I could do what I could to help the people.”

His first task was to ensure that the people received the interest from SUSI. 4 million trust fund.

Then he requested that a group be allowed to return to Enewetak and for the first time, Balos said, they were aware that a missile-testing programme was still going on.

Balos then went to Micronesian Legal Services for help. The ML,S filed a law suit in federal district court in Honolulu for a restraining order to stop the testing.

Finally, the Department of Defence agreed in 1972 to bring the Ujelang council members to meet in Enewetak. Balos said. “They took us to see the craters on the northern side and it was the first time we learned that two islands were gone.

The landowners were really sad their islands had disappeared.”

Balos said that he felt at that time the United States had finally begun to feel concerned. Soon they were giving the problem their full attention. Subsequently, Balos said, he began to focus his attention on the other problems of his district.

Balos concluded by saying that the move to Japtan was not an altogether happy occasion. In addition to the lack of preparation, he said it was “very difficult for the people because they had to leave their friends and relatives”. He said the Enewetak people are a very close-knit group and “they like to go together all the time”. The real happy day, he said, will be when “they are all here together and self-sufficient at last”.

A later report says that the 56 people young children, infants, young adults and a few who remembered the departure so many years ago who returned on the Militobi seemed genuinely pleased with what they saw as they went ashore.

The children quickly ran to the sandy beach and through the village area where, unlike Ujelang, there were a few rocky areas. The older folk sat under nearby palm trees to enjoy a little rest. Others strolled through the converted Butler building which were to be their temporary homes until new ones are built.

F. Polynesia's unavoidable path independence From a Tahiti correspondent When French Polynesia’s deputy to the French National Assembly, Francis Sanford, closed the door to further talks with France in February and called for Polynesian independence, there was a rapid flurry of messages from Paris and a suecession of Tahitian leaders took the plane to Paris to discuss the new political statutes.

Sanford’s refusal to talk any further was contained in a letter in early February to Tahiti’s Governor Schmitt. Sanford told the governor that French government policy seemed to have just one objective in overseas territories to keep their peoples under Paris custody. And so he saw only one way of escape independence. He called for a referendum on independence to be held throughout French Polynesia with voting restricted to locallyborn persons, those who could eventually obtain Polynesian nationality.

In view of local disappointment over the new statutes proposed by Paris last year, Sanford said he saw no further point in talking.

The Polynesian autonomists have been insisting on reformed statutes as proposed by the late Senator Pouvanaa a Oopa, with the public service responsible to a fullyelected local executive, instead of having a public servant appointed by Paris as governor and top execulive.

Sanford’s ultimatum brought instant assurances from Paris that significant changes would be made to the proposed statues, and to talk on this basis two leaders flew off to Paris on behalf of the United Front for Autonomy Franz Vanizette and the new senator, Daniel Millaud.

In repudiating the Paris statute they claimed it tended to deprive Polynesia of its natural riches to the benefit of outside interests approved by the Paris government and that the text included special measures intended to neutralise all local political opposition.

In Paris on March 1, Millaud and Vanizette, accompanied by fellow autonomist Henri Bouvier, were received by Mr Michel Poniatowski, Minister for the Interior, and Mr 17 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

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Olivier Stirn, his junior Minister for Overseas Territories. Statute amendments from the Autonomy Front were discussed in subsequent working sessions and the minister agreed that new elections for the Territorial Assembly should be held to give the Polynesians a new chance to approve the changes.

Then speedily, by March 10, Francis Sanford was on his way to Paris to add the final commas to the amended text. By his earlier “banging on the table” and refusing dialogue, Sanford was credited with having provoked the prompt change of heart in Paris.

Sanford took the plane on the understanding that the spirit of Pouvanaa’s proposals had been accepted. He pointed out that on his election as Polynesian deputy in 1967 he sought a referendum on autonomy and then last year resigned his seat to be overwhelmingly re-elected on the autonomist platform, He said he was prepared to accept autonomy now, but he insisted that the unavoidable path of French Polynesia led to independence.

News from Paris in late March indicated that the French government was about to dissolve the Polynesian Territorial Assembly, which the autonomists claimed no longer represented their full strength. Elections would then be held six weeks after this dissolution and the new assembly would be asked to approve the new statutes as amended between the Autonomist Front and French cabinet ministers. The Tahitians have thus fought for and gained greater concessions from Paris than the Caledonians.

Norfolk's knockback The United Nations Committee on Decolonisation, the so-called Committee of 24, has advised the Norfolk Island Council that it is unable to take up the council’s case against possible incorporation into the Commonwealth of Australia.

The committee’s cable said that such a step would require a decision of the UN General Assembly, from which the committee derives its mandate.

One idea which was floated on the island following receipt of the UN knockback was that Australia itself, being a member of the Committee, could raise the matter. 18 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

The Party System On Trial In

Pngs First General Election

From GUS SMALES in Port Moresby “Party Politics” amounted to little more than a couple of dirty words in the Papua New Guinea of not so many years ago.

Australia didn’t like the idea of politics in PNG, and the few Papua New Guinean voices of the time pleaded “keep us clean”. Even politics as an art or a trade was considered vaguely suspect, but as for parties they were far beyond the pale.

Much of this was a symptom of pure ignorance, and is typified in the extraordinary lengths to which some of the pioneer politicians went to explain their position.

Kaibelt Diria, now a minor minister in government, had to painstakingly tell his people 10 years ago that a political party “is different to the sort of party where you drink beer and play music and make a noise”.

Australian officialdom is often criticised for preventing or for discouraging, anyway the emergence of a virile PNG political structure based on party lines.

The criticism has some measure of validity, because there is no doubt that Australia generally underestimated the international climates of change in the late fifties and the early sixties. As a result, Australia saw no need for national politics in PNG, but the background to this situation was not colonial repression as some critics insist. It was, rather, an over-idealistic belief that the PNG Trust was too sacred to be embroiled in Australian politics or to have its own politics, and that nationhood would evolve one day through a sort of gigantic real-life seminar.

In the final analysis, it was party politics and a new Australian attitude which led PNG to independence and which enabled the birth of the new nation to be orderly and ordered.

Now PNG stands ready to fight its first General Election since independence, but ironically the party system as much as the candidates will be on test.

The election will be held over several weeks, with mobile polling teams moving from place to place and with counting night set down for June 18, although, at the time of writing, there was some doubt about the date. The parties were involved in a dispute over the timing of the issuing of writs.

Six major parties or groupings will be involved. They are Pangu (the senior partner in the coalition government), the United Party (the Opposition), the People’s Progress Party, the National Party, the Country Party and Papua Besena.

The Speaker of Parliament, Mr Barry Holloway, a one-time Australian who has taken out PNG citizenship, was one of the men who helped get the party system going 10 years ago. But, today, he sometimes doubts the wisdom of party politics in the country of his adoption. He is convinced that the emergence of parties was essential to get the momentum for independence, but he believes individualism is so strong that the party system lacks loyalty and is a constant source of unnecessary friction.

Mr John Kaputin from Rabaul, who is Deputy Speaker, denounced the party system in a speech to Parliament in February. All the policies are the same, so why split up and fight, was his theme.

No matter how much party leaders may claim loyalty from their members, and no matter how much they may claim that their policies differ from those of other parties, the evidence suggests they are wrong.

The only possible real exception in policies is Papua Besena, with its goal of Papua separated from New Guina.

Mr Holloway and Mr Kaputm have highlighted the two current weaknesses in what passes for a party system uncertain loyalties and “progress association” policies which are so bland and non-contentious that no one can really argue with them.

No party is ever quite sure of its voting strength, some members swap parties at the drop of a hat, a vote against the government has ceased to have any tactical significance and opportunity rather than policy conviction governs movement between parties.

There are already signs that many candidates retiring members and new contenders will campaign as independents and will wait until after election to choose the party which looks most attractive.

Others may well chop and change during their electioneering, depending on the moods of their meetings but they will have to be careful to talk about “sympathies” rather than “affiliation” or face possible trouble under the electoral laws.

The strength of the parties, for what it is worth, will be decided in the lobbies of parliament rather than in the polling booths.

DIPLOMATIC!

The Chinese community in Port Moresby gave more than KB.OOO to the Pangu Party for campaign funds in the May general election in Papua New Guinea. The money was presented to the Pangu Party leader and Prime Minister. Mr Michael Somare, at a mumu held in the capital in March.

The Chinese community in the New Britain area have been known as the financial backbone of the People’s Progressive Party whose leader is Finance Minister Julius Chan.

Kiabelt Diria..."it's not a party where you drink beer". 19 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

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THE NEWS IN A NUTSHELL

Anthropologist In Cooks

Mr Christian Clerk, an anthropologist from University College, London, arrived at Rarotonga in late March after spending the previous nine months in Mangaia Island studying a branch of anthropology.

He investigated the Mangaians’ knowledge and classification of the island’s birds, animals and fish, and how they collect, cook and eat them. Mr Clerk left for New Zealand and the United Kingdom a few days after his arrival in Rarotonga.

Too Many Men?

The Cook Islands had a population of 18,112, made up of 9,287 males and 8,825 females at the time of the census on December 1, 1976. The 1971 census gave a population of 21,323, mainly because of activities generated by construction of the airport. The 1966 census gave a population of 19,247. The population of the various islands was; Rarotonga, 9,812; Aitutaki, 2,414.

Mangaia. 1,530. Atiu, 1,312; Mauke, 710; Mitiaro. 305; Palmerston, 53; Pukapuka, 786; Nassau, 113; Manihiki, 263; Rakahanga, 283; Penrhyn, 531.

Didn’t anyone count Tom Neale on Suwarrow?

Png Envoy For Vatican

Papua New Guinea’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sir Maori Kiki, announced in March that his country has entered formal diplomatic relations with the Holy See.

A joint communique released simultaneously in the Vatican City and Port Moresby said. “Papua New Guinea and the Holy See, in the desire to promote and develop mutual friendly relations, have decided by common consent to establish diplomatic relations between them, at the level of embassy on the part of Papua New Guinea and Apostolic Nunciature on the part of the Holy See.”

Sir Maori described the move as a significant step towards recognition of what the Roman Catholic Church and Christian denominations had contributed towards development, particularly in the educational and social fields, in Papua New Guinea.

Libel Alleged

Mr Charles Stinson, the Fiji Finance Minister, has filed a writ in the New Zealand Supreme Court seeking $1 million damages for alleged libel. Named as defendants are the Listener, a weekly magazine, the NZ Broadcasting Corporation, which owns the Listener, Wilson and Horton Ltd, the printers, and Vernon Wright, journalist, writer of the article in which Mr Stinson claimed he was libelled.

Mr Stinson alleges, in a statement issued in Suva, that the Listener, in an article on March 5, under a heading, “Fiji for sale”, made several incorrect and damaging assertions concerning his (Mr Stinson’s) involvement in Fiji’s tourist development.

Tongan Seaman Lost

Semisi Paeahelotu Latu, 23, Tongan member of the crew of the Tauloto, was reported to have drowned at Whampoa Port, China, in March. At the time he was acting as second mate. The Tauloto, on charter of a shipping line in China, has been there since September, 1976.

Semisi became a cadet officer with Pacific Navigation Co Ltd in March, 1973, and first served in the Hifofua. He joined the Tauloto in September, 1973, and became third mate in November, 1974. He was one of nine children of Tevita and ’Ana Latu, of Mataika, Vavau.

Exile S Wish

Canon Charles Fox, at the age of 98, wants to become a citizen of the Solomon Islands, not without good reason. He spent 70 years in the Solomons as an Anglican missionary, and retired to New Zealand four years ago. He wrote from hospital in NZ to ask to become a Solomon Islander. “I want to be what I was for over 70 years because that is home to me, and the people there are my people which is not true of any other place or people.” Rather sadly he wrote, that on medical advice he might not be allowed to make the “journey home to the Solomons”. His chances of having his wish granted must be rated highly for the Chief Minister, Mr Kenilorea, commented on the matter in the Legislative Assembly, “Would any of us refuse such a wish?” Dr Fox, a wellknown author and linguist, wrote four books and compiled dictionaries of three local languages.

Girls In Blue!

Papua New Guinea will start training its first policewomen this year. Twelve trainees in the first intake will undergo the same training as policemen. There have been pressures in PNG for some time for the establishment of a small corps of policewomen, but some men in the force have not favoured the idea. “If any men don’t like it, then their only option is to leave the force” the Commissioner, Mr Pious Kerepia, said in Port Moresby. The training course for women will begin in June. Uniforms are still being designed.

Png Wages Rise

Minimum wages for rural primary industry workers and urban workers in Papua New Guinea rose by 3.31% from March 1. Workers getting the urban minimum wage of K. 27.18 or higher in specified centres received another 90t a week, while rural primary industry workers received another 471. The minimum wage for other rural workers was unchanged at K 11.38. It was reported in February that PNG in 1976 had one of the lowest inflation rates in the world only 4.95% .

Nauru House, the republic's "colony" in Melbourne, was dedicated by President Bernard Dowiyogo on April 15. It will have a population bigger than Nauru's; it has the fastest lifts in Australia 20 of them which can reach the top (51st) level in less than a minute and weighs 100,000 tonnes. 21 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

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Relics For Futuna

The relics of St Peter Chanel, the first canonised Roman Catholic martyr of the Pacific, left Paris on March 22 to be exposed in various Pacific countries before reaching their final resting place in Wallis and Futuna, where this Marist missionary was slain on April 28, 1841.

The saint’s relics were returned from France at the request of the Bishop of Wallis and Futuna, Bishop Fuahea. Extensive ceremonies were planned in the territory, with a shrine to be built on Futuna for the saint who went to the islands in 1836. The casket of relics was flown first to Sydney by UTA airlines to be exposed at the St Peter Chanel Church, Futuna Street. Woolwich, near the Marist Mission Centre for the Pacific. The relics were then to go to Wallis via stopovers in Auckland, Suva.

Vila and Noumea.

River Runs Wild

A river running wild in March brought down a hydro-electric tower, forcing Madang one of Papua New Guinea’s major towns on to emergency power.

The river Naru changed course by more than 100 metres to bring down the tower and damage three others from the Ramu hydro-electric scheme, one of PNG’s biggest and newest.

The Ramu scheme’s transmission line of 340 steel towers crosses what geologists describe as some of the youngest and most unstable terrain in the world.

There were indications that the unexpected diversion of the river will have a widespread effect on all engineering design work in the area, including work on roads and bridges.

Ship Explosion Inquiry

The master of a PNG government ship, Rouna Falls, which exploded with the loss of four lives was criminally culpable, a coroner found at an inquiry in late March. The finding also said that a government maritime official was "partially culpable” and a gas supply company “partially responsible”.

The ship was carrying a girls’ netball team and supporters on an excursion last September when an explosion occurred north of Madang. killing four people.

The coroner, Mr Alan McLay, found that a low-pressure gas cylinder in the ship’s hold had leaked and that the ship’s mam engine had ignited the escaped gas in the engineroom and hold. He said the cylinder had been stored in the hold contrary to regulations governing dangerous cargo, there was evidence it had not been secured and there had been no protective guard around the valve and outlet.

He said the ship’s master. Captain Sebby Nebo. was responsible for the storage and was therefore criminally culpable. The controller of marine services for the region. Captain Norman Brown, was partially culpable because of his overall control and his shipping survey responsibilities. The company which supplied the gas, Guinea Gas, should not supply cylinders without protective guards, the coroner said, and was therefore partially responsible for what happened.

Sock And Roc Soccer

Soccer players from New Caledonia did not endear themselves to opposing players, the referee and spectators when they met New Zealand in an international match. Trouble had simmered almost from the start of the game, and erupted when the referee sent a New Caledonian, Pierre Wacopo, from the field for kicking one of the home players.

Wacopo went a few metres, then stopped. The referee waved him to leave the field. Some of Wacopo’s team mates asked the referee to reconsider his decision, but the referee ordered resumption of play. New Caledonian players jostled him, one pushed him and another tried to grab him around the neck.

The referee then signalled the end of the game, and left the field with a policeman as an escort. But that was not enough for the New Caledonians. One of them threatened a photographer with a chair, while others gesticulated angrily.

About the same time, in Fiji, a Taiwan soccer team, in a warm-up game against Fiji before tackling Australia in a World Cup elimination series, nearly caused an international incident. The players went on to the field wearing shirts bearing the initials ROC (Republic of China). The Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Mr Jioji Kotobalavu, warned Taiwan they were breaking an agreement under which they were admitted to Fiji.

The team’s action could harm Fiji’s friendly relations with the People’s Republic of China, which did not recognise the Taiwan Government. Taiwan immediately agreed not to wear the ROC shirts when they met Australia.

Png'S Test'' Victory

Papua New Guinea was far too strong for Fiji when the two countries met for the first time in a cricket “test” at Port Moresby in March, winning by eight wickets. The visitors were as good as the home side in bowling, superior in fielding, but their batting let them down.

Apart from a sound first innings by opener, Cecil Browne, the Fiji batting was very erratic.

Veteran Inoke Tabualevu, also a Rugby international, smote the ball hard in the second innings, while another veteran. Curly Valentine, the captain, bowled steadily. Both Tabualevu and Valentine played for Fiji as long ago as 1960, when they were in the team which toured the New South Wales country districts.

Peni Dakai bowled well for Fiji, and had good support from Valentine and Suka.

Papua New Guinea gave Fiji an object lesson in disciplined batting. Opener Don Fox. and Ilinome Tarua both topped the half-century. They waited for the right ball to hit, and hit it hard. But their best player, who was later named “man of the match” was swing bowler Vavine Pala. who took 4/36 in the first innings and 1/8 in the second.

Fiji batted first. They made 138 in the first innings and 163 in the second.

Papua New Guinea, after making 253 in the first innings, had no trouble in hitting off the 49 runs required for a win.

Four Lost In Canoe

A search for two women and two children, missing off the south coast of New Britain in March was called off after five days when the seas became too rough and dangerous. With two men, they were travelling from Gasmata, West New Britain, to Penlolo village, in a canoe which broke up on a reef. The two men, William Namilo, 15, and Jack Nalu, 30, managed to get ashore after spending five hours in the water. They were injured in crossing the reef and were treated for cuts.

“The ladies on the door” at a March social evening in Brisbane in honour of the touring Fiji cricket team. The team was en route to Port Moresby, the Solomon Islands and the New Hebrides for representative matches. The ex-Fiji residents of Brisbane had an opportunity to meet the players at the evening. In the picture from left: Bua Rayner, her mother Fane, Manu Bola and Louisa Tuicolo. 23 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

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PEOPLE Two policemen with records of long service in different parts of the Pacific have retired. They are Senior- Sergeant George Wichman, who was in the Cook Islands Police Force for 46 years, and Deputy Superintendent Nemani Raikuna, 42 years with the Fiji Police. Senior-Sergeant Wichman was 18 when he joined the force. He was personally involved in the investigation of three murder cases, and four cases which resulted in charges of manslaughter. He helped to solve a number of complicated crimes. DSP Raikuna, who became a constable in November, 1935, rose steadily through the ranks. He served in most police stations in Fiji and at the time of his retirement was in command of the Namaka (Nadi) police district. In 1972, he was awarded the Fiji Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, and in the 1975 New Year Honours List was awarded the Queen’s Police Medal for meritorious service.

The City and County Department of Parks and Recreation in Honolulu has created a mini-park near the Kapalama entrance to the Bernice P.

Bishop Museum as a memorial to the late Sir Peter Buck. It was dedicated last July when it was named Peter Buck Park, in honour of the museum’s third director.

Peter Buck, who was also known as Te Rangi Hiroa, was born in 1880 of New Zealand Maori and Irish parents and graduated MD from the University of New Zealand in 1910. He later became a noted ethnologist and joined the Bernice P. Bishop Museum in 1927, becoming director in 1948. He was named as a Knight of the Order of St. Michael and St. George in 1946 and died in 1951.

Mr Peter T. Coleman, acting High Commissioner of the US Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, and an ex-Governor of American Samoa, where he was born, has announced his impending resignation. His reason the appointment was political, under the Republican regime, and he’s got in first on the off-chance that Democrat President Carter might replace him with a Democrat nominee. But Mr Coleman isn’t clear about his future.

There are indications that he might compete for the governorship of American Samoa, which is now a locally-elected post. Then again, he might seek a political career in Hawaii.

He has been 16 years in Micronesia, four years as a district administrator in the Marshalls, four in the same job in the Marianas and eight years as Deputy High Commissioner. The first local Samoan to be Governor of American Samoa, he held the position for five years. He was a US Army captain in World War 11.

Commander of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force, Brigadier- General Ted Diro, first Papua New Guinean to hold the highest military post in the country, has been reappointed for another three years.

Cabinet extended his term and announced its decision while he was on a 10-day visit to New Zealand where he toured military establishments and had discussions with New Zealand defence officials. Born at Boku on the slopes of the Owen Stanleys, Ted Diro arrived in Port Moresby at the age of 12, fought hard to get an education, lived “on the run” buying food with money earned by caddying at the Port Moresby Golf Club, won a place at Slade School, Warwick in Queensland and then took his first step along the road to a military career by earning a place at Portsea Officer Cadet School. His father must have been proud when his son chose a military career. He, himself, fought with the Papuan Infantry Battalion on the Kokoda Trail.

Tongan-born Molimea Tlolahia was awarded the Royal Victoria Medal by the Queen during her March visit to New Zealand. Mr Tlolahia 69, a butler, was awarded the medal for his services to members of the British royal family during their stays at Government House in Auckland and Wellington.

Mr John Beusmans, general manager of Vila’s Le Lagon Hotel, made a promotion swing in March through eastern Australian States and New Zealand. A warm welcome was extended to him, and to his wife, Marina who made the exacting trip despite the fact that she was seven months pregnant with their first child in travel industry circles wherever they went. 25 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

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TROPICALITIES The ‘Super Tribe , has a birthday The Pacific Islands Regiment, of Papua New Guinea, grown from a unit of Papua New Guineans fighting beside Australians on the Kokoda Trail, is 37 years old. A regimental parade review by the Defence Minister, Sir Maori Kiki, marked the anniversary on Saturday March 12 at Taurama base in Port Moresby.

Sir Maori told the greenuniformed troops that tribal jealousies and personal greed were still the main factors undermining the new nationalism of Papua New Guinea. The regiment was overcoming these influences by drawing men from all parts of the country and training them to serve shoulder to shoulder in the national interest.

The Pacific Islands Regiment which some critics have called a new “super tribe” in its own right is the main infantry strength of the PNG Defence Force. Its history goes back to the Pacific Islands Brigade which Australia recruited in 1940 from the Owen Stanley Ranges to the north and from the coastal plains across the ranges.

The men of the brigade fought beside Australians to stem the last thrust of the Japanese at Buna, at Gona, and on the Kokoda Trail.

The brigade and other localised units were then formed into the Pacific Islands Regiment which became the Australian Army’s Papua New Guinea element. The regiment originally had Australian officers and NCOs and Papua New Guinean troops, but Australians were progressively phased out. It was absorbed into the autonomous defence structure of PNG in 1975, although a few Australians still serve on secondment.

The regiment has two battalions one based in Port Moresby and the other in Wewak.

Sir Maori told the troops that of all the problems of modern-day Papua New Guinea, the one which worried him most was lack of unity. Greedy interests, based on tribal or personal ambitions, could break up the country he said.

“First and foremost we must be Papua New Guineans” he said.

Fossil House or something else?

Nauru House, the republic’s multimillion dollar piece of real estate in Melbourne, scheduled for opening in mid-April, has acquired a nickname which is somewhat unprintable and certainly annoys the Nauruans in the tower.

According to columnist Keith Dunstan in his “A Place in the Sun” in the Melbourne Sun, “One thing is making them unhappy in that lofty tower. It has the unfortunate reputation of being called... ah... Bird what-not house, in honour of the two little obelisks outside of so-called bird droppings.

“The Nauru people insist that Nauru was never composed of bird droppings. The phospate actually is fossilised marine life. Nauru was forced to the surface by an ocean upheaval.

“So APITS apologises for giving Nauru House the wrong name. Now the taxi drivers will have to think of something else.

“How about Fossil House?”

A fashion in armour plate In many of the smaller Pacific Islands countries local manufacturers often find it difficult to maintain a steady production programme as often deliveries of their materials from overseas countries may be interrupted.

This was the dilemma that faced Les Winn, of Rarotonga, who makes ballet and gymnasium shoes, when before last Christmas he found that his stocks of raw materials were exhausted. However, Les soon found a profitable way of employing his staff, and incidentally, of using one raw material which is in almost unlimited supply on Rarotonga.

Les moved into the novelty hat business. Steel beer and soft drink cans were the essential ingredient. The tops and bottoms of the cans were cut out, the resulting tube was then cut and a series of holes drilled along the four sides of the flattened can. Five such plates were needed to make each hat, one being the crown and the remainder forming the four sides.

The girls, who usually made specialised shoes, set to work and crocheted five pieces of material into which the steel plates were stitched.

The final stage was to assemble the five components into a gaily coloured hat, which soon became something of a status symbol on the island and Les eventually found that he could not keep up with the demand.

It might be thought that the hats were uncomfortable and would not have been cool enough for wearing in the tropical sun. This couldn’t have been so as many people have been seen about the island happily sporting hats which were mobile and unpaid advertisements for a popular brand of New Zealand beer or for a variety of canned soft drinks. 27 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

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A ‘nation’ of motorcyclists At the end of last year, the people of Pitcairn Island carried out their annual head-counting and came up with a total of 74.

Now, they’ve had a census of domestic animals and vehicles and per head of population, must have the highest percentage of two-wheel vehicles anywhere in the world 38 motor-cycles, which works out at one per two persons (almost), so that with a driver and one riding pillion, the whole population could be on wheels all at the same time.

The survey also came up with a total of 14 dogs, 47 tame cats (approx), six pet goats, a Muscovey duck and 578 domestic fowl (approx). There were also three Mini-moke vehicles and 20 Pitcairn wheelbarrows as well as 22 privately-owned canoes.

The statistics department, if there is one, revealed that the Pitcairners caught 6807 fish in 1976.

Miscellany, the island’s newsletter, also reports that, thanks to the British Royal Engineers and others, the islanders now have a new jetty, at least three times larger than the original one, an improved road from the Landing to the Edge, more space for the Landing and increased income for those who’ve toiled for months on the new jetty.

New director for famous aquarium Noumea’s famous aquarium, operated for the past 20 years by Dr and Mrs R. Catala-Stucki, has been transferred to the Noumea City Council and will be operated by the French research institute ORSTOM.

The Catalas founded the aquarium in 1956, and maintained a wondrous collection of marine life, including 10 special tanks of fluorescent corals.

These are in a darkroom periodically illuminated by ultra-violet rays to reveal their extraordinary array of colours.

From July 1, the new director of the aquarium will be 39-year-old New Caledonian Yves Magnier, who graduated in science in France before serving in Madagascar and with ORSTOM in Noumea.

Added to the lifetime efforts of the Catalas, the Noumea aquarium will now benefit from ORSTOM aid, which will include the construction of a new annexe for scientific purposes.

Yves Magnier has indicated this could be used for research into pollution and organisms of medicinal use.

Meanwhile, rare Caledonian bird life recently aroused strong pleas for protection when it was alleged in Noumea that illegal trafficking was taking place in the island’s curious cagou bird and brightly-coloured parrots, fetching $ A 2,000 a pair. These birds may be enjoyed, legally, at the Parc Forestier in Noumea and Mr Bregula’s park in Port Vila.

The ages-old war on bugs Since the beginning of time, mankind has been trying to figure out ways to discourage bugs from biting. Smearing mud on the skin worked pretty well, as did grease from the tallow of slain beasts.

When the bugs got particularly bad a long hollow reed provided the ultimate escape. The user would just lie down under the water and* breathe through the reed.

Modern science didn’t really address the repellent problem until 1942. The United States was at war in the jungles of the Pacific Islands and insects were laying more soldiers low than were enemy bullets. The meanest enemy of all was the malaria mosquito, Anopheles quadrimaculatus. But there were also men serving in areas where the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti, was a problem, as well as other disease-bearing insects varieties of ticks, fleas and body lice.

Work started in earnest in Orlando, Florida, in April 1942, at the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine. Old-time ingredients were checked along with a number of exotic newcomers. Citronella oil, for example, rated almost as high as many of the more modern repellents. (Many old bushmen know that hanging a clump of green ferns in front of the tent opening will keep the night mosquito-free, ferns being a natural source of citronella oil.) By 1951, 11,000 different compounds had been tested in the Orlando laboratories. About this time, promising research began to emerge with a family of repellent materials called N, Ndiethylamides. The most promising was a material called N, N-diethylmeta-touluamide. It not only effectively repelled mosquitos, but also turned off ticks and fleas.

The material was nicknamed “DEET”. It was safe for use on skin and cotton military clothing. In a 100% concentration, it was 100% effective from 24 hours to a week and longer, depending on conditions.

Cut-price for Cooks' women Well there must be a few places in the world to-day where the female of the species has so strengthened her position in society that, for her, hairdressing costs less than for her male counterpart.

On Rarotonga, in a small shop at the rear of the Empire Theatre, Miri, from the island of Atiu, has operated a barber’s shop for a dozen years or more. Pinned to the wall is his scale of Issuing stamps must be proving a real money-spinner in the Cook Islands. Now, in addition to stamps from the Cooks as a whole, individual islands are releasing their own.

Above are two attractive stamps issued by the island of Aitutaki to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first conversation on the telephone, invented by the Scots-born American, Alexander Graham Bell. The connection of this event with the Cooks, let alone Aitutaki, is left, perhaps conveniently, unexplained.

Much more soundly based was the release by Nauru on April 15 of a set of two stamps of 15c and 30c values to mark the opening on that day of Nauru House, Melbourne. The stamps show the multi-million dollar skyscraper against a background of the Melbourne skyline. Inquiries about these stamps should be addressed to the Philatelic Bureau, Republic of Nauru, Central Pacific. 29 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

The man from Australia can come up with the goods He’s the Australian Government Trade Commissioner. He has the knowledge and experience to advise you on buying from Australia.

And buying from Australia can be a very profitable business. The big range of world class Australian products will surprise you. Machinery, electrical goods, chemicals, sporting goods, scientific equipment, automotive and materials handling equipment—whatever products you want Australia will most likely be able to supply. Australian products are selling well in international markets, they can sell well in yours.

Ask the man who knows Australia The Australian Trade Commissioner will be pleased to give you details of suppliers. You can contact him at: FIJI. 7th Floor, Dominion House, Thomson Street, Suva, (Post Office Box 1252). Telephone: 312844, P.N.G. Post Office Box 9129, Hohola, Port Moresby, Telephone: 25 9333. m C '. ■ ■ Ask the Australian Itede Commissioner 30 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

charges! Men’s haircuts 60c; women’s haircuts 40c; children’s haircuts 20c.

The follows the cryptic message KARE TE KAIOU NO CREDIT.

A bookish sort of knight Sir John Yocklunn, one of the PNG Government’s “backroom boys” who, along with the Foreign Minister Sir Maori Kiki, was knighted by the Queen in 1975 “for services to politics and the government”, has been confirmed in the job in which he has been “acting” for some time that of National Librarian.

Regarded by many as the possessor of one of the best brains in the country, Sir John is finding his days are crowded. He is National Treasurer for the Pangu Party, a hecticjob at present with the general elections imminent, and his programme for the National Library is gathering impetus as the K 2 million library HQ, Australia’s independence gift, takes shape.

In Sydney recently, he was making contacts which, he hopes, will benefit the National Library.

It is destined to play a big part in PNG’s development, co-ordinating most existing library services, providing services to the various provincial governments and all services which need to be on a national scale.

He’d like to see a library service working in every town and village throughout the country, many of them being operated by travelling libraries, but one big obstacle to that is the lack of roads.

Sir John, who was born in Canton, China, grew up in Western Australia where his parents had a property.

A graduate of the University of Western Australia, he had two BA degrees one for languages, the other for political science when he went to England in 1973 and completed an MA course in librarianship at the University of Sheffield.

His PNG career began in 1968 when he left Canberra where he was with the National library, joined the Pangu Party, was vice-president of the party within a year, became principal private secretary to Mr Somare and accompanied him on his visits to China and the Philippines.

PlM’s sure Sir John would be delighted if anyone, wishing to help such a worthy cause as a library service, sent their surplus volumes to Papua New Guinea.

Editor’S Mailbag

NOTONESIA No one is fully satisfied with the name Papua New Guinea as a good title for that country. It could even produce trouble in days to come. It is not satisfactory politically, geographically or linguistically. I wish to propose a name that could well meet all requirements.

In the Pacific region we already have Melanesia, meaning Black Isles, Indonesia, meaning Indian Isles, Micronesia, meaning Small Isles, and Polynesia, meaning Many Isles. These names have no political overtones whatsoever, derive from ancient Greek, are fully acceptable and likely to remain so. Therefore in place of Papua New Guinea I suggest the name Notonesia, which simply means Southern Isles.

George A. F. Knight

Auckland, NZ.

Nature'S Grand

As an artist I have travelled all the oceans in search of a part of the world which is still beautiful to live in. I have found the South Pacific Islands to be still the healthiest part of the world.

When King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV of Tonga said (PIM, March pi 9); “In the event of a world war, there will be no safe place in the world to live. It is better to maintain peaceful relations with other countries”, I am sure no one could disagree with him.

I say that no human being can survive without nature. In my opinion, bureaucracy is an enemy of nature. I am sure that the law-makers will agree with me that the only laws that are good laws are those designed to protect nature.

Concerning the “Slugged Yachtie” (PIM, Editor’s Mailbag, February, March), I find it ridiculous that yachties of all people should be hit with a discriminatory tax in the Solomon Islands. Most yachties live in harmony with the environment, consuming only the barest minimum. It seems to me that airport taxes probably started the same way.

Nationalism seems to me outdated. Each country is responsible for every other country. All rivers run into the ocean.

Fight bureaucracy and new laws, unless they are made to protect nature.

Nature has been raped for too long.

Maya B. Kra'Heumanu

C/o PO, Neiafu, Tonga.

Bishop Epalle

I would likp to refer you to an error made in the article “Sin!

What’s Sin? Ask Solomons Catholics” (PIM, Jan, p. 51) written by Harry Jackman.

The error is in the reference made that Bishop Epalle of the Roman Catholic Church was axed down at San Cristobal.

Being a man born and brought up on the island mentioned, and having known my history well, I believe that Bishop Epalle was axed down on Santa Ysabel and not San Cristobal.

I demand that this error should be corrected in your PIM.

AMOS WAIARU (Rev) Aoba, New Hebrides.

An item in PIM (January) headed “Sin? What’s sin?” contains some false information.

Bishop Epalle was killed on Santa Ysabel. an all-Anglican island, except for a few Seventh-day Adventists, and not on San Christobal as the authors wrote. The Catholic Church in the Solomons is only the second largest of the churches active there.

Harry Mehare

P.O. Box 19, Honiara. • Correspondents are asked to leave sufficient space between the lines in their letters for the sake of clarity and to enable easy insertion of corrections or alterations. A signed letter has a better chance of publication although a nom-de-pluine may be used if publication of the name would be embarrassing. A signature must accompany a letter, though not necessarily for publication. 31 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

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This bugging business —a new approach to Micronesians From a correspondent on Saipan US Secretary of State Cyrus Vance and newly-appointed Interior Secretary Cecil Andrus have called for t,op-level talks with Marshalls and Caroline Islands leaders to discuss strained relations caused by recent disclosures of “spying” on island negotiators by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and a recent US veto of Micronesian Congress legislation to set up a 200-mile limit around the vast Pacific Trust Territory.

Several State Department representatives personally delivered invitations to legislative leaders throughout Micronesia in March to attend a meeting in late April or early May at a mutually-agreeable location. Both Vance and Andrus assured Micronesian leaders of interest in “close relations with Micronesia and confidence that we can negotiate an agreement on the future status of Micronesia”.

Relations between the US and Micronesian leaders have cooled Andon Amaraich...he was astonished, since the US permitted the Mariana Islands District to break away last year to soon become a permanent American commonwealth, an offer the Micronesian Congress rejected for the entire territory in 1970.

Similar separatist movements have since flared up in the Marshall Islands District, the site of a topsecret US Army missile testing range, and Palau District, a potential nuclear submarine base and military training site. The US has already concluded separate negotiations with the Mariana Islands District, where plans to construct a huge military base on Tinian Island were an integral part of the negotiations. Tinian is located about 100 miles north of Guam, from where hundreds of B-52 missions were launched during the Vietnam war.

Seven years of negotiations between US and Micronesian representatives came to a grinding halt in recent months as Micronesian leaders pressed for full control over a proposed 200-mile exclusive economic zone, in addition to disclosures of CIA spying on Micronesian negotiators. According to top Micronesian negotiator Andon Amaraich, chairman of the Commission on Future Political Status and Transition, US officials have been unwilling to set a date to discuss the 200-mile proposal which was handed to them during negotiations on Saipan in May, 1976.

Amaraich, who also serves as a consultant to the Micronesian delegation to the United Nations Conference on Law of the Sea, said in a radio broadcast throughout the territory in March that he was “astonished,’ that the Micronesian status commission was not invited by Secretary of State Vance to attend the April or May meetings.

He said members of the commission recently informed Secretary Vance that full disclosure to Micronesian leaders of the CIA affair would be necessary before formal talks can resume and that firm assurances must be made that the incident would not be repeated.

Amaraich said the matter of the future unity of the Trust Territory was another “grave concern” due to US approval of the Marianas separatist movement. “A US credibility problem is having a severe impact on Micronesia’s internal affairs,” he said.

“Continuing doubts about the

Party Politics In The Tt

Micronesia’s first territory-wide political organisation was formed in March during a three-day convention held on Saipan.

The Micronesian Movement for Self-Government was founded by 12 people, representing various districts and political groups in the Trust Territory.

Representatives from the “Voice of the Marshallese” in the Marshalls, the “Concerned Trukese” organisation in Truk, “Tia Belaud” in Palau and representatives from Yap and Ponape formed the initial membership.

Due to transport problems, representatives from Kosrae were unable to attend the meeting.

The meeting decided on seven principles which are embodied in its proposed charter articles. They are: • To strive for immediate selfgovernment for Micronesia. • To endorse and support a friendly relationship with the United States. • To endorse and support a federation of the peoples and islands of Micronesia. • To forge and foster a true Micronesian identity • To promote a self-supporting economy in Micronesia. • To protect and preserve the environment, lands and waters in Micronesia; and • To preserve the Micronesian heritage, cultures and customs.

The movement established a steering committee to act and speak on behalf of members between conventions. Members are: Moses Uludong of Palau, chairman; John Heine of the Marshalls, vice-chairman; Hans Wiliander of Truk, secretary for foreign affairs; Iraneus Akapito of TT headquarters, secretary for information; and Elsa Thomas of TT headquarters, secretary for finance. 33 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

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eventual United States policy on separate negotiations are interfering with progress of the negotiations.

The success of the future status question of the Trust Territory depends on a firm, persistent, continued, and unambiguous policy from the United States which must be spelled out now,” Amaraich declared.

According to Micronesian law, the commission is required to secure an agreement of “free association” with the United States which will accommodate a sovereign Micronesian government, including a 200mile limit. An attempt by the Congress of Micronesia in February to enact a 200-mile law was vetoed by the US high commissioner. On February 26, however, island lawmakers rejected the veto and the matter now rests with the US Department of Interior to decide.

Word of the veto prompted bitter criticism from many Micronesian lawmakers, including Senator Bailey Olter, chairman of the commission’s subcommittee on future political status. Senator Olter said the US enacted its own 200-mile law, “then turns around and tells its friend, the Trust Territory, that it is wrong for us to do the same”. He said the US veto was inconsistent with the Charter of the United Nations, the Trusteeship Agreement and international law.

“The US has turned the Trusteeship and Micronesia upside down and thoroughly shaken everything out of it. It has become painfully apparent to me that the Trusteeship system is working the way the United States wants it to and not the way the community of nations intended it to be,” he said.

Do-Gooders Rock The

Torres Strait Boat

Public controversy in Australia is driving Papua New Guinea to abandon its negotiations with Canberra to fix a Torres Strait border between the two countries.

The alternative is a World Court action in which PNG will go over Australia’s head and lay claim to a border of its own choosing.

PNG’s mounting impatience with the situation emerged in mid-March through a statement made in Port Moresby by the Foreign Minister Sir Maori Kiki.

Sir Maori disclosed that the only reason PNG had not made legal claim to a border at independence was because it believed a negotiated solution could be reached with Australia as a “friendly neighbour”.

But the incessant and mounting public controversy in Australia, including the activities of well-intentioned organisations, was fast exhausting PNG’s patience, Sir Maori said.

Sir Maori lumped together the political attitude of the Queensland Government, the well-meaning intentions of do-gooders and the precedents quoted by researchers as factors in the mounting pressures on his country.

“There are just no precedents,” he said.

He said he did not advocate that Australians and Papua New Guineans should be kept in the dark about what was being negotiated, but public interference in Australia was taking the matter out of the domain of government-to-government talks.

Sir Maori said Papua New Guinea was prepared, if necessary, to “contest the matter with every legal means at our disposal even if we have to spend money we can’t afford”.

The move which pushed Sir Maori close to the brink of calling off the negotiations was an invitation to address a seminar in Sydney on March 18-19.

The seminar was organised by the Australian Council of Churches to examine all aspects of the Torres Strait border controversy, including the rights of Islanders living in the area.

Sir Maori refused the invitation, but said he was fast beginning to doubt the wisdom of remaining quiet in the field of public debate when a one-sided picture was being presented with distortions from sources in Australia.

He said he felt tempted to convene an international seminar in Port Moresby to discuss whether developed countries should be permitted to rely on “alleged colonial boundaries at the expense of neighbouring developing countries”.

Sir Maori told of the restraint which he and his government had exercised in avoiding public debate and controversy on the border issue.

He said this was because the matter was between two governments, the people were being kept properly informed, and both governments had agreed that public debate would not assist a peaceable solution.

In a lengthy letter to the Council of Churches, Sir Maori made his strongest attack yet on Australia’s formal attitudes towards a border settlement.

He claimed moral justification for the border sought by PNG, and said that international legal opinion, as well as moral opinion, were swinging in PNG’s favour.

PNG and Australia have been negotiating settlement of a border in Torres Strait for more than a year.

The talks came to a stalemate when PNG announced that it could not accept some of Australia’s demands, but both countries stressed that the talks had not broken down and that negotiations would continue.

UNITED?

Mr Anton Parao, Member for Enga in the Papua New Guinea House of Assembly, was expelled from the United Party in March. An official party statement said the expulsion followed Mr Parao's failure to act on a letter sent to him in February demanding his immediate resignation from the party. (In other words, he didn't fall, so he was pushed.) Newly-appointed Interior Secretary, Cecil Andrus. 35 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

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Hokule'a, the canoe, taught modern man an old lesson From LASARUSA VUSONIWAILALA in Honolulu As I watched the National Geographic film of the Hokule’a the other night on public television, I was reminded of my scepticism, this time last year, at its chances of making it to Tahiti. As a Pacific Islander my head is bowed in shame at my lack of faith in our traditional capabilities, although the success of the trip has raised my Pacific pride to new heights.

That I doubted the likelihood of the canoe’s chance was not so much a denial of our renowned seamanship of the past and present, as an acknowledgment of how much I had been charmed by the spirit of Kontiki and the adventurous Thor Heyerdahl. Now that the most recent seafaring expedition has substantiated the Tahiti-Hawaii origin, I am happier with what previously was an untested theory.

Our derision over the ingenuity of early man is the product of our mechanical minds of today. In environments that abound with scientific gadgets we are inclined to see every facet of development and achievement as the output of monstrous computers, of some magnificent machines. We have almost forgotten that they are but waves of the human brain. Modernisation through science and modern technology has led man to self-doubt and the depreciation of human culture. His industrial and electronic jungle has made him unconcerned over nature and his earlier empathy with the ecology.

Hokule’a has proved to be more than support for a migration theory.

It has elicited deeper emotions than the cultural awareness of the peoples of Oceania. Hokule’a has shown the rest of the world a part of its past. It may also have contained an inkling of the future.

Hokule’a has been an outstanding success. Its critics have been rather unrealistic, by focusing on the petty which pales in the dazzle of the en- The film of the voyage of the Hokule’a from Hawaii to Tahiti and return began, in mid-January, a season on cinema and television screens in Honolulu.

Lasarusa Vusoniwailala, a Fijian studying at the East- West Communication Institute in Hawaii, analyses his reaction as an Islander to the Hokule’a experiment. deavour’s achievements.-There have been those who criticised the modern amenities which were essentials for the trip and ignore the spirit in which it was made. It was a scientific expedition, unlike the suicide voyages of the past, many taken when the consequences of remaining on hostile land were as dire, if not worse, than the probability.

The attempt at authenticity was admirable. The cry against non-indigenous material and people making the trip was akin to our forefathers having sailed with compasses while subsisting on vitamin and protein tablets. There is a time and place for everything. Besides, who can define and find the “true”

Polynesian?

An interesting contrast was in me media publicity of the squabbles that rippled aboard the canoe during its southbound journey. Every island of the Pacific has legends on the arrivals of their respective ancestors and almost all include disagreements among kin or intratribal fighting at some point after disembarkation.

In the case of the Fijians, the popular legend has it that our ancestors landed at Vuda, Veiseisei, which is close to present-day Nadi International Airport. The two names themselves tell the story of arrival Vuda means “our origin”, and Veiseisei means “divisive conflict”. Quarrels among the brothers of the first landing family ended in a “split” at Veiseisei, dividing them into factions who headed in separate directions to occupy and populate other parts of the Fiji Group.

Long and tortuous sea voyages demanded the best of endurance in the disciplined seaman. Neverthe- This picture of Hokule'a in full sail was taken when she was only a few days out of Tahiti. Photo: Al Prince. 37 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

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less, it would be inhuman not to expect the occasional flaring of tempers, though still somewhat controlled in days when to rock the canoe could have meant ending in the deck-pot as meat supplement for the rest of the journey.

I remember witnessing the arrival back in Hawaii of the Hokule’a on a 23 in colour television screen, against the concrete backdrop of Waikiki. Then, I wondered about the kind of receptions which greeted early settlers. And as the jetfoil boat skimmed by while helicopters hovered over the canoe, I reflected upon the early migrants and their anxieties with each land sighting are there humans ashore? Friendly?

Hostile? Man, monster or devil?

The same mental process runs through the mind of modern man as he gazes into space and sends his electronic toys into the galaxy. This was made especially vivid when the Hokule’a’s return last year coincided with the week in which the evening TV news and dailies carried pictures transmitted from Mars by the Viking 1 spacecraft.

The Hokule’a demonstrated the side of man which has brought him thus far; man the courageous, inquisitive mammal. And so we should revere the brave early Pacifican who sailed his uncharted ocean and searched its millions of square miles because he believed that in there, somewhere, was land where there would be life. The flame of this human faith flickers in the space exploration of today thai out there is the universe, somewhere, there is land, a planet or two, where there could be the extension of life as we know it here on earth.

Whatever made our Pacific ancestors leave established homes to embark on suicidal missions into the blue unknown is past. The future now concerns us.

The Hokule’a has re-kindled an awareness in the people of Hawaii of the richness of their heritage; a past that identifies with the Islands’ cultures; a present with its alternatives for Pacific Islands’ development. More than anything else, the Hokule’a lesson is one of human appreciation, that the millions of years of evolution have not significantly changed him. That man, the hunter, explorer, sailor and space commuter is basically still the same. He is still reaching for the stars.

The first Trans-Pacific mail by outrigger canoe

By Sherman Lee Pompey

The American Revolution Bicentennial voyage of the outrigger canoe Hokule’a from Hawaii to Tahiti recalls to mind a voyage made nearly 40 years ago by the canoe Lealea-Lani with the first Trans-Pacific mail carried by outrigger canoe.

Back in 1938, it was the dream of a seafarer named Captain A. U.

Woodbury 11, who had started his sailing career early in life, and before making the trip had spent 25 years at sea. He had sailed two boats for Sir Wilfred Grenfell carrying supplies from Boston to Newfoundland, and had done quite a bit of rough sailing over the Atlantic.

The rest of the crew consisted of A 1 Eastman, a former quartermaster on the inter-island ship Hawaii, and Don Hall, a lifeguard and surfer from California who had been 1935 Coast Champion in the Skimmerette Class.

Before the trip started, they encountered many delays, and the greatest of these was finances. This delayed the Lealea-Lani’s launching until December 1 1, 1938, when several Honolulu businessmen agreed to underwrite the journey.

On the date of sailing they encountered a powerful headwind that forced the frail craft back into Kewalo Basin.

They reached Kaupo Gap, Maui, on January 8, 1939, after stops at Kaunakakai on Molokai and Kaanapali on Maui. Old-timers shook their heads and said that they would never make it. The next day the three men were picked up by the Matson freighter Maunanalani in the heavy surging seas between Maui and Hawaii. The Federal Bureau of Steamboat Inspection voiced its “high opinion” about these “stunt trips”, but they could do nothing about it as it did not fall within their jurisdiction.

The Lealea-Lani reached Hilo on January 15, 1939, and spent until April 18 on test runs up and down the coast of Hawaii. These were the hardest three months of the venture with many tests and trial landings.

In one minor mishap, Woodbury suffered a broken hand, severe abrasions on his head, and had a bad elbow from these tests.

Financial difficulties were solved by Woodbury giving lectures to school children and selling philatelic covers at $1 each. Fifteen years later, I bought 50 of these covers from a Honolulu dealer at 10c each. One financial prospect was turned down when Woodbury refused a $5O bribe to take a woman along.

The Lealea-Lani left South Point, Hawaii, with 1,200 pieces of mail, which the three men were to mail at Fanning Island and Samoa. On the covers was a purple cachet “First Trans-Pacific Mail by Outrigger Canoe. White Man’s First South Seas Journey in Polynesian Canoe.

Capt. U. A. Woodbury 11, Master: Don Hall, A 1 Eastman, crew. Car- 39 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

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These covers were all postmarked at Honolulu on December 31, 1938 at midnight. They were sealed in one and five gallon cans for the voyage. The stamps were generally the 2c United States of the Army- Navy series, the 2c 1938 Presidential series and the 3c Hawaii issue.

The Lealea-Lani got off to a secret start in the early morning hours and was later spotted by an Army pilot who was flying south from Hawaii in the afternoon. Don Hall said they had expected to reach Fanning in the 10 days, but about the time they were to have reached Fanning overcast skies prevented a sight for position, a condition that remained for four days. Meanwhile the chronometer stopped. They searched for Fanning for five days until food and water were exhausted, and then decided to head for Samoa. Samoa was approximately another 20 days away.

After five days they caught 10 gallons of water in the sails and on the seventh day they caught a 21b barracuda. The 10th day they caught a bonita. They tried to spear sharks to eat, but these were too large for their spears.

Thirty-four days out they spotted land dead ahead. It was an uninhabited cove in Samoan waters, where they found some coconuts.

Everyone was exhausted. The next day, Don Hall walked to a village, Aoloau, about two miles away, and the natives came and towed the canoe to the village. They arrived in the village the next day, and the third day reached Pago Pago by native rowboat and trail. In Pago Pago they were acclaimed by High Chief Fuimanono as “Greatest skipper today of sailing craft”. This was a title given only by Samoans when well deserved in consideration of actual accomplishment.

The philatelic covers were a mess.

Many of them had rust spots on them, and Woodbury had to glue the stamps back on many of them, being careful that the stamps coincided with the postmarks.

“A thankless job,” he said, “but I feel that the people who gave me the dollar are entitled to it.” These covers were postmarked Pago Pago, Samoa 29 May, 1939, and backstamped upon arrival in Honolulu. 41 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

Bali Ha 'i they call you ...or should it be Rarotonga ?

By NED A VARY on Rarotonga Most of us who roam the South Pacific always have a quiet, secret question in the back of our minds: will we ever discover that perfect island, the island of our dreams?

As an international airline captain and Pacific traveller since I was a teenager, I thought I had seen it all.

And finally concluded that the perfect island my personal Bali Ha’i did not exist.

But that was before Rarotonga.

Recently, in Tahiti, I read James Michener's South Sea classic Return to Paradise again. A phrase on page 80 which I had missed on earlier readings stopped my eyes and raced my pulse. Michener claimed that Rarotonga was the one island he would choose of all the others to return to. That fired me up.

So 1 caught the once-a-week Wednesday flight from Papeete, on Air New Zealand, for Rarotonga.

Just one hour and 20 minutes later, we touched down on Rarotonga’s coral white jet strip where a crowd of colourful, flower-bedecked Polynesians warmly greeted me. I called out the Rarotongan greeting: Kia Orana! and the whole group sang out their welcoming Kia Orana!

Once inside the Polynesian-style terminal I got a truly royal welcome from the ravishing ground hostess she’s the daughter of the Rarotongan Queen! More about her later.

Then the hotel courtesy car took me past Black Rock a place that figures famously in Rarotonga’s long, colourful history. The island’s first European visitors two centuries ago were Fletcher Christian and his Bounty mutineers! They anchored here in their search for a safe hideout.

Then decided to sail on to a more isolated place which they certainly found at lonely Pitcairn Island.

Later, at Black Rock, a young Tahitian missionary Papeiha Raiatea swam ashore from his London Missionary Society vessel to test the friendliness of the Maori natives of Rarotonga. Papeiha got a warm reception, swam back to his ship unharmed, gave the good word to his European superiors. And Rarotonga got its first European settlers. Another missionary first in the South Seas.

Soon we reached my thatch-roofed, South Sea-style hotel, where the manager and his native staff gave me another friendly welcome, then presented me with the loveliest flower leis I have ever seen. As we chatted, I realised an extra bonus everyone here speaks English!

That night at the hotel there was an umukai (native feast). After that sumptuous spread, a troupe of torrid, twisting, whirling dancers performed the wildest of spectacles, the ura pa’u or drum dance. The Tahitians have their tamure, but the Cook Islands’ teams cannot be topped. An earlier visitor much earlier had watched this exciting show and remarked: “... the girls must have been chosen especially for the performance, since few in the crowd equalled them in beauty.” That visitor was Captain James Cook in 1777! As one of the great navigators of his time, Cook had a sharp eye for heavenly bodies, Nowhere in Polynesia is this tumultuous dance done with such sensual skill and abandon. Just when I was getting that “carried-away” feeling when any spectator wishes he Muri Lagoon,traditionally the starting place of the Maoris who peopled New Zealand.

Photo: Air New Zealand 42 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

could jump up and join in the gorgeous dancers leapt from the stage and picked new partners from the guests. Without hesitation I joyously joined the fabulous group.

Later, I wandered down to the moonlit lagoon, gazed at the Southern Cross high in the sky, listened to the symphony of the surf. Had I found my Bali Ha’i?

Over breakfast the next day I studied a local map. Rarotonga is a pocket-sized, green-peaked paradise only five miles across and 20 miles around the coast. I could have hired a motorbike or taken a tour, the latter a great temptation because the royal princess would be hostess. But, I decided on an inexpensive rental car for the day, leaving me free to take my time, go where I liked.

Most of the island road is a “tunnel” of trees huge green utus (like our magnolias back home), flaming red blossoming flamboyants, all meeting overhead, beautiful flowers beneath. Everywhere along the road were smiling people waving and returning my Kia Orana with a happy chorus.

Meeting Maori people in Rarotonga is so easy. So pleasant.

These handsome natives are friendly, sincere, uncomplicated, generous and best of all unspoiled.

Everyone has time to stop and chat with a visitor, or go out of their way to be helpful. If someone you meet invites you home for dinner, he not only means it, but chances are you’ll wind up as a house guest for a week!

Rarotonga and its 14 sister islands are well out of the “rat race”. Most people fish, tend their gardens, work in colourful small shops, dance, raise beautiful large families, attend church and sleep. They also do a lot of laughing, singing and exchanging of flower leis. The turquoise lagoon and blue Pacific are full of fish and fruit is so abundant that no one thinks of selling it. Take what you like from the trees papaws, mangoes, avocados, bananas, oranges, pineapples and of course, the ever-present coconuts.

Life has an easy grace here and nature has been kind to these blessed islands.

My hotel manager suggested I stop and see Mr Napa T. Napa at his old country-style store in Arorangi village. I found Napa sitting like a big,'brown, smiling Buddha behind his cash register. But this is an unusual storekeeper he also happens to be the King!

Napa Tinomana Napa, the 30th generation of Ariki (royalty), like to regale his visitors with tall tales and local lore of the good old days. But, I noticed as I left, he promptly went back to reading his latest issue of Time!

Across the flower-bordered road is King Napa’s century-old palace. A huge, colonial-style mansion of limestone and coral with wide verandahs. Old Napa, however, prefers to live in the back of his store. His palace is being renovated and will open one day as a colourful tourist attraction. (There are tourists in Rarotonga, by the way. Just a trickle so far, happily enough. The island is still too remote, unknown and too expensive to get to for most visitors.) Farther down the road is Rutaki village, facing the lagoon and miles of pure white, palm-lined beach. Here is the home of the late Yankee Clipper skipper Captain Andy Thomson, who sailed these southern seas for 50 years. Nordhoff and Hall called Captain Andy their best friend and proved it by dedicating their classic Mutiny on the Bounty to him.

Further on is the home of Sir Albert Henry, Premier of the Cook Islands. His lovely, white, wooden, one-storey house is in an idyllic setting buried in beautiful flowers, surrounded by graceful palms and right on the beach. Symbolizing the hospitality of Rarotonga, Sir Albert’s front door always stands open. On his 1971 visit, Prince Philip pronounced it the most perfect home in the South Pacific.

My map showed the Ara Metua, the ancestor’s road, which circles the island inland through the foothills. Incredibly, this road was built a thousand years ago by a resourceful engineer named Toi, with a crew of 5,000 Maoris. Even more surprising, this mini-freeway was paved with cobblestones and huge slabs of rock!

King Napa says it was built to transport fruit and vegetables from native farms to local village markets.

Many small side roads lead inland and I explored one, the Papua River road. It twisted, turned and narrowed, but at the end was my reward; Papua Falls. A piece of Polynesian purity, with lovely falls cascading into a natural swimming pool. There was no one around, so I shed my clothes and dived in. Relaxing in the cool water I thought: “Yes, there’s a waterfall and pool like this on my dream island.”

My next stop was Titikaveka village, where the Seventh-day Adventist Mission nestles amongst the palms. From the office came a tall, redhaired man with a smile of welcome, who introduced himself as Erroll Young. He is a direct descendant of the Bounty muntineer John Young. Errol was born and raised on lonely Pitcairn Island but chose Rarotonga as his permanent island paradise.

Down a flower-filled lane to the White Sands Restaurant I went, for a tasty snack. Teariki, the Maori owner greeted me with a warm Kia Orana.

Afterwards, fully relaxed, I wandered down the white beach, lay down and fell asleep.

Later, 1 drove eastward to Muri village where I stopped to meet painter Rick Welland and his lovely wife. This American couple, with their two children, have found their Bali Ha’i here too. Rick’s oil paintings are well-known all over the Pacific and he makes a good living.

They’ve tried leaving twice but always return.

Nearby, in the quiet lagoon, are four motus (islets) you can easily swim to and spend an hour, a day or a week. One, Motu Tapu, is a “forbidden” island, both foreboding and beautiful. Permission to visit this motu is easily obtained from friendly Maori matron Elizabeth who runs Rarotongan dancers.... nowhere in Polynesia is the tumultuous Tamare danced with more sensual skill and abandon. - Photo: Ned Avary. 43 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

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a tiny hillside shop just opposite Motu Tapu. She will also tell you about the legendary monster lurking in a lagoon cavern. Elizabeth says Buzz Sawyer an American yachtsman visiting Rarotonga in 1958 left hurriedly after an underwater battle with something he encountered in that underwater cave. Who knows?

On the reef, just opposite the main village, Avarua, rests the remains of the world-famous brigantine Yankee.

She was visiting Rarotonga in 1964 when a storm blew up and her anchors dragged. Engines failed to start and she was thrown onto the reefs foaming jaws. Yachtsmen around the world wept real salt tears when they heard of her tragic fate.

No Rarotonga tour is complete without getting to know Bill Marsters. To meet him, all you do is visit the beautiful Cook Islands Christian Church in Avarua. Bill, a round, robust, Maori, has 12 children of his own, but is also spiritual father of thousands of his church members in the Cook Islands. He was going to visit his sister, Tere, and invited me to join him. Later, Tere and Bill told me one of the Pacific’s most romantic and improbable stories.

Their grandfather, William Marsters, was a Scottish adventurer who made his fortune in the California Gold Rush. “Will Bill” then sailed for the South Pacific, where he selected and collected three beautiful wives from Tongareva in the northern Cooks. He promptly settled on remote Palmerston Atoll and with the kind co-operation of his three brides, he produced the Pacific’s best known “Marster” race. There are now over six thousand Marsters descendants!

At the end of the tour, I was enchanted with this incredibly beautiful, friendly and peaceful island. I know now why James Michener chose Rarotonga as the one island he longed to return to and stay.

Rarotonga is not crowded, commercialised or expensive. Beautifully furnished, lagoon-side bungalows rent for $l5 a week, choice filet mignon is $1 a pound, fruit and fish are free and Avarua has the best duty-free bargains in the whole Pacific. Medical and dental care? Excellent and free! This is not a tourist place yet. So I didn’t feel like a tourist. I honestly felt that these people really liked me as they do most papa as (foreigners). I had looked at all this sympathetically and now I listened. The loudest noise was the surf pounding the reef, with a quiet lagoon undisturbed by outboard motors. Natives still paddle their graceful outrigger canoes as they have for centuries.

Finally, someone may ask what about the legendary charm and fabled beauty of the South Sea Island girls? I will only say that I’ve found it all to be true.

How many places are there left like this in the world, 1 wondered? I was soon to find out what this pocket paradise has done for me.

My last day passed too quickly.

The plane was leaving very early, so 1 retired right after dinner. Half awake, my mind kept asking: “Is this Polynesian paradise really your Bali Ha’i?”

Finally I slept. 1 awakened to a light tapping on my bungalow door. Moana, the lovely Maori maid, whispered: “Captain Ned, it’s nearly time for your flight.”

Without hesitation I replied: “Moana, please cancel my booking, I'm staying longer.”

“Oh! That is good!” Moana warmly responded. “How much longer?”

“Forever,” I sang out. And meant it. I’d found my Bali Ha’i at last.

What makes fish poisonous?

Scientists expose a villain If Dr Takeshi Yasumoto had his way, he would post “Do not disturb ” signs on coral reefs all over the Pacific, Australia, the Caribbean and even the Indian Ocean around Sri Lanka.

Dr Yasumoto is a Japanese chemist who, in 1975, was assigned by the World Health Organisation as consultant on the phenomenon of fish-poisoning which, according to the South Pacific Commission, claims about 1,500 victims a year around the Pacific. The WHO assignment was made at the request of the Government of French Polynesia.

On two visits to the South Pacific to study ciguatera a Caribbean word used for the illness due to fish poisoning Dr Yasumoto worked with Dr J. Laigret of the South Pacific Commission, Drs R. Bagnis and H. Kaeuffer of the Institut de Recherches Medicales of French Polynesia, and Dr Y. Hokoma of the University of Hawaii.

Their labours have paid off with the first positive identification of the primary source of poison found in edible fish caught in coral reefs around islands in the south and west Pacific region.

The scientists’ accusing finger is pointed at a microscopic olant organism known as a dinoflagellate.

The dinoflagellates, which attach to algae, are round, flat like a plate, forming two hemispheres with slender, whiplike appendages (the flagellae).

Small fish feed on the algae which carry the dinoflagellates. These small fish are in turn eaten by bigger ones. Thus the toxin is transferred and concentrated as it moves further along the fish-food chain. The bigger the fish, the more potentially toxic it is. The poison penetrates the flesh of the fish and cannot be removed by washing or cooking.

Humans are extremely vulnerable to the poison. Dr Yasumoto estimates that as little as .75 of a milligramme of it would be sufficient to cause death of a person weighing 100 kilogrammes.

Dr Yasumoto’s concern with the preservation of coral reefs in their natural state arises from his research finding that: “The dinoflagellates are present in coral reefs, but they seem to be provoked to multiply when their environment is disturbed.

“The precise cause of this multiplication is not certain, but man himself may be causing it, as when reefs are blasted off or cut to pieces in building runways, wharves or piers.

“There are several known examples where human aggression against coral reefs seems to have triggered explosive outbreaks of ciguatera.”

He adds that natural causes, such as exceptionally heavy rain, may also cause a heavy growth of the dinoflagellates.

The surgeon fish is known to accumulate the toxin more than any other species. Known as Ctenochaetus striatus in scientific circles, it goes by the following local names: maito (Tahiti); te ribabui (Gilbert Islands); sazanami-hagi (Japan); labahita, indangan, mangadlit, yaput (Philippines); vanaki, pidja, abila (Indonesia); imim, ael, bir, diepro, tiebro (Marshall Islands); pone, palagi, nanife, ili ilia (Samoa); balagi (Fiji).

It is found throughout the Indo- Pacific area, excluding Hawaii and the Red Sea.

Nearly 60% of reported poisonings in Tahiti and other South Pacific islands have been attributed to consumption of maito, or surgeon fish.

Moray eel (Gymnothorax buroensis, Gymnothorax flavimarginatus ), known as utsubo in Japan and called reef eel in Australia, feeds on the surgeon fish and can become very poisonous to man. It grows to about 1.5 metres in length and goes by the name puhi in Hawaii, dabea in Fiji, to’e in Samoa and hagman in the Marianas. Moray eel has 10 names in the Philippines, eight in Sri Lanka and four in the Gilbert Islands.

In coral reefs with abundant algae and dinoflagellates, the grouper, sea bass, red snapper, jack and pampano would be highly suspect. Outside these coral reefs the barracuda and amber jack could be toxin carriers too.

The South Pacific Commission reported in 1974-75 nearly 2,000 known cases of fish poisoning throughout the South Pacific area, from Papua New Guinea in the west, Guam in the north to French Polynesia in the east.

A technical paper on fish poisoning published by the Commission says: “The first symptoms are usually experienced within about three hours after ingestion and consists of nausea and vomiting followed by tingling and numbness about the lips, tongue and throat.”

To the victim, cold objects give a sensation of burning, and hot objects feel cold. An attack of the toxin does not impart future immunity.

The clinical picture is rather bizarre, the SPC paper notes, “Not all patients display the same syndrome, even among a group who have all eaten the same fish.”

Following the breakthrough by Dr Yasumoto and his colleagues, what of the future?

“At present we do not know how to control the dinoflagellates,” Dr Yamusoto says. “However, having isolated the organism, the search is now on for the substance that would inhibit or reduce the growth of these highly poisonous micro-organisms in coral reefs.”

The surgeon fish...accumulates the poison more than any other species. 45 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY - MAY, 1977

MAGAZINE The cruises of two Challengers and the antics of some crewmen

By W. G. Coppell

The name Challenger is revered in the Royal Navy as, for a considerable period, it was associated with survey vessels, which carried out extensive oceanographic and general exploration tasks.

The greatest share of fame in the Challenger line was a three-master, square-rigged steam corvette, which displaced 2,300 tons. Although she had an engine that had an indicated horsepower of 1,200 she was, in most respects, a sailing vessel, as she could not carry enough coal to make the passage from one coaling station to another, without relying heavily on her sails.

A group of scientists at Edinburgh University under the leadership of Charles Wyville Thomson, the Professor of Natural History, persuaded the British Government to lend them and provision a vessel, which would undertake one of the most extended of exploration voyages.

Thus, it was that on December 7, 1872, HMS Challenger set out on a journey, which saw her eventually return to Spithead on May 24, 1876, after traversing a distance of 68,890 miles.

One of the principal preoccupations of the scientists in the expedition was to explore the ocean depths, to chart currents and temperatures and to find and identify flora and fauna from the submarine levels. Although the vessel visited all manner of exotic ports, islands and out-of-the-way places, the repetitive work of dredging and taking soundings was both physically demanding and mentally frustrating for the sailors.

For the first half of the voyage the ship was under the command of Captain George Nares, who was himself of scientific bent, and who was later to command exploratory expeditions into the Arctic.

The scientists, who were known to the ship’s officers as the “Philosophers”, were led by Wyville Thomson and numbered among them were John Murray, who was to rise to considerable heights in the scientific world and H. N. Moseley, who is described by Eric Linklater as being the “most indefatigable of scientists”, and having “an eye that missed nothing”.

The ship’s complement numbered about 240 men and, as the accommodation aboard had been altered to meet the special needs of the expedition, conditions were cramped and added to the discomfort arising from the constant round of trawling, dredging and sounding the ocean depths.

The voyage first took the ship down the Atlantic via Portugal, Tenerife, the Danish West Indies, Bermuda, Nova Scotia, the Azores, the Cape Verde Islands, Bahia.

Then the ship made her way into the chilly stretches of sub-Antarctic and Antarctic waters, undertaking pioneer exploration tasks at Tristan Da Cunha, Marion, Edward, the Crozets, Kerguelen and Heard islands.

Some time was spent in the southern icefields and the vessel had fortune on her side when she suffered only slight damage after colliding with an iceberg.

After calling at Melbourne and Sydney the Challenger began her work among the Pacific Islands. A call was made at Wellington before Tonga was visited, where, in addition to their scientific knowledge, the ship’s company were taken with the Tongan women, whom Moseley described as being “the most accomplished coquettes”.

In Fiji waters, the ship called at Matuku, Ovalau and Kadavu. On Ovalau, Moseley saw many Fijians “dressed in their best, with bright new girdles of yellow and scarletdyed pandanus leaves, bodies and hair freshly oiled, ornaments displayed and faces painted black or red or a mixture of both”.

Challenger next made her way to Cape York, then through the Torres Strait into Papuan waters, where the birds of paradise were a principal item of interest. After passing on to the Philippines and Hong Kong, she made her way into the New Guinea coastal area, making Humboldt Bay her first port-of-call, where much trading was done with the local people, hoop-iron being a principal item of barter.

The report of the expedition explains the outcome of this visit “Unwillingness on the part of the natives to allow the parties to land and explore the country rendered it This etching of a Fijian "in his best" was made around the time HMS Challenger called at Fiji. He was Nabukataratara Mataitonga of the Sabeto people. 46 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY-MAY, 1977

necessary to either pay respect to their wishes, or to proceed in the investigations at the risk of an embroilment with them. Much as it was wished to explore a part of the world so little known as is the district of New Guinea around Humboldt Bay, it was considered unjustifiable to use force for the purpose, or even to land any explorers where the momentary impulse on the part of a savage might possibly lead to the sacrifice of many lives.”

At the Admiralty Islands there was amazement expressed at the great skill of craftsmanship shown by the islanders in carving their ornate wooden bowls and their system of counting in which a term for 10 was used before eight and nine were named, with eight being expressed as 10 minus two and nine as 10 minus one. On the other hand there was a feeling of disbelief that the people had not mastered a form of hunting by which they could bring down birds with bow and arrow.

The later part of the time in the Pacific was spent on an extended passage to Japan and then calls at Hawaii and Tahiti. Sub-Lieutenant Lord George Campbell was not impressed with the manner in which the French had established themselves.

“The whole history of the manner in which the French came to occupy this island is irritable and lamentable. Although we may have occupied countries in a high-handed manner as regards the natives, still we invariably have something to show for it besides the mere advantages of a naval station, whereas here the French have nothing to show worthy of the name of a European power, and this is not because they don’t try, but because they do try and fail, which in two words, is the history of all their colonial attempts. There is no liberty of conscience, no doing anything in Tahiti without the feeling that you are being watched.”

However, Tahiti had all its other charms to show to the much-travelled complement of the Challenger and Eric Linklater in his Voyage of the Challenger says “Tahiti had maintained its reputation for gaiety, and when Challenger steamed out of Papeete harbour the band played the national air, which, unlike any other national anthem, went to a jigtime.”

Homeward-bound, Challenger called at Juan Fernandez (the Robinson Crusoe Island), the Chilean coast, Patagonia and the Falkland Islands. During the voyage seven of the complement had died and 26 had been invalided out, the major loss of crew being by desertion, to the diamond mines of South Africa, the goldfields of Australia, or to the lures of romantic ports. Sixty-one men had made their unauthorised departure from the vessel.

In 1909, another Challenger called at Rarotonga and the story of adventures by desertion was to be repeated. When the vessel sailed, six of the crew were missing. They were arrested and placed aboard the next steamer sailing for New Zealand.

However, before she sailed, two of the sailors, Patrick Burns and Harold Ross, escaped and reached the shore again. The steamer sailed before they were again apprehended and on July 24 two Maoris, Tiapare and Moetaua Tita, were bond for them for the sum of £lO.

Quite obviously the authorities on Rarotonga were far from happy with the behaviour of the deserters and on August 12 arrests were made under the instructions of William Mcßirney, who at the time was the Cook Islands Chief Tide Waiter, Chief Constable, Chief Gaoler, Foreman of Works, Road Inspector, etc., etc. Mcßirney instructed his These two pictures of some of the Challenger's crew at Rarotonga are from George Crummer's plates salvaged from the many hundreds found in his studio after his death.

The top one shows six of the sailors with Rarotongan men, girls and children. Below, after swapping dress with the Rarotongans, the sailors perform a charade. 47 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY - MAY, 1977

constables on their duties towards the prisoners.

They were “to be accompanied if going to Ah Sin’s for food, or to the WC. If they are wanting to go to church a constable must accompany them. There are no objections to them sitting on the verandah of the cells if the constables sit with them.’’

TL P trarlino mmnanv sMent* Commi^one S r th’at h steps were to be taken that the two men did not stow away on the schooner Vaite in order to escape deportation on the next steamer However, the Resident Commissioner found much to complain about concerning the manner in which the prisoners were guarded.

On August 10 he wrote to Mcßirney “I myself found the men at large when the steamer was in port waiting no doubt for the second opportunity of defying the law of the Admiralty. It only remains for me to say that you have to disobey my instructioris once more and I will be pleased to hand you one month’s salary and relieve you from the position Y ou now hold”.

The next day, Mcßirney resigned, an d t h e day after the Registrar of t h e High Court reported to the Resident Commissioner that the two men had escaped again " P g . . . . n Toe men were 10Slde the cells eking the door on the constables and makmg their escape The Resident Commissioner now took matters into his own hands, he posted a reward of £2 for the arrest each man and he apprehended ' hem himself at 11 o clock at night, Eman Simth wrote to the Governor > n New Zealand, Permit me with due respect to say, Your Excellency, that 1 have not formed a favourable opinion of the discipline of the P ohce force employed by the Cook Islands Government in Rarotonga. I myself had to take the law into my own hands and arrest the men in an outlying district after 11 o clock.

The two deserters were eventually taken aboard the next steamer bound for New Zealand, but then they were strongly escorted and handcuffed.

The Resident Commissioner forwarded to Captain de Costa of HMS Challenger an account for £577.7.11 for expenses incurred in connection with the arrests and custody on Rarotonga of Ross and Burns.

At the time of this incident George Crummer was active as a commercial photographer on Rarotonga and for many years large numbers of his glass photographic plates have lain discarded in various places about the island.

Recently, a number of these plates have been salvaged and there are two which feature six sailors from the Challenger, in one of which they are lined up with six young Maori women. These photographs in their own way explain the reasons why sailors would want to escape from the boredom and labour of shipboard life.

A minor matter from a Cook’s company file By W. G. Coppell Be it Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Rarotonga, Tahiti, or many another fair land there is one bird which if vilified and hated for its aggressive behaviour and its predatory habits the mynah bird.

Now how came this feathered monster to establish itself in so many places? It seems, for instance, that they were first introduced into New Zealand by acclimatisation societies and that views of their merits have changed with the passing of time. The New Zealand ornithologist W. R. Oliver said “the mynah ranks with the starling in usefulness, as it is largely an insectivorous feeder frequenting cultivations. Like the starling, too. it is liable to attack fruit and grain".

In the 1907 correspondence of the Cook Islands Trading Company is an account of how the mynah came to be introduced into Rarotonga. It seems that the company had been making inquiries about the bird, which was established by then on Tahiti as a means of controlling insect pests in the coconut palms.

In March, 1906. H. Meuel, of Papeete wrote of” Indian Minahs: I don’t know under that name. If you mean the Merles de Molusques they can be procured here at some expense and it will take some time.

The price offered by others is four francs per pair male and female young birds. The birds are imported here to help in the destruction of wasps but it is also found in practice they also feed with preference on native fruits, such as bananas. They multiply pretty fast here”.

The following month, the supplier undertook to send 12 to 15 pairs but had to admit in May that he had not yet obtained any birds— ”they are more difficult to get than I had imagined .

Progress must have been made because on 22 June, CITCO was informed that “A Rarotonga native called Pokoroa is in charge of the birds and has promised to look after them • V he acquits himself of this to y° ur satisfaction I think he is entitled to some little gratuity from you”.

We all have our own opinions of the worth of mynah birds how muchwere they worthin June 1906?

“ The birds also go this time. I hope they will arrive in good order, enclosed invoice of cash for same £4.11.1”. This charge, presumably was for upwards of 30 birds.

The first consignment must have met with success for on September 14 that year Meuel wrote. ”1 don’t think it will be very difficult to get 50 more of these birds. Let me know what time you want them and I will get them. They are expensive to keep caged up .

There must have been a further shipment, but perhaps the price did not hold its level, for the return of imports into the Cook Islands for 1906 shows that birds to the total value of £6 came into the Cook Islands from Tahiti, But. given the rate of infation and given the great numbers of those damned birds on Rarotonga, if only they could now be exported at the same relative going rate! 48 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY - MAY, 1977

FROM THE ISLANDS PRESS From the Papua New Guinea Post-Courier: Development groups and not political parties should organise Papua New Guinea’s Government, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mr John Kaputin, said yesterday. These groups should include Mungkas in the North Solomons, Kabisawali in the Trobriands, Milalot in Madang and the Mataungan in the Gazelle Peninsula, Besena (Central) and Moaripi (Gulf), he said.

“Because of their background, representatives from these groups will have a greater common denominator to protect”, Mr Kaputin said. “They will be armed with practical experience instead ot a set ol policies as members ot political parties” . . .

From The Fiji Times: The Fiji Taxi Union will continue its fight for the reintroduction of control over the number of taxis in the country. The general secretary of the union, Mr Mahendra Praiap, said in Suva that the Government had made “many promises” in relation to the limitation of taxis ... Mr Pratap said there were now 1,200 taxis in Fiji and more licences were being issued. In Suva alone there were 450 taxis and those in the business found it hard to make a living.

From the Tuvalu News Sheet, quoting a member of the constitutional committee on tour in the outer islands: “We really had a very enjoyable tour; we were fed and entertained like big shots” ... He went on to say that the only drawback on their part was that not all of them were good in dancing only the Chief Minister and perhaps one or two others.

From the Norfolk Island’s Council’s submissions to the United Nations as reported in the Norfolk Islander: . . . The major group on the island is made up of those who were born here, and almost all of these are people of Pitcairn descent.

Those of the Pitcairn race make up about 40% of the resident population. With their spouses they make up over half the population and their families own the greatest part of the land privately owned or leased from the Crown. Not only because they are by far the largest group, but also because their roots are in the land, they give the island its special character and its remarkably distinct culture . . .

From the New Hebrides News: The people of Mele, Efate, have given three months notice to the Catholic Mission and the managers of Tara and S.I.P. plantations to move out of land they occupy at Mele. The villagers marched peacefully to these places to present letters last Saturday. They demanded that the land be returned to the people of Mele. Mr George Kalkoa, speaking on behalf of the chiefs and people of Mele said they knew how the S.I.P. land was bought; with an axe . . .

From The Fiji Times: Lami was officially declared a town yesterday afternoon.

A few yards from the venue of the declaration Lami’s new and only cinema advertised a 5.30 pm feature film entitled “A Town Called Bastard”.

From “The Long View” by Francis Hezel SJ, in the Micronesian Independent: Not too long ago a gentleman visited these islands offering a new eight million dollar college as a gift to the Micronesian people from the US Congress ... I was dismayed by the uncritical enthusiasm that greeted the visitor’s offer, well-intentioned though it was. Don’t people here know, 1 asked myself, that the new college will cost almost two million dollars a year to operate.

A tidy sum considering that the total amount of revenues generated in the TT is only seven million dollars at present.

Isn’t this gesture 1 thought, a bit like making a gift to a poor friend of a good-sized German Shepherd to guard his house, letting him know as you walk out the door that the animal eats five pounds of meat a day?

From a report in the Solomons News Drum of an interview with the Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr Donald Coggan) at Honiara in which he was asked his views on the Solomons’ “own kind of Christianity”: “• • • I rejoice to hear your drums, your local singing and local kind of worship. Keep this. It’s the right way. It’s the way you worship God. These are externals, the non-essentials. But, doctrinally, we inherit the same kind of faith and this is what never changes ...”

“Aropa Airport a national disgrace” headlines the Arawa Bulletin: . The refreshment room is rarely open, and when it is, the entire stock seems to consist of lolly-water, cigarettes and dry biscuits. The less said about the toilets and washrooms the better. . There is no control tower and the nearest flight service facility is at Rabaul 250 miles away .

A comment on Niue’s bread shortage as reported in the Tohi Tala Niue: It is very hard for people overseas to imagine what a shortage is like. Somebody told the story the other day that their motherin-law wrote saying that she had read the story of the bread shortage in the papers. Her advice was that, as a short teVm measure maybe they could buy bread mix from one of the local stores and bake their own.

From the Micronesian Independent: Jaluit: A fiesty food program here for elementary students and regular children has got to be kidding. Breakfast: Two pieces of bread! Lunch; Two pieces of bread and cookie for dessert. NO MILK. NO JUICE. NO WA 1 LR. You say you don’t believe it? Talk to parents of children on Jaluit. Anyway, the U.S. is falling far short of what it should be doing with this giveaway program. Why isn’t there any beer or cigarettes included in the food program?

From The Fiji Times: Hundreds of people who bought rings to enter a “magic mood ring” contest carrying prizes which included a brand new Mazda car and a holiday trip to Australia for two may be waiting in vain for the results . . . the man behind it, one Mr Mark Fraser, is understood to have left the country early in January for an unknown overseas destination after selling rings worth more than $20,000.

A “kindly warning” from Sir Albert Henry, Cook Islands Premier, at the Legislative Assembly meeting as reported in the Cook Islands News: He said that members, when rising to speak, must remember to switch their mircophonc on and, more important, they must remember to switch it off alter their speech is delivered, otherwise every urutoe (backbiting) uttered would automatically be recorded. “I have proof that you are urutoeing me behind mv back” . , 49 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

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First steps in NZ’s big move to take industry to the Islands The New Zealand Government’s Pacific Islands Industrial Development Scheme is gingerly taking its first steps, with three or four ventures tentatively expected to be established in its first year.

The scheme, announced by the government in November, 1976. aims at encouraging New Zealandbased companies to set up approved manufacturing operations in Fiji, Tonga, Western Samoa, the Cook Islands and Niue. It offers companies a range of financial inducements, including interest-free loans (which convert to grants if the ventures are still operating five years after they are set up), assistance with up to 50% of the cost of labour training programmes, feasibility studies, and the transfer of key personnel and equipment from New Zealand.

If the venture ceases operating, or moves from the Island nation in which it was established within five years of the assistance being provided. or fails to meet other conditions set at the time the loan was approved. the loan will become repayable and will bear interest from the time of closure or movement until repayment.

Applications for assistance under the scheme are assessed in accordance with a number of criteria, including the following: • The value of the venture to the Island economy, taking into account the use of local resources, employment creation, the value of the labour skills acquired, the extent of local equity and management participation. and other factors. • The extent to which the venture needs assistance and incentives to be provided by New Zealand.

The amount of incentive to be provided will depend on the extent to which the venture is disadvantaged by features of the commercial environment. such as infrastructural shortcomings. • The desirability of attracting a venture to a particular Island location it may be necessary to provide greater incentives to attract ventures to some Islands than to others. • The need to maintain rational industrial development within the Islands. • The provision of special access to the New Zealand market will be regarded as a form of assistance, and the provision of incentives may be adjusted accordingly. • The need to prevent undue disruption to production and employment in New Zealand. • The extent to which environmental aspects of ventures are satisfactory.

The Pacific Islands Industrial Development Scheme stems from NZ's Island trade makes a big jump in 13 years In the 13 years from 1963 to 1976, the value of New Zealand’s exports to the Pacific Islands increased more than fivefold from SNZIS million to SNZ76 million.

These figures put the Elands among New Zealand’s top iO export markets.

Imports from the Islands have also risen sharply in recent years: from SNZ2O million in the year ended June, 1973. to nearly SNZ42 million in the year ended June, 1976.

The principal buyer of New Zealand exports is Fiji, which, with purchases worth 5NZ26.7 million in die year ended June, 1976, took almost a third of total NZ exports to the region. The major commodities bought by Fiji are meat, fruit and vegetables, dairy products, pulp and paper, non-metallic manufactures and machinery.

Food, building materials and manufactures also constitute NZ export items to the other Pacific Islands. The pattern of NZ exports to these countries has been largely foodstuffs, but with a wide range of raw materials and manufactured goods making up an increasing percentage.

Imports from the area are patterned on one main product per country. Imports from Fiji are principally sugar, from Nauru, the (Albert Islands and Tuvalu mainly phosphate, from Western Samoa and Niue largely copra, from Papua New Guinea coffee and from the Solomon Islands hard woods.

However, in the case of the Cook Islands, imports have largely been of canned fruit and fruit Juice, bananas and, to a lesser extent, clothing (men’s shorts and shirts).

NZ has made a considerable effort to assist stablisation of the banana export industry of the Cook Islands, Western Samoa and Tonga.

A recent statement by the New Zealand Department of Trade and Industry makes the following comment on the background to the growth in Islands trade: "Although New Zealand's exports and imports from the individual Pacific Islands are not large in terms of New Zealand's total trade, the Islands are collectively of significant and growing importance.

"For many years potential New Zealand exporters to the region were deterred by the small size of the scattered Island markets, the low incomes and the relatively unsophisticated requirements of the people, the lack of harbour and airport facilities, and perhaps by their own diffidence in seeking other than traditional markets for their goods.

"However, likely British entry to the European Eco nom ic Community, together with the devaluation of the New Zealand dollar in 1967, stimulated the search for new markets and led to a rapid growth in exports to non-traditional markets, including the Pacific Islands". 55 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY - MAY, 1977

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the work of a special committee set up by the Minister for Trade and Industry, Mr Adams-Schneider. The committee comprised representatives of the New Zealand Manufacturers’ Federation, the Federation of Labour, and government departments. It met a number of times before several of its members joined a party of New Zealand parliamentarians on a 25-day goodwill and fact-finding mission to the Islands.

The framework of the proposed scheme was placed before Island governments for their consideration during the parliamentary visit, and, following the return of the mission to New Zealand in September, 1976, the committee met to complete its thinking and to prepare a report for the NZ Government.

“Make haste slowly” seems to be the wise motto of the New Zealand officials in charge of the scheme.

One of their statements says; “The New Zealand Government hopes that an increasing flow of new ventures will follow the substantial number of initial inquiries, but the pace at which the scheme will develop is difficult to predict. It will depend in large part on the willingness of New Zealand manufacturers to take advantage of the scheme, but the rate at which the industrial infrastructure can be built up across the region will also be an important factor.”

Despite present uncertainties, the potential long-term advantages of the scheme, especially its possible effect in bringing down the level of Islander immigration into New Zealand, guarantee that the New Zealand Government will not lightly abandon it.

NZ chips in with aid for Niuean fisheries From lAN McINTYRF in Nelson, NZ.

A new fishing scheme is under way on Niue Island. Set up as part of the New Zealand Government’s bilateral aid scheme to developing countries it is a practical attempt to raise the catch level of the present local subsistence fishing attempts.

Initiated at the request of the Niue Government’s recently-created Ministry of Fisheries, the scheme has appointed four Niueans as fisheries officers and seconded a New Zealand agriculture and fisheries training officer, Mr Nick Dryden to implement the programme.

Fishing on Niue has traditionally been a very individual affair with the hardy males launching forth from the steep rocky cliffs in their native canoes on to a swell-racked Pacific. Niue has no reefs and no lagoons and only one landing area at Alofi, in the lee of the trade winds.

There is no small boat anchorage and the islanders launch and retrieve their canoes, outboardpowered aluminium dinghys and small runabouts directly into the deep water.

Fishing is carried out as close to shore as the swells permit and what is not required of the catch by the fisherman for his own consumption is sold before the boat even leaves the shore.

For years, the Niueans have watched in frustration as foreign fishing vessels troll and trawl close past their island obviously catching quantities of fish that could well reach local markets given a suitable boat. Then, early in 1976, the Ministry of Fisheries was created and added to the portfolio of Minister Frank Lui. In September, Mr Lui together with local engineer Bill Brown came to New Zealand to inspect available vessels that would fit the criteria for Niue; a good allround, multi-purpose fishing boat that could weather the local conditions, be lifted in and out of the water by shore-mounted derrick and be serviced locally. They settled pn the well-proven 29 ft Karatane and an order was placed for a fibreglass model with George and Ashton in Dunedin. This vessel was to be completed and delivered in mid-April.

Nick Dryden, an experienced deep-water fisherman and NZMAF training officer and fisheries adviser, went to Niue in January to discuss the scheme, inspect local conditions and appraise the requirements for gear types and quantities. He returned to New Zealand with four Niuean youths, fisheries officers Robert Rex Jnr and Archie Moana and assistant fisheries officers Halapatu Eliki and Motu Rex. They underwent a six-weeks practical training course in net-making, mending, slinging and net design plus line-work training and linetrolling and trips on commercial trawlers, longliners, set-netters and the New Zealand Fisheries Industries Board’s experimental purse seiner, Rowallen. While in Nelson, at the Fisheries Research Unit’s base, they made many of the nets and lines they will use on Niue including a long, hand-haul purse seine for experimental night fishing, hopefully for bait fish.

This practical exercise gave tutor Nick Dryden a chance to assess his pupils and for them a taste of things to come. Nick reported that he was most impressed with the speed they picked up the basics and he complimented them as being as good and better at comprehending techniques than any of his previous students On Niue, his training programme will be to teach the initial four to become multipurpose fishermen and then withdraw and allow them to teach others. It is hoped to achieve this within 12 to 18 months.

NZ aid is supplying the boat, gear, support and running costs for the initial 12 months by which time the scheme should have become selfsupporting. It is envisaged that the type of fishing that could be undertaken will include trolling, poling, set-netting (for skipjack tuna), longlining, deep-water lining and inshore gill netting as well as the hand-purse seining for bait fish. As Trade Minister Mr Adam-Schneider

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this is the first organised attempt at catching quantities of fish off Niue, Nick is also taking over a variety of nets and gear to test under local conditions. The emphasis will be on pelagic fishing but all types of fish will be taken including shark. It is hoped to develop a protein supplement scheme whereby sharks and any waste fish will be prepared for pig food, and experiments will be carried out to find an acceptable method of presentation.

With the new Karatane, a variety of nets and lines made and slung by themselves and under the guidance of an enthusiastic professional the new Niuean fisheries team should produce some interesting and worthwhile additions to their island’s economy and diet.

And Nick Dryden, his wife and weeks-old baby daughter are looking forward to a seiner pace of living for a couple of years.

New Zealand looks to booming future in Pacific trade By ALLAN PARKER, Public Relations and Economic Services Division, New Zealand Manufacturers’ Federation Economic and social trends indicate that within the next 20 years before the close of this century the Pacific basin will have become the world’s largest trading region. Its potential importance was underlined recently by the release of a detailed report by one of Europe’s most influential banks. West Germany’s Deutsche Bank.

The bank considered the Pacific basin as the region with the greatest growth potential and pointed out that: • already, half the world’s national product is created in Pacific basin countries, • these same countries order onethird of all world imports; • nearly 40% of the world’s population lives in this region.

The Deutsche Bank report also noted that in the past the countries with the strongest economies (Japan and the United States primarily) had benefited the most. But it expected that all countries in the region could expect to benefit to a much greater degree in the future, particularly with an increasingly sophisticated transport system for shipment of foods across the vast Pacific ocean distances involved.

New Zealand, one of the smaller countries on the rim of the basin, can expect to be included among these as trading has always been the life-blood of the nation.

New Zealand on a per capita basis is in the top league of international traders.

The following comparison on a per capita basis illustrates this; New Zealand SUS2,OOO, Japan $U51,046, USA SUSI,OOO, UK $U51,750.

New Zealand’s prominence in the region has grown rapidly, spurred by rapid industrial development and a dramatic surge in manufactured exports to complement its traditional agricultural exports.

Over the past decade there has been a significant redirection of NZ’s international trade.

In 1965 58% of all our trade was with Europe this had dropped to 32% by 1975.

In 1965 34% of all trade was with Pacific basin countries this rose to 51% by 1975 with expectation that this rise will continue.

So there has been a virtually complete switch in markets in the last *lO years.

The importance of New Zealand in the Pacific basin is highlighted by the fact that the Pacific Basin Economic Council meeting will be held in Christchurch in May. The theme, appropriately enough, will be investment in the Pacific, with emphasis on energy and food.

New Zealand’s interest in the area can be gauged, too, by the number of new trade agreements coming into force between New Zealand and other countries in the Pacific.

There is, of course, the 10-yearold New Zealand-Australia Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between these two Pacific neighbours.

But more recently there have been two new arrangements made with Pacific countries.

The first is SINTESD the Agreement for Industrial, Technological and Scientific Co-operation which aims to promote co-operation between businessmen in New Zealand and Singapore in making the best and most efficient use of the technological and other resources each possesses.

The agreement has three main provisions: • a framework for the establishment in Singapore and New Zealand of joint commercial ventures based on the resources and technological expertise of the two countries; • a formal basis for joint commercial enterprises and development projects in third countries of the South-East Asian region; • a formal basis for scientific cooperation, confirming and building on the relationship which already exists between New Zealand’s Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) and the Singapore Institute of Standards and Industrial Research (SISIR).

A comparison of two-way trade between the two countries shows the growing importance of the two countries to each other’s economies.

Last year, two-way trade reached SNZI3O million, a 400% growth in just five years. But New Zealand still accounts for only 1% of Singapore’s total trade and Singapore only 1.5% of New Zealand’s trade.

The advantages of agreements such as SINTESD between countries in the region can best be illustrated by pointing out that Singapore is anxious to build up its industrial base and can, in return, offer New Zealand a new market-place and a geographical stepping stone to other markets.

In addition, closer ties between the two countries will be of benefit to New Zealand as the former joins the proposed Association of South- 59 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

Niuean Fisheries

from p. 57

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East Asian Nations (ASEAN) common market.

More recently, New Zealand has introduced a Pacific Islands Industrial Development Scheme which is aimed at providing financial assistance and incentives for New Zealand companies developing approved manufacturing operations in Fiji, Tonga, Western Samoa, the Cook Islands and Niue, with the objective of fostering economic development and employment opportunities. (See elsewhere in this issue of PIM.) As has happened with companies in Australia and New Zealand operating under the NAFTA, so too will SINTESD and PUDS create a greater interdependence of Pacific basin economies.

A measure of this interdependence and, in particular. New Zealand’s reliance on the Pacific basin is the fact that in the year ended June 1976, manufactured goods worth $NZ418,177,217 were sent to 22 countries in the Pacific and South-East Asian areas. And that excluded the West Coast of North and South America.

This represented some 55% of New Zealand’s total exports to the same countries of $763,294,794 in the same year.

The biggest market was Australia, which took $217.3 million worth of New Zealand manufactured goods.

And the growing influence of Japan in the region is underlined by the fact that it took $122.25 million worth of New Zealand manufactures. So over three-quarters of New Zealand’s manufactured goods exported into the Pacific were taken by two countries.

At the other end of the scale. New Zealand’s smallest buyer in the area was Fletcher Christian’s haven, Pitcairn Island, which took SNZII,OOO worth of goods from New Zealand industry.

While New Zealand’s farming produce meat, wool, butter, cheese, etc. will continue to dominate the country’s economy at least until 1980, the sign “Made in New Zealand” will be appearing on more and more shop-shelves in such varied places as Manila, Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo, Sydney and Suva.

New Zealand has long relied on its agriculture to pay for its imports.

The Deutsche Bank report mentioned earlier described this country as “the green island of the South Pacific”. But it has been this reliance on farm products that has caused the national economy so many problems in the past and not least the current recession as commodity prices around the world have soared and dived.

The country is now realising the need for a more solid base to the economy to even out the fluctuations in food prices. In the past decade, rapid industrialisation has greatly expanded the country’s ability to counter these violent dips.

This industrial expansion was initially aimed at import substitution making products in New Zealand that were previously bought from overseas countries and thus saving valuable foreign currency. But more recently, the emphasis has switched to the export of manufactured goods as an earner rather than simply a saver of foreign exchange. The results have been remarkable.

In 1965, total exports of manufactured goods amounted to only SNZ34 million (FOB). By the end of November 1975 this had risen to $383 million an increase of over 1,000 per cent in just 10 years.

In 1976, these exports were worth $612 million, a staggering $229 million (60%) increase over the previous year. Last year’s earnings from manufactured exports were worth 22.4% of New Zealand’s total export earnings of $2,723 million.

A major side-effect of these exports is an improvement in quality.

Consumers throughout the Pacific region are becoming more sophisticated and demanding goods of a correspondingly higher quality.

New Zealand is now in the midst of a massive export drive and it is widely recognised that the country’s manufacturers have the greatest ability to spearhead this growth. Indeed, a rapid growth in exports is now one of New Zealand’s top priorities and this has been recognised by government itself. Last year, the National government’s Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Lance Adams-Schneider, commenting on the passing of the $5OO million mark for manufactured exports in a single year, issued the country’s manufacturers with a special challenge to double that figure in five years in other words, export goods worth $1 billion by 1980.

New Zealand industry is confident it can reach this landmark and it is hopeful that its exports will equal those of the country’s agricultural products by 1985.

Australia has long been the focal point in the drive for more manufactured exports. It will now prove a logical stepping stone for companies who cut their export teeth in that competitive market to move further into the Pacific basin.

A panoramic view of the Tasman Pulp and Paper Company Ltd at Kawerau in the Bay of Plenty. The mill, worth $34 million a year to New Zealand in exports and savings in imports, produces in a year 200,000 tons of newsprint, 60,000 tons of export pulp, up to 800,000 board feet of timber and over 130,000 gallons of turpentine. 61 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

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PNG as one of the last havens for old-time gold-seekers BOOKS Although Hank Nelson’s Black, White & Gold claims to be the history of goldmining in Papua New Guinea it, in fact, concentrates almost entirely on the early history of the industry in the old territory of Papua, devoting less than 20 pages to PNG’s most prolific Morobe field.

There are, no doubt, several reasons for this but it is a pity that the author didn’t carry the job on until the outbreak of the Pacific War instead of making 1930 the cut-off point. Mining in the old sense never got going again in the post-war period.

But apart from this shortfall at the New Guinea end, this is the most comprehensive survey yet of early goldmining and goldminers and the effect they had on the indigenous people who were caught up in the industry. The author has done a good job of research and has put together a mass of material that otherwise remains buried in archives and institutions all over Australia and PNG.

Individuals have written about individual PNG goldfields but Nelson’s wider angle puts PNG into context with that 19th century phenomenon the great gold rushes that began in California in 1848 and girdled the world in the following 80 years.

PNG was one of the last havens for old-time prospectors but the earliest of them had gone there from the Palmer goldfield inland from Cooktown, Queensland, and were frequently graduates of even earlier strikes. Such stalwarts in PNG mining as Matt Crowe and Shark-eye Park were veterans of Coolgardie- Kalgoorlie, West Australia, and the Yukon.

The first goldfield in Papua was on Sudest, the largest of the Louisiade Islands, perhaps because of its geographical position. As the name implies it is in the extreme SE of what had become a British Protectorate in 1884. Virtually all the early navigators had been that way although few of these had landed and the islanders had been in contact with foreigners from early in the Australian colonial period. Royal Navy surveyors, traders, whalers, pearlers and, at a later stage, labour recruiters for the Queensland canefields, all made their presence felt and relationships with the Louisiade Islanders varied from acceptance through armed neutrality to open hostility.

In 1888, Captain David Whyte, master of a pearler, reported finding gold-bearing reef on Pana Tinani, the island at the SE end of the Calvados Chain. At his home port of Cooktown, local businessmen financed an expedition consisting of Whyte and nine prospectors and they set off in May that year, found nothing except hungry quartz on Pana Tinani but crossed to Sudest and by August had recovered 142 ounces of alluvial gold.

The news electrified Cooktown and by the end of 1888 about 400 miners were in Sudest or were preparing to go there. In view of past history, relationships between the 1,000 indigenous inhabitants of Sudest and the miners were reasonable. The Sudest were anxious for European goods and prepared to work as carriers in order to get them. A number even worked on miners’ claims although some of the miners found the idea abhorrent, even unethical, having been nurtured on the tough Australian idea that a man worked his own claim or perhaps “two men’s ground’’ with a mate. A team of natives at the sluice boxes while the miner merely supervised proceedings, was contrary to previous mining lore.

It was an attitude that soon disappeared in PNG and so far as the Sudest labourers were concerned they soon woke up to the fact that they would be far better off working claims of their own. This did not please the white miners either but the only real trouble occurred when an old miner was killed by a disap- 63 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

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Sudest gave up its richest gold within two years and made no one wealthy. By 1890 only 40 white miners were left there and soon even these were gone, leaving what gold remained to the local people who continued to scratch over the field right up to the beginning of the Pacific War.

Even at the end of 1888, it was clear that Sudest was not going to support the number of Australian miners who were heading that way from Cooktown. Fearing that they would disperse in unsupervised fashion all over the Islands, Dr MacGregor, then Lieut-Governor of the territory, put the government schooner at the disposal of a prospecting party which scoured most of the larger islands and found prospects on Misima, NNW of Sudest.

By 1889, 80 miners were established there and the numbers eventually rose to 400 in spite of the fact that Misima was a poor field for alluvialists. Its real wealth lay in the lodes from which the alluvial gold was shed but these were not discovered until 1904.

Although it took almost 10 years to raise the development capital, successful mines were eventually established on the Umuna lode.

Cuthbert’s Misima Gold Mine Ltd was Papua’s most successful mine, paying handsome dividends to shareholders and employing up to 700 men. The mine was destroyed during World War II and although a new company was formed in 1959 it was unsuccessful in resuscitating the venture.

Woodlark was the next field of alluvial mining. Peak year for production 20,000 ozs— was 1897, two years after discovery. Production and mining population declined slowly thereafter although some lode mining helped stem the rot.

In many respects mining on Papua’s islands was preliminary skirmishing. Prospecting the Laloki country behind Port Moresby had predated the rush to Sudest but was a failure and later attempts on the mainland fared little better. In 1889, the two men who had found the first good gold on Misima, James McTier and Frank Rochefort, better known as Jimmy the Larrikin and Frenchy, landed on the south mainland coast at Cloudy Bay and proceeded up the Bomguina River. Men from the first inland village axed them to death while they were crossing a tributary and all other prospectors gave the area a wide berth for the next five years.

From 1894, however, several parties from Queensland were formed to prospect behind Bartle Bay, on the NE coast of what is now the Milne Bay Province, and succeeded only in collecting malaria and a few fine colours.

Interest then turned to what is now Northern Province and in 1895 George Clark, leading a Cairns prospecting party, went up the Mambare River. Troubles ensued from the start and a month later when the party was in the river’s middle reaches, Clark was clubbed to death in a skirmish with natives.

The rest of the party returned to the coast and MacGregor subsequently led a patrol into the area to establish a port at Tamata leaving John Green in charge as government agent. In 1897 Green, two other Europeans, police and prisoners were killed at the station by the Binandere people who also had been responsible for Clark’s death two years before.

Nonetheless, miners had been working in the area since shortly after Clark’s murder and in the last years of the old century and first decade of the new worked in the upper Mambare and its tributaries, along the Yodda Valley and the headwaters, the Gira, Tamata and Aikora. They also combed the area between the Kumusi and the Waria where it bulged out from what was then German New Guinea. The whole area was gold-bearing but, except in isolated pockets, poor.

In 1901 Frank Pryke, a veteran of Australian goldfields, joined George Klotz to prospect inland from Cloudy Bay. They struck an isolated patch and when they left for Samarai a few months later had 370 ounces. From this developed the very small Kevesi field but by the end of the first decade of the new century, gold in Papua appeared to be petering out everywhere. The government then put up £BOO to finance a prospecting party which was led by Matt Crowe, 47 year old ex-Victorian policeman, who had graduated from West Australian and Yukon mining before arriving in Papua to register the first claim on the Yodda. Later, with Arthur Darling, he had worked on the Waria.

Crowe chose Frank and Jim Pryke as his mates and in June, 1909, with 35 Papuan labourers and stores for six months they left Port Moresby on the government schooner bound for the Tauri River which discharges into the Gulf of Papua west of the Lakekamu. As a result of their efforts a goldfield covering 768 square miles of country at the head of the Lakekamu system and reaching to the German New Guinea border was declared in December, 1909, and the exodus from the northern fields began.

By the middle of 1910 over 200 white miners and 1,100 labourers had reached the field but the majority quit in short order and the Lakekamu remained an area that sustained few and between 1910 and 1920, produced a total of only 33,654 ounces of gold. In the 1930 s when Bulolo proved a dredging bonanza, a small dredge was put into the Papua river and operated until 1939.

The Lakekamu did, however, The "Bom-Bom", a crushing plant at Umuna, Misima, in the 1920s. 65 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

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maintain the men who were to eventually open up the rich Morobe field on the other side of the mountains and which had tantalised experienced miners from the time they first entered Yodda, Gira and Lakekamu fields. They were prevented from putting their idea to the test, firstly, by the impossibility of maintaining supply lines in country virtually untouched by Europeans and peopled by hostile natives and, secondly, by tne fact that the German administration was determined to keep mineral rights out of foreign hands although right up to the end of their period in NG they had done little in the way of gold search and nothing in the way of exploitation.

According to Nelson, Frank Pryke, at one time, considered becoming a naturalised German in order to explore the Watut- Markham country but, generally, a state of stalemate prevailed while men washed a bare living from the creeks and rivers that fed the Lakekamu.

Among those who did more than theorise about the gold beyond the German border was Arthur Darling who, in late 1909, prospected the Markham and Watut until forced to retreat through lack of food, malaria and a spear wound. He died as a result of these experiences in 1911.

In 1912 a party consisting of Matt Crowe, William (Shark-eye) Park, James Preston and Edward Auerbach prospected the Markham but their only discovery was to confirm the fierceness of the local natives.

There have been suggestions that Preston returned to the area in 1914 and that Darling or Preston actually washed good gold at what was later Koranga Creek but this had never been confirmed.

Although an Australian expeditionary force took over German New Guinea in 1914, a Mandate from the League of Nations did not come into force until 1921 and two more years went by before a mining ordinance came into effect and Australian diggers could legally operate.

It was found that two men had jumped the gun and had been washing gold at Koranga Creek which ran into the Upper Bulolo before it plunges into a gorge. They were Shark-eye Park, who had got his first sniff of the country 10 years before and John Nettleton, an exmember of the expeditionary force who had returned to set up a trade store on the Huon Gulf. He left the store in someone else’s care and joined Park in 1922. In 1923, they emerged to register their claims and bring out the gold they had accumulated from a year’s work. It was more than could have been expected from several lifetimes on Yodda or Lakekamu.

In spite of this, no rush developed, partly because the ranks of Papua’s prospectors had been thinned in the war years, partly because of the remoteness and difficulty of the country at the head of the Bulolo.

Some old stalwarts of the Papuan fields who had been battling from one miserable creek to another for 20 years, including Frank Pryke, Les Joubert, Joe Sloane and George Arnold, were fairly early arrivals at the new find but even at the end of 1925 the number of men working above Bulolo Gorge could be counted on two hands. It was not until the discovery of even better gold in the upper reaches of Edie Creek, which joined the Bulolo below the Koranga, that the situation changed.

A rush of sorts began although in comparison with the rushes of California, Australia and the Klondike, each of which involved scores of thousands of individuals, what occurred in Morobe in the 1920 s was a dawdle not a rush.

At the end of 1926 there were 200-odd miners on the field and in 1932, after air transport had superseded the six days’ agony of the Salamaua-Edie track, and the first dredges were working, miners still numbered less than 500.

Morobe gold was of poor quality and on average brought less than £3 per ounce in the early years but a team could wash out up to 80 ounces a day on Koranga and a claim on the Edie could produce as much in a day as the best Lakekamu claims could in a year.

By the outbreak of World War 11, gold from Morobe was worth over £3 million a year big money in those days. It helped to keep the Territory financially afloat and at no cost to the Australian taxpayer.

It is interesting to speculate on what the old Territory of New Guinea would have been like if the Morobe deposits had not been discovered until after World War II instead of after World War I; or what would have happened if the Germans, who had been in their Territory since 1 883, has produced prospectors and miners on the same scale as Australia instead of concentrating almost entirely on planters and traders.

In comparison with the detail in which he describes the history of the several Papua fields, Nelson’s chapter on Morobe is brief and fairly superficial, possibly because the big developments in airtransportation and large-scale dredging after 1927 are fairly well documented and are, in any event, in a different dimension.

Black, White & Gold is, nonetheless, an excellent account of a phase of PNG history that covered half a century and is never likely to be repeated. The fact that the author has put equal emphasis on the reactions of the indigenous people who were touched by this alien industry provides perspective that most other PNG mining accounts lack.

The book is illustrated with some old photographs and line drawings.

There are production and other tables and 15 maps which are simple and are adequate for those blessed with good sight. All those who are not are recommended to equip themselves with a good magnifying glass to ease the reading of some of the place names.

Judy Tudor (BLACK, WHITE & GOLD. By H. N. Nelson.

Published by Australian National University Press, PO Box 4, Canberra, ACT $8.95 (paper), $16.95 (cloth).) The last three permanent residents at Edie Creek, from left, George (Scotty Sutherland) and Stella and Ned Partridge, pictured in the 1960s. -Photo: M. R. Hayes 67 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

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Telephone 47-069 Papatoetoe, Telex N.Z. 2290- Who cares what makes New Zealand tick?

Anyone with any doubts about the national characteristics of the New Zealanders can now read about them in The Passionless People. In it the author, Gordon McLauchlan, a fourth generation Kiwi himself, operating from some olympian height, sets about the psyche of his countrymen with a metaphorical machete and leaves it without a shred of virtue.

As such, what he says has certain elements of inverted superiority complex. Who are these monumental dullards that they warrant a 200odd page book about them? Who outside New Zealand cares what makes 3 1 / 2 million New Zealanders tick?

According to McLauchlan they aren’t, as they think, contented people living in a green and sunlit land but a mob of “smiling Zombies”; unhappy, unsure of themselves culturally constipated, as it were, because migration has come entirely from the British Isles instead of (like Australia) from middle and southern Europe, Middle East and even Latin America. Furthermore, there were too many canny Scots amongst the early settlers and their horrible influence is still being felt, five generations on.

We are told that NZ society is materialistic and bemused by statistics. People are carried away by the thought that the New Zealander is, per capita, the world’s biggest meat eater, butter eater, sugar comsumer, milk drinker, beer drinker, etc. Their conception of God is said to be a “South Canterbury sheep farmer with a diploma of farm machinery from Lincoln College, who plays senior in the Rugby scrum and gets pissed with the boys but never with strangers”.

A lot of Kiwis suffer, McLauchlan thinks, from sexual hangups (could it be because of a dearth of those Latin Americans and Southern Europeans?) but “ ... the divorce rate is still relatively low. It is believed that the New Zealand wife lasts such a long time as a sex partner because she has so few moving parts ...”

Other New Zealander faults include the facts that they drink too much, take too many pills, make good soldiers but are moral cowards, are ultra-conservative and probably racist. When in doubt about anything they set up a committee or call a general meeting; and they prostrate themselves in admiration of the medical profession which sits firmly at the top of the social totem-pole.

“In New Zealand,” the author says, “the scapel is mightier than the pen, sword, orb and sceptre too ...

Here he is the subject of fawning social adulation. I think the most likely reason is that in NZ the doctor is the perfect shining example of the things New Zealanders most admire superficial cleverness, conformity and money.”

The list of Kiwi shortcomings is endless; quotes from psychiatrists, social workers, poets, politicians, novelists, professors of this and that, even doctors, are given at length to reinforce the proposition that they are a despicable and hopeless lot.

Virtues, if any, are not mentioned.

The Passionless People may enrage a few Kiwis but nationally it is hardly likely to bring about a metamorphosis in the New Zealand way of life. Foreigners, if they aren’t bored by it, will probably reflect that there also could go a Brit, a Pom, a Yank or an Aussie.

Uniquely for anyone living on the eastern side of the Tasman Sea, the author seems to see virtue in the way Australians do things. In this, by inference, he even goes to the length of thinking that a new and virile culture is developing a fact denied by his Australian opposite numbers who exhort Aussies to forgot their beach-bumming, beerswilling, horse-racing preoccupations and get off their collective backsides, or else.

Gordon Maclauchlan has been a journalist for 25 years during which time he has had a multiplicity of jobs, including, at one time, being editor of the New Zealand Journal of Agriculture which can hardly be said to be anything but attached to the Establishment. Perhaps that’s what soured him.

He is best known now for his humorous column in the New Zealand Herald’s Saturday edition and no doubt he has sufficient fans to take the book in the spirit in which it maybe, was meant; Not too seriously. Judy Tudor. (THE PASSIONLESS PEOPLE by Gordon McLauchlan. Published by Cassell, New Zealand. 1NZ6.95.) 69 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

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PNG wants customers for its Purari River power From GUS SMALES in Port Moresby “Won’t someone please offer to buy our electricity?” appears to be the plea from Papua New Guinea in a joint statement issued in Port Moresby and Canberra in mid- March.

The PNG Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Sir Maori Kiki, and the Australian Minister for National Resources and Overseas Trade, Mr Doug Anthony, issued the statement.

It marked the opening of new arrangements for trade and commercial co-operation between the two countries, following an agreement which began operating in February.

The statement made particular reference to a major study into the possibility of a hydro-electric scheme on the Purari River which flows into the Gulf of Papua on the south coast of the PNG mainland.

Since January, 1975, a team of experts from PNG, Australia and Japan have been studying the river’s potential and the feasibility of establishing an industry based on the power.

Mr Anthony disclosed that if “The Purari Aluminium Project” can handle up to 800,000 tonnes a year, Australia is prepared to sell bauxite or alumina or both on a commercial basis under good terms.

PNG developers have welcomed the statement, but the bland reference to “The Purari Aluminium Project” has already raised questions and Sir Maori was not available for further comment.

The present situation is that Politicians and technicians have een extremely cagey in giving a firm indication of what will come out of the Purari study. And there has been no firm proposal yet for a specific industry to use Purari power.

Even if the hydro-electric scheme were to get a top rating for feasibility, the availability of a customer to buy the power still appears to present NG with a major problem. In any event, at least another six months remains before the firs detailed report is expected from th study project.

The consortium undertaking the work anticipated an initial period of 33 months before presenting its first major report and this period will be completed in September.

The liasion officer for the scheme, Mr K. Dyer, confirmed in Port Moresby that the study was proceeding satisfactorily without hitches, which suggests that very little of a definite nature can be said about the project until September.

Mr Dyer confirmed, too, that world interest from smelting or processing customers to use the power is not as great today as it was when the study began or more accurately, the predictions of several years ago have not been realised because of downturns in the world economy.

Any suggestion from Mr Anthony’s statement tending to indicate that an alumina or bauxite industry is just round the corner is therefore unlikely.

A far more likely inference is that potential customers for Purari power are not knocking down the door to get to PNG, and that Australia is reflecting this situation by giving certain assurances for the future. Such assurances flow fairly naturally from Australia in the light of the special economic partnership which exists between the two countries, and as a direct result of the new trade and commercial agreement itself.

The present Purari study is concentrating on the Wabo Dam proposal, a projected dam in the foothills of the ranges. The possible output of Wabo something like 1500 megawatts far exceeds any possible domestic consumption which means that the attraction of a consumer customer is essential if a scheme is to be established.

The study also involves a port and industry site on the coast, and the environmental aspects of the development are becoming increasingly of concern to the government.

Wabo is only one of several possible dam sites, and the ultimate potential of the Purari if takers can be found is estimated to be greater than the Australian Snowy Mountains project.

Shaky prices worry Bougainville Copper Fluctuations in world copper prices is a major problem facing Bougainville Copper Ltd. The chairman, Mr Frank Espie, in the annual report, said the fluctuations made it difficult to plan new investments, adversely affected earnings of copper-producing countries and encouraged consumers to seek alternatives with more stable price structures.

The United Nations sponsored meetings in 1976 involving governments of copper consuming and producing nations at which plans were made for future studies to consider possible solutions of the problem.

“However, a successful outcome at an early date is unlikely since there is a wide diversity of views and interests,” Mr Espie said.

Bougainville Copper maintained Sir Maori Kiki.... he'll have electricity for sale.

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Exporters of fine bakeware throughout the Pacific Islands. a watching brief on those developments, and had exchanged views with the PNG Government. The effect of the fluctuations on the government was reduced by setting up a mineral resources stabilisation fund, which acted as a buffer between the variable revenues received by the government from Bougainville Copper. The fund helped to ensure a regular transfer of funds to finance a steady programme of government spending.

Mr Espie said the net effect on the company’s overall position following currency changes between the kina and the Australian dollar was favourable.

The managing director, Mr D. C.

Vernon, said that at the end of 1976 reserves of ore were just over 800 million tonnes averaging 0.45% copper and 0.51 gm gold a tonne.

All is not gold at Vatukoula Emperor Mines Ltd reported a loss of $486,000 in the six months to December 31, 1976, compared with a profit of $270,000 in the previous corresponding half-year, although in 1975-76 there was an overall loss of $381,857.

In February and March the company was plagued with a strike at Vatukoula and this could cause a further loss in the current half-year, even though there had been a steady rise in the price of gold in recent weeks. The directors in a brief comment on the latest half-year said factors which affected earnings were general strikes, resulting in the loss of production, and the substantial drop in the price of gold.

The company carried out a threat to close the mine in February and only re-opened after the Fiji Government guaranteed to provide up to $2 million to offset losses in the next 28 months. During the closure a number of skilled employees found jobs elsewhere and do not want to go back to Vatukoula.

The Emperor chairman, Mr J.

Reid, said if the company could not get sufficient skilled labour it would have to train the workers it already had in the required skills. Emperor has an extensive training programme, covering many tradesmen such as mechanics, electricians and plumbers.

Bigtime hotel business comes to Rarotonga For many years accommodation for the traveller has been one of the great shortcomings of Rarotonga.

Many visitors suffered for over half a century from the eccentricities and crudities of the old buildings which used to be known as the Hotel Rarotonga, and most recently as Otera Rarotonga.

They now house the Tourist Authority, the Police Department and the Totalisator Agency Board. The operations of the last-named must be a tourist attraction in its own right.

The overseas gambler attracted by a mild flutter would be intrigued by the mysteries of the betting system.

However, the only real interest the old hotel must now have for those seeking the thrills of island life is the bar, known as the Banana Court.

Here are gloom, rudimentary service, loud music, disorder, and old island identities. Whether it is a suitable Mecca for sophisticated tourists is highly debatable.

Of late, local and overseas interests have been looking increasingly closely at the accommodation and food service business. There are now the Blue Boy Soft Ice Cream van and piecart, the Cafe Polynesie, the Outrigger Restaurant, the Vai Mai Steakhouse, and the Trailways Hotel, among others.

The quality varies, but in some instances the service and the food are of a surprisingly high standard.

Island people speak in excited terms of the impending impact of a “tourist boom”. Perhaps their expectations will come to fruition, but by no stretch of the imagination could the present unco-ordinated offerings of accommodation, food services, transport and the other trappings of full-scale tourism be seen as capable of meeting a steady and reasonably large visitor trade.

A bold attempt to capitalise upon the potential development of Rarotonga as a South Pacific visitor resort is nearing completion at White Sands on the south-western side of the island, about 10 miles from Avarua.

Cook Islands Hotels Ltd, whose principal shareholders are Air New Zealand, the Tourist Hotel Corporation of New Zealand, and the Cook Islands Government, have invested about SNZS million in the project, the principal contractors being Mainline- Brown and Doherty.

The Rarotonga Hotel has been designed by a grouping of New Zealand architects.

The basic concept has been tc achieve airiness and an uncluttered aspect in the main public areas while at the same time providing a maximum of privacy in the airconditioned accommodation units which are spaced out across the “village” complex. The exterior walls are in a pale yellow, much of the woodwork has been left in natural colours and wooden shingles have been used for roofing.

The project is seen as being developed in two stages and one will provide 103 rooms, each with a double and a single bed.

Curtains and bed coverings are in blues and greens, and pandanus mats made in the outer islands of the group will be used as mats and wall hangings. Australian quarry tiles have been used extensively as a flooring material, and much of the furniture is of cane manufacture from Cebu in the Philippines.

The hotel has the usual public places, including a conference room to seat 200 people, and there is a conventional swimming pool area.

The site is on the edge of the lagoon, with a pleasant, white sandy beach and a limited-area lagoon which offers clean swimming in comparatively shallow water.

The setting of the hotel will mean that guests will enjoy some of the most striking sunsets to be' viewed in the Pacific.

The Tourist Hotel Corporation of New Zealand will be responsible for the management of the hotel, and it will shortly begin training local staff.

Initially, the hotel will employ 82 staff members and this will be an immediate influence upon the employment situation in the Cooks, as about 60 will be Polynesians.

Present predictions are that about two-thirds of the Polynesian staff will be recruited on Rarotonga, with the remainder being Cook Islanders who will be returning from New Zealand.

The hotel management has already found that it can draw upon a pool of Cook Islanders in New Zealand, mainly in the 30-40 age group, who wish to return to their home islands after spending about 10 years in New Zealand.

The success or otherwise of the hotel must also be a significant factor in the development plans of Air New Zealand, which is presently the only international air carrier servicing the Cooks. However, it is rumoured on the beach that an American airline may well appear on the scene in the near future.

The new Rarotonga Hotel. 73 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

AHI have put the lid on canning costs (the collapsed can story) Collapsed cans are shipped in compacted form before using, the bodies are reformed and flanged, and one end seamed on. The can is now ready for filling.

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FOR FURTHER DETAILS CONTACT: ARTHUR LOWE LTD. P.O. BOX 13-011. AUCKLAND HF When you cast your bread on Cook Islands’ waters New Zealand is the biggest beneficiary, next to the Cook Islands, from the Cook Islands tourist industry. This is fair enough considering the money NZ has poured into the group for many years.

Air New Zealand, which is owned by the NZ Government, is financing the Rarotongan Hotel, along with the Tourist Hotel Corporation of NZ and the Cook Islands Government. Air NZ is also a part-owner of Cook Island Airways, the group’s internal airline.

Air NZ enjoys a monopoly on services to the Cook Islands, one of which passes through Nadi and American Samoa. Another carries on to Papeete. So Air NZ gets all the air traffic, both ways, some of which originates in NZ, some channelled through NZ, from Australia and places to the west, some in Fiji and American Samoa and some in Tahiti. A service between Rarotonga and Honolulu will open in June.

The bigger the tourist industry grows, the better it will be for Air NZ as long as it can hold its monopoly. Now operating three services a week into or through Rarotonga, it can, if it uses its DCIO aircraft, land more than 900 tourists a week in the group. The Cook Islands does not have sufficient accommodation to handle crowds of that magnitude, which is probably just as well, for they will not remain much longer the “last unspoilt discovery, in the tourist sense, in the South Pacific”.

But tourism is badly needed in the Cook Islands to help its ailing economy. Now that the cannery has closed there is little else, except for the export of copra, fruit and vegetables to NZ, to earn overseas exchange.

Experience elsewhere in the South Pacific, particularly in the boom years of the 1960 s and early 19705, pointed to the value of tourism in national economies which were little above subsistence level, although many people would be inclined to query the value of its effect on local people and cultures.

The Cook Islands, in relation to tourism, have not always been dependent on its jet air links with NZ and other Island groups. For eight years it picked up a few tourists from the Air NZ (then TEAL) Sunderland flying-boat which operated a service from Laucala Bay, Fiji, to Papeete, via Satapuala in Western Samoa, and Aitutaki.

And every three weeks since late in 1956, regular visitors on southlbound voyages round the Pacific from San Francisco and Los Angeles, have been, and still are, the luxury ships Mariposa and the Monterey. In addition, the Cook Islands have played host to passenger liners from many countries carrying holidaymakers on Pacific cruises.

Enjoying a monopoly.... Air New Zealand makes another landing at Rarotonga. - Photo: Ned Avary 75 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

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TELEPHONE 73-279 TELEX N.Z. 2313 Solomons’ first NZ trade tour The Solomon Islands first trade mission has been touring New Zealand listening, learning and seeking outlets for its products. In the same breath almost, it has been inviting NZ industries to visit the Solomons and look at the islands’ potential.

Leader of the mission was the Minister of Foreign Trade, Industry and Labour, Mr Pulepada Ghemu, who echoed his government’s hopes for stimulating trade in the Pacific region; “We have potential for development and are confident of the future but the question is how to find overseas markets and get into them,” he said.

Mr Ghemu, sees Australia and New Zealand as the major initial potential markets in his region. Later might come South-east Asian countries.

Although the Solomons has trading ties with Britain and Europe the government is looking at opportunities closer to home.

The trade visit at the invitation and sponsorship of the NZ Government offered the delegation a chance to advertise the islands’ hardwoods, fish and handicrafts but the delegation members were also keen to discuss tourism and investments.

“We have guidelines for investments but anyone who would like to come and see what we have is most welcome,” Mr Ghemu said. He would also like to see more NZ technicians visit the islands and when the Solomons gains its sovereignty from Britain within a year its leaders want ties with other countries in the region firmly established.

Mr Ghemu said he hoped invitations would follow for trade missions to visit other Pacific countries.

Other members of the mission were the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Trade, Industry and Labour, Mr Leonard P.

Maenu’u, member of the Legislative Assembly, Mr Philip Kapini and secretary to the Chief Minister and co-ordinator of foreign affairs, Mr Francis Bugotu.

Brightest Jewel In The

Burns Philp Crown

Burns Philp (SS) Co Ltd was the brightest jewel in the Burns Philp and Co Ltd crown in the half-year ended December 31. The Sydneybased parent company, although lifting the net operating half-year profit by 10.8% to $6,680,000 ($6,031,000 in 1 975), had disappointing results in some divisions and, as yet, has had no return from a huge investment in Robe River.

The 70%-owned South Seas company, based in Suva, and operating in Fiji, Tonga and Samoa, lifted net profit by 60.1% in the half-year to SFI.4 million. This excellent result was achieved mainly through its merchandising division breaking even. In the past this division has traded at a loss, There were also better returns from the branches in both Samoas and Tonga. The gross revenue for the six months was $F22.4 million, which was 8.3% higher than that of the six months to December 31, 1975. The interim dividend is 15c a share.

The parent company is changing course, shedding its low-yielding investment portfolio in favour of direct participation in industrial activities which it can control. The benefits of this policy are starting to show through in some areas, In the six months, sales at $220,- 216,000 were 28.3% higher than in the December 31, 1975, half-year.

New Zealand's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Brian Talboys, talks to the Solomons' trade mission team. The Solomons Foreign Trade Minister, Mr Ghemu, is second from the right. 77 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

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Full Address 50th birthday for Breckwoldt March, 1977, marked the 50th anniversay of the founding of the Hamburg-based Breckwoldt organisation, well-known on the Pacific Islands trading scene.

The company’s Australian subsidiary, Breckwoldt Australia, is almost solely engaged in the export of a wide range of Australian goods, mainly foodstuffs, to the Islands, where there are 10 Breckwoldt offices, seven of them in Papua New Guinea.

Another Breckwoldt organisation, Projects Procurements Pty Ltd, specialises in the supply of foodstuffs required by mining and construction camps in Australia and overseas.

The founder of the firm, Mr Wilhelm Breckwoldt, started an export-import company under his own name in Hamburg 50 years ago. and following intensive overseas sales tours by him and later also by his top executives, branches were opened in Rabaul (1934), Suva (1934), Papeete (1936) and Apia (1937).

Branches were later opened in Venezuela and Nigeria.

Among joint development projects in which Breckwoldt has taken part are a now-completed soap factory in Lae. Papua New Guinea, and the brewery project now under way in Apia, Western Samoa.

Companies represented by Breckwoldt in a number of countries include Daimler-Benz. Volkswagen.

Bosch, Hoechst and Agfa-Gaevert.

Eight countries meet over sugar The price at which Fiji will supply sugar to a number of neighbouring islands was fixed at a recent regional meeting in Suva, which discussed a long-term sugar agreement.

Represented at the meeting, at the headquarters of the South Pacific Bureau of Economic Co-operation, were the Gilbert Islands, Niue, Nauru, Tonga, Tuvalu, the Solomons, Western Samoa and Fiji.

The meeting also agreed on quota allocations. The coming year will be the second in which the agreement was operated. SPEC headquarters issued a statement saying that the price and quotas had been fixed, but for some reason or other did not state the price or the quota 78

Pacific Islands Monthly May, 197

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And it usually lasts up to 24 hours. * $ W % 100% Active Ingredients! Muskol is 90% Deet, the insect repellent ingredient that stopped the mosquitoes in the Panama Canal Zone, and 10% other powerful repellents. It will keep off all biting insects, but is harmless to normal skin, has no strong unpleasant smell, and needs only a few drops rubbed over the exposed skin. ‘Remcon Industries have the proof of exhaustive tests under heavy insect infestation conditions, that Muskol will positively repel all biting insects. Ask for Muskol from your local retailer now.

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Also leading Island Agents throughout the South Pacific, including Burns Philp & Company Ltd., and Sullivans.

If unavailable in your area write to: Remcon Industries Pty. Ltd., P.O. Box 54, Surry Hills, N.S.W. 2010, Australia.

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Png To Boost Water

Buffalo Farming

Water buffaloes are to be bred in Papua New Guinea on a large scale for the first time.

The all-purpose Asian beast has been promoted in several parts of the country to improve villagers’ self-reliance in food-growing and cash-cropping.

Buffaloes like cattle, they are not indigenous to PNG are slowly gaining acceptance as work animals and as sources of meat as a sidebenefit.

Now, in a plan backed by the Asian Development Bank, relatively huge numbers are expected to take over the grasslands of the East Sepik, one of the country’s poorest ana least-developed areas.

Potentially very productive, the rather soggy grasslands proved to be only marginally worthwhile for cattle raising, although the foothills rising from the plains were a suitable home for beef herds.

But buffaloes, over the past 10 or 12 years of experiments, have shown themselves clearly superior to the cattle in adapting to the grasslands.

They have had a higher calving rate, faster growth and have reached maturity earlier.

The ADB has now lent SUS 1.645 million to set up 88 small-holder village buffalo farms over the next six years.

A nucleus farm will begin the project, using 5,500 hectares of government land adjacent to the Sepik Plains Livestock Station at Urimo.

The present experimental herd of 600 buffaloes will be increased by 2,000 imported breeders.

During the first six years, the turn-off will be maximised so that about 3,500 will be distributed to small-holders.

Each small-holder farm will be supplied with 41 head. These will be 20 breeders, 20 steers and a bull.

The steers are for use after the first three years so they can be sold to give an income.

Credit for each small-holder farm will be about K. 3,500.

A buffalo population of 150,- 000-200,000 could be supported on the East Sepik grasslands, the bank and the government believe, depending on the amount of pasture management and improvement.

Heavy chemical factory for Fiji A Fiji company plans to build a huge heavy chemical industry complex at Lautoka. Mr Prabhulal Raniga, 42, a Nadi pharmacist, managing director of the promoting company, said about 150 people would be employed, and the country would save about $1 million each year in foreign exchange.

The first stage of the project, costing about S 3 million, on the Housing Authority’s Tavakubu subdivision, will involve the production of superphosphate, alum sulphuric and oleum. In the second stage alum and sulphuric acid will be used to develop a pulp and paper industry.

Mr Raniga said two chemical engineers and a general administrator would go to Fiji from India for the project. The remainder of the staff would be local and trained on the job. When the company was properly established he wanted to get the Fijian people involved in it. 79 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

• ■ Every Tuesday our big jet birds of paradise wing their way from Port Moresby to Hong Kong departing at 1730 and arriving in Hong Kong at 2150. The return flight to Port Moresby will depart same day at 2300.

From Hong Kong we can connect on to anywhere in the world.

Adventures in paradise Papua New Guinea offers the tourist one of the last truly unspoiled paradise destinations.

The country provides an amazing variety of character, from idyllic tropical island locations to the cool upland valleys of the highlands, to the great sprawling tropical rivers like the Sepik.

The people are proud and handsome, and just as varied in appearance, customs and culture as their exciting land.

Brrbane/Sydney - Port Moresby

Each week there are four jet services from Australia.

Thursday and Sunday we fly Sydney to Port Moresby direct, Monday we fly via Brisbane, Saturdays from Brisbane, connecting with all domestic flights.

SYDNEY - BRISBANE - PORT MORESBY - Mondays at 0730 an all-daylight flight leaves Sydney, stopping at Brisbane and Port Moresby before flying on to Manila, arriving at 1655 and departing Manila for Port Moresby at 1800. (Pre daylight saving times.)

Sydney - Port Moresby - Kagoshima

Thursdays at 0630 we have an all-daylight service from Sydney to Port Moresby, and on to Kagoshima arriving at 1630 From Kagoshima we provide immediate connections on to anywhere in Japan.

Paradise stopovers It’s an idea for the jaded businessman who thinks he’s seen it all. En route to anywhere in Europe or Asia, give him a short stopover in paradise. We’ll float him down the Sepik in an air-conditioned houseboat. Fly him into our highlands. Deposit him on a tropical island, or just let him get amongst the best reef and big game fishing in the world.

GKeusacall We’d love to provide any information you need call us at any one of our Adventures in Paradise Shops. In Sydney we’re on the Concourse Level of King George Tower.

Phone 232 8900.

In Brisbane we’re at 127 Creek Street. Phone 2295854.

And in Cairns we’re at the corner of Shields and Lake Streets. Phone 512255.

Or contact any travel agent. mmuemfe

The Internationalairuneof Papua New Guinea Y

80

Pacific Islands Monthly May, 197

Pacific Transport

Australian dollars for the Pacific Forum Line Australia will give SAIOO,OOO towards the establishment of a South Pacific regional shipping line, according to a March statement by the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrew Peacock.

The grant had first been announced in March at a meeting of the South Pacific Regional Shipping Council in Nauru by the then Australian High Commissioner to Nauru, Mr Alan Fogg. me communique issued by the Nauru meeting described the agreement reached there as “the most important demonstrable advance in South Pacific regional co-operation”.

Mr Peacock said in his statement: “Although Australia will not participate in the shipping line, we have shown our support by this grant towards the line’s establishment.”

The funds were to come from Australia’s aid programme for the South Pacific, Australia would also consider sympathetically requests for technical assistance and training in connection with the line, Mr Peacock said.

PIM understands that the Australian grant will be applied to the line’s establishment costs and working capital requirements, including the cost of setting up the line’s headquarters in Apia, Western Samoa.

The “technical assistance” referred to by Mr Peacock could include short-term secondment of Australian technical experts to the line, or line personnel being seconded to the Australian National Line for training. In the future, the Australian Maritime College could be available to train line personnel.

Earlier Australian assistance to the project involved a contribution of $450,000 and the services of a marketing officer seconded from the ANL to carry out feasibility studies.

The new line, which is to be known as the Pacific Forum Line, will seek to co-ordinate and provide shipping in the region to ensure regular services, and to enable the Island nations to participate in the carriage of their own cargoes.

It is expected that the line will participate in the Australia-Papua New Guinea and the Australia- Pacific Island trades.

Initially, it will charter suitable vessels to meet the special requirements of the region.

Establishment of the PFL is not only a major regional co-operative effort, but also an important initiative to ease the shipping problems of the Islanders, whose isolation is a major obstacle to economic development.

An interim board of directors is expected to comprise representatives of the Cook Islands, Fiji, Nauru, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, the Solomon Islands, and Western Samoa. These countries, together with the Gilbert Islands, are participants in the line.

There’s one puzzling feature, however, with regard to the willingness of the Islands to co-operate with each other in a regional ship-

New Ship Sailing

To The Cooks

The Manuvai will soon be joined on the Cook Islands inter-island service by the Fiducia, which was bought in Europe by Mr Don Silk of Silk and Boyd. The Fiducia, a Dutch-built ship, is about the same size as the Manuvai. Its engines are a little more powerful.

Modifications to the Fiducia, to make it suitable for the Cook Islands, were expected to take about three weeks. The ship was then to load at Antwerp and sail for the Cook Islands, via Panama. It is expected to arrive at Rarotonga in May. ping line to the exclusion of their individual ambitions to have something of their own.

Tonga, for instance, seems to want to continue to run her own line, or, as reported in the April PIM (p 67), to go into partnership with a private line, in this instance the German line Hamburg-Sued Columbus. She has invited the German company to form a partnership.

Better days for Air Pacific?

Fiji’s Air Pacific, in 1977-78, may turn the corner after incurring losses every year since 1972-73. Accumulated losses now total $2,014,- 227, after an operating loss of $462,511 for the year ended March 31, 1976. However, the latest loss was smaller than expected, and did not include a $77,570 profit on the sale of a Heron aircraft and foreign exchange gains.

In expectation of moving back into the black in the current financial year, the Air Pacific Board accepted a budget and operating programme designed to restore profitability. There were record results in December, 1976, and January, 1977, which considerably improved the airline’s cash flow for January.

Mr Stanley Quigg, Air Pacific general manager, in a comment in the first annual report the airline has ever made public, said profit was not the only standard by which Air Pacific should be judged. Its role as a regional carrier meant it had to strike a balance between Mr Peacock 'but we won't take part'. 81 ACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

* 1 ' x> #5 A - How it tastes when it gets there depends alot on the way it goes.

Australian produce. Fresh from the farm.

Meat, vegetables, fruit, seafood. Qantas can get it to Pacific and Southeast Asian markets in less than a day. And get it there in the prime top condition you expect. Unitised, palletised, air cargo Qantas offers you more capacity out of Australia to the world than any other carrier.

And because we’re Australian we can offer advice about where to order, who to order from, how much to pay. Ring Qantas or your Freight Forwarder. We’re always looking for fresh problems to solve. txaNTas /S 7 can col—/ L 81.2846 82 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

being run as a business and being run as a service to Pacific Islands travellers.

Within those guidelines the company had operated efficiently and had become an important contributor to the region’s economy.

Air Pacific’s revenue for the year ended March 31, 1976, was $ll,- 063,655, 22% higher than the previous year, while costs at $11,526,- 116 were 18.7% higher. The number of passengers carried was 259,- 676, compared with 264,658 the previous year. Traffic on internal services fell from 204,000 to 192,- 000, mainly because of a drop in the number of tourists.

The airline is now running more services to Australia and New Zealand. In an effort to create a purely Air Pacific marketing identity in Queensland, and to preserve its identity in Fiji, Pacific Island Air Services is taking over ticket sales, promotions and other work in Brisbane, and Air Pacific is taking over its own reservations facilities from Qantas at Nadi Airport.

Air Pacific is now the only operator on the Nadi-Brisbane route.

Late in March it took over the Qantas share of the route and is now flying to Brisbane six times a week.

Previously there were five flights.

On southbound flights, which do not include Vila and Honiara, the aircraft will make technical stops in New Caledonia to take on extra fuel because of prevailing headwinds.

Boats Name

IS A DATE A new boat for the members of the Free Wesleyan Church of Tatakamotonga village in Tonga has been named 1797. But the name is significant as King Taufa’ahau Tupou explained when he commissioned the boat. In 1797 Christianity was introduced to Tonga by the first missionaries, Walter Lawry and John Thomas, from the London Missionary Society, who landed at Tatakamotonga.

The people raised the money, $A16,428 to buy 1797. The Free Wesleyan Church minister at Tatakamotonga, Mr Sione Alo Fakahua, said the idea was to raise funds on a charter basis. That had been suggested to them by the king.

Money raised from charter work ing. One of the first requests for a charter was from the Dateline Hotel.

Nauru Opens

Its Shop In Suva

Nauru has opened an air and shipping agency in Suva to handle the business of Air Nauru and Nauru Pacific Line. The agency will employ a staff of six and will cost $70,000 a year to run.

The former President of Nauru, Mr Hammer Deßoburt, headed the Nauru delegation which went to Suva for the official opening of the agency, which is in Ratu Sukuna House. He said the agency would promote economic development and closer ties between Nauru and Fiji.

Ratu Julian Toganivalu, executive officer of the Nauru Local Government, said the agency would take over work previously handled by Rabi Holdings and Air Pacific.

He said Air Nauru planned a new service and fare structure designed to attract international travellers from Hong Kong to Fiji. In expanding its network in the Central Pacific it offered prospects of a direct route from Hong Kong, Manila, Kagoshima and Okinawa to Fiji.

The proposed fare structure could save people travelling to Europe from Fiji, via Nauru and Hong Kong, about $4OO. Air Nauru hoped to increase the frequency of its flights to Fiji from the current one a week but that depended on whether Nauru was granted further rights. • Nauru Pacific Line, which operates a regular cargo service covering the US west coast, Hawaii and Micronesia, intends to increase the westbound freight rate on May 24.

The increase is 10% , except for rice, flour and poultry foods. Those rates will remain unchanged. The rates for lumber to Majuro. Ponape, Truk and Saipan will rise by 20% . The rates for plywood to all ports will be increased by 15%, for liquor and spirits the rise will be 25%, unless otherwise specified.

Down To Earth

On An Airstrip

Sir Albert Henry, Premier of the Cook Islands, made political propaganda out of an interim airstrip on the island of Atiu. Announcing that he intended to fly to the island to officially open the airstrip, he said his action was fulfilment of the first stage of an economic programme his government planned about 10 years ago.

He said there were certain people always quick to criticise an idea, especially if they belonged to the Opposition Party. It had been said many times in reference to the airstrip programme it was “another of Albert Henry’s wild dreams”.

Well, the first airstrip had been laid and what was important it was laid at the right time.

There was wild excitement on Air Niugini's first-ever international flight stewards have graduated in Port Moresby.

They are Leslie Mareve of East New Britain Province and John Wateng of Morobe Province. In the picture John Wateng (holding his graduation diploma) looks on while Mr Paul Pora, chairman of the Papua New Guinea National Airline Commission and newlygraduated domestic flight hostess, Margret Kila, cut the graduation cake. One steward and 11 hostesses graduated for service on domestic routes at the same time as the "internationals”. Following the opening of its route to Kagoshima, southern Japan, Air Niugini took a new step in "internationalising” itself with its first flight to Hong Kong on April 5. 83 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

The fastest way to .the USA is non-stop all the way.

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The 747SP’s faster, higher, smoother flight path slashes hours off the normal flying time.

The new SP has been specially designed for non-stop comfort with Pan Am’s exclusive First Class upper deck dining room, plus non-stop, in-flight service and entertainment.

There are two 7475 P departures every week, in addition to our regular 747 flights to Honolulu and Los Angeles. Every Sunday at 2.35 p.m., first stop San Francisco, next stop New York.

And every Friday at 2.35 p.m. to Auckland, then non-stop to San Francisco.

Taking the fastest way to the U.S.A. won’t cost you a cent more.

So see your travel agent now.

Experience makes the difference.

Sydney: 2331111 Melbourne: 6544788 Brisbane: 221 7477 Canberra: 489184 Adelaide: 51 2821 Perth: 212719 84

Pacific Islands Monthly May, 197

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Telephone: 981 3508 Atiu for the occasion, and Sir Albert declared a public holiday for all government workers and schools.

There will be Rarotonga-Atiu return services on Tuesdays and Fridays.

To show it meant business, the Cl Government sent a development and planning committee to Mauke and Mitiaro soon after the opening of Atiu to survey airstrip sites, assess construction costs and complete formalities for taking over the required land.

Sir Albert expected to become directly involved in the next stage of the programme by heading a development and planning team investigating the possibility of laying an airstrip on Mangaia.

Daiwa Ro-Ro

Ship For Fiji

The South Pacific will get another container service in June when the Daiwa Line, of Japan, sends a new roll on/roll off (ro-ro) ship, the Fiji Maru, 15,240 tonnes, to Suva on its maiden voyage. The Fiji Maru is a multi-purpose carrier, designed and built to carry motor vehicles, containers, general cargo, heavy cargo and bulk cargo.

She has two side ramps for the vehicles to be driven to the car decks.

A pair of 51 tonne and 41 tonne electrohydraulic twin deck cranes are on the upper deck to handle containers and heavy cargo. There is other sophisticated equipment to help speed up handling of cargo.

The Fiji Maru will have a maximum speed of 18.7 knots, and a cruising range of about 22,000 kilometres. She will run a monthly service from Japan to Papeete, Pago Pago, Apia, Fiji, Noumea, Sydney and Honiara.

Daiwa Line operates a similar ship, the Ponape Maru, from Japan to Guam and Taiwan.

Ustt Cold Shoulder

For Freezer Shippers

Bureaucracy in the US Trust Territory has foiled a plan by Refrigerated Express Lines to open a shipping service from Australia to TT ports with the Lae Express. As a result, about 1,500 tonnes of cargo is waiting in Australia for 50 to 60 days till it can be shipped by a Daiwa Line service.

REL several weeks ago applied to the TT Director of Transportation for a regular or continuing entry permit. After much prodding from REL, the director finally replied, refusing the permit.

“We were told we would not receive an entry permit and that we should look elsewhere for an area other than Micronesia,” Mr S. Mc- Callum, managing director of REL, said to PIM.

REL then asked for a single entry permit because of pressure from shippers to get cargo away. On March 31, the shipping line received a telex message from the Director of Transportation refusing such a permit.

The TT decision will have a serious affect on Australia’s export trade with Micronesia. Australia was starting to regain, through the 1976 devaluation, trade it had been losing steadily to other countries • The British Government has given $114,000 in aid to the Solomons to construct airfields on Lord Howe (Ontong Java), Lol Lorn in the Reef Islands and Santa Anna, off San Cristoval. The Legislative Council, in January, 1976, gave approval to lay the airfields. • Mr C. B. Grey, general manager of Air Niugini, has been appointed a member of the National Airline Commission, along with Mr A. J.

Yates. They replace Mr R. J. Yates, Qantas, and Mr R. E. Bailey,TAA. Mr J. W. Reillyisalternatememberfor Mr Grey and Mr F. Pascoe is alternate for Mr Yates.

Us Navy To Build

Wharf On Yap

The United States Navy plans to build a new wharf, with associated installations on the north side of Colonia Peninsula, near the District Legislature building on Yap Island.

It will replace the existing port area on the south side of the peninsula, close to the centre of the town. This port is in disrepair and is now inadequate Plans for the new dock include possible future expansion of port facilities. First of all, an area of about 18,500 square metres will be reclaimed from the edge of the present short-line out to the edge of the existing deep channel to the north of the peninsula. Coral, coral heads and coral sand dredged from nearby shoal areas will be used to fill this area.

The dock will include a single 137 metre berth with an open storage area for containers and bulk cargo, buildings and utilities. Buildings will include a transit shed/warehouse, offices, a small gatehouse and a transformer station.

But before the project gets under way, the US Army Corps of Engineers will make a study aimed a protecting the public interest in navigable waters, and other matters of public concern, including the environment, and social and economic impact. This study will be considered by the authorities before approval, or otherwise, is given for the project to go ahead. 87 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

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Transport Briefs

• A new airport will be laid for Rabaul, possibly at Kokopo. The Papua New Guinea Transport and Works Minister, Mr Jephcott, said the airport would enable Air Niugini to meet future operational requirements. The airport at present in use was not suitable for night landings, nor for larger aircraft, which Air Niugini would soon be using. • A new landing barge, The Yaubula, built at the government shipyard in Suva, has been launched and is now in operation. The New Zealand Government paid for the barge and its equipment under its aid scheme for the Pacific. It was the first vessel built under the scheme outside NZ. The Yaubula, 43 metres long and nine metres wide, will cary cargo to and from the outer islands. • The Trust Territory Government is having six field trip vessels built in Japan to replace older ships, which will be sold for scrap or used in smaller operations. Government officials recently visited Japan to inspect shipyards which had submitted bids to build the vessels. The shipyard selected will construct six identical vessels. • Lan-Chile airline, from April I, added a second weekly flight to its route Papeete Easter Island Santiago. This second stopover, by Boeing 707, is in view of expected extra traffic on the route following the withdrawal since February of Air France from the Tokyo Papeete Lima run. The Lan-Chile Thursday and Sunday calls at Easter Island permit a minimum stopover of three days, with the flight from Tahiti taking about six hours. • The Papua New Guinea National Shipping Corporation, which is owned by the government, will operate on a strictly commercial basis. The government has approved the purchase of 12 ships for tne corporation. They will operate on major routes servicing PNG. Some of the ships will be built at Madang, but will not be available for some time. In the meantime, the corporation has placed an order with J.

L. Primrose, of New Zealand, to build six vessels to meet urgent requirements.

CRUISING YACHTS • KAWAMEE, 60 ft steel-hulled ketch, arrived at Rarotonga from Penrhyn on March 25 with Rocknee Johnson (captain) and nine crew, seven Americans and two Canadians. The cruise started from Honolulu and an emergency call was made at Penrhyn to repair the starter motor for the diesel engine after it had been damaged by salt water. Plans were to call at Bora Bora, Raiatea, Papeete and the Marquesas before returning to Honolulu. • CYN SAN, 40 ft Canadian ketch-rigged trimaran, arrived at Rarotonga from Bora Bora and Tahiti in late March with owner Bob Hamilton, Don Carr, Stephen Blum, John Atherton and Rene Kunzler They will sail to Tonga, Samoa, Fiji and Hawaii, then home to Canada. • DEYDREAM 11, 32 ft Canadian sloop registered in Vancouver, arrived at Rarotonga on February 28 with Budd Dey, his son, Calvin, and daughter Kelli. Their cruise started from Vancouver Island and took them to the Hawaiian Islands, the Marquesas and Tuamotus, most of which they called at. Last ports of call were Papeete and Bora Bora and they were bound for Tonga and Fiji. • RAINBIRD, 45 ft sloop registered in Auckland, arrived at Rarotonga on March 1 from Papeete with Captain Martin Farrand, his wife, Christine, and Allan and Irene Coubray —all New Zealanders. The yacht is on a delivery voyage from Miami to her owners in New Zealand and plans were to sail direct from Rarotonga to Auckland. • ESCAPADE with her five French crew returned to Noumea in mid-February after two months cruising in the Solomon Islands. At Vanikoro in the Solomons, the men went diving around the area where La Perouse’s frigates Astrolabe and Boussole sunk in 1788, but said they saw only two anchors.

Png'S First Open

Ocean Race

An ocean-going race, to be held in May by the Papua Yacht Club in Port Moresby, will be Papua New Guinea’s first international ocean race. It will be sailed over about 1,303 nautical miles from Noumea to Port Moresby.

The race will begin on May 28, soon after the finish of this year's annual Sydney-Noumea yacht race.

The Sydney-Noumea race, which is conducted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, is being held this year for the fourth time. Between 30 and 40 yachts are expected to make up the race fleet which will sail from Sydney Harbour on May 7 Papua Yacht Club officials believe that probably half the fleet will be interested in following on by entering in the new Noumea to Port Moresby race. And, if the new event is a success, it could eventually lead to an annual triangular series of races Sydney to Noumea, Noumea to Port Moresby and Port Moresby to an Australian port.

The Papua Yacht Club is planning the event in conjunction with the Cercle Nautique of New Caledonia. It will be sailed in two divisions one under the international offshore rule with mark three rating handicaps, and the other as a cruising yacht event. The cruising division will be handicapped by what the organisers described as "subjective assessment”. It will take into account the performance recorded in relation to the type of craft, seamanship and navigation.

The event is being heavily sponsored by Air Niugini, PNG's national airline, which also helped sponsor the country's first international air race 18 months ago. • MARINER, 34 ft yawl, where are you? asks Bruce B. McCloskey and wife, of 1113 Tangelo Isle, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33315, in a letter to PIM. They built Mariner in California about 35 years ago.

"We last heard of our Mariner as being in New Caledonia a few years ago, and once noted an item concerning a 34 ft yawl named Te Mariner in New Caledonia,”

Bruce writes. "We are most anxious for news concerning the little vessel that we once knew so well. We have been avid readers and subscribers of PIM for many years.”

Sydney-Noumea Yacht Race

The French and Australian navies are providing escort vessels to accompany the Sydney-Noumea yacht race craft leaving Sydney on May 7. La Dunkerquoise and HMAS Duchess are covering the course, just over 1,000 nautical miles, expected to take at least nine days. Organised by race director Peter Rysdyk and the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, this year's race is enthusiastically supported by the French authorities and sponsored by UTA French Airlines.

By mid-March, 18 Australian yachts and several from Noumea were entered in the race, including stars of the Sydney-Hobart event and French yachtsman Alain Colas all competing for the "Cock of the Pacific".

In Noumea, the Cercle Natique Yacht Club on the Baie des Pecheurs has numerous official receptions organised for the visitors, some of whom are taking eight weeks for the event, including further cruising in the offshore Loyalty Islands to the Isle of Pines and the New Hebrides, 89 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

KELLERCRAFT Workboat Fishing boat Pleasure boat This is an international double-ended lifeboat with a 40-person-plus-provisions capacity. The boat is built to Harbours and Marine standards (under supervision if necessary).

SPECIFICATIONS Centreline length 7.3 m (24 ft) Beam 2.4 m (8 ft) Draught 0.48 m (1 ft 7 in.) It has been officially swamp-tested by the Harbours and Marine in work boat form. It can be made self-draining with full foam floatation. Designed for diesel power (8-10 hp gives 8-9 knots); high work load capacity; can be trailered.

It is now in use by the government ambulance in Torres Strait waters.

One is also in use at St. Helena Island, Moreton Bay, as a service boat licensed to carry 20 persons.

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PAPEETE - MORGAN; Vernex Boite Postale 449, Papeete Phone: 309 Cables; MOREX , PAGO PAGO - POLYNESIA SHIPPING SERVICES, INC., Pago Pago Phone; 633-5169 Cables; POLYSHIP APIA • UNION S.S. CO., of N.Z. Ltd., P.O. Box 50, Apia, Western Samoa Phone; 570 Cables: UNION ? ■ 0 Mr Aqorau, who was 48, suffered a fatal heart attack while playing tennis in Honiara. Among a highly superstitious people there is even a Nguzunguzu war god effigy at the gates of Government House his death was blamed by some people on custom medicine (witchcraft). It is even alleged by some that Mamaloni, in his wisdom, resigned in order to forestall a similar fate a suggestion I do not take seriously.

The second man to graduate, Mr Bartholomew Ulufa’alu, is regarded as the nearest thing in Solomons politics to an official Opposition leader and is considered very much a man to watch.

Mr Ulufa’alu, who is 26, was educated at Aruligo secondary school and the University of Papua New Guinea where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics. He was president and general secretary of the Solomon Islands General Workers’ Union before being elected.

Another figure to watch is the Chief Secretary’s Principal Private Secretary (equivalent to Secretary to the Cabinet), Mr Francis Bogotu, who is regarded as a leading cultural and intellectual figure, and a possible future political leader.

The absence of political parties, certainly as these are understood in Western parliaments, is an unusual feature of Solomons political life.

In an interview with the independent newspaper, Melanesian Nius, the Chief Minister, Mr Kenilorea, said: “The two initial political parties, the People’s Progressive Party and the United Solomon Islanders’

Party, appear to have died out.”

Like Kenilorea, most MPs in the country are independents.

“I’ve had a lot of talk about ‘bringing down the government’ from the Opposition group. But on the other hand a lot of independents have told me privately not to worry, as they’re not interested in submitting to the kind of political discipline needed to make an opposition effective,” the Chief Minister said.

“I believe that if we can integrate our Solomon Island attitudes at a national level, we can govern our countrv without oarties. But if political parties must develop, and there seems to be some evidence now that they will, then the government must ensure stability by ensuring majority support.”

At present the government is, in fact, the cabinet, with all other MPs regarded as being ‘‘in opposition”.

This means that when an individual or group gains power, he and they immediately become a minority as regards vote-counting in the assembly.

Another factor to be taken into account in Solomons politics is the very remoteness of many of the islands.

The hundreds of islands and atolls the exact total has never been estimated extend about 900 miles in a south-easterly chain from Papua New Guinea across the Coral Sea, about 1,200 miles north-east of Australia.

It is hardly surprising, therefore, that many Solomon Islanders think of themselves as Malaita men or Ysabel men, and have a distinctly befuddled notion of the islands as a geographical or political entity.

I put this point to Mr Kenilorea, who agreed that a problem existed, but said he was hopeful that the gap could be narrowed by education and that independence would create a sense of national unity.

Prospectors hope for oil in Tonga Webb-Tonga is confident that the first major oil well discovered in Polynesia will be in Tonga, where Webb-Tonga is prospecting. Mr Rod Warters, a geologist, and president of Warpet Exploration Ltd, of Canada, who is manager of the Webb-Tonga project, said that under Tongatapu oil could extend down as far as 3,350 metres.

Webb-Tonga knew of several areas where there were oil seepages on the surface. It was apparent there had been oil generated on Tongatapu. It was a question of finding the mother lode. Mr Warters would not hazard a guess on how long a major oil field on an island the size of Tongatapu would last.

Mr Aqorau. 91 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

Solomons Independence

From p 14.

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DEATHS of Islands People Mr Rarua Tau Mr Rarua Tau, a leading villager of Hanuabada in Papua New Guinea, has died. He was 70. Mr Tau became a deacon in the London Missionary Society in 1945 and when the Papuans first formed their own church society, called Papua Ekalesia, he became secretary. He was made a life deacon of the Poreporena United Church for his work for the church. Early in his career he worked in the PNG postal service and then became a mission school teacher. One of his sons, Mr Mahuru Rarua Rarua is Lord Mayor of Port Moresby.

Mr T. Fuka Mr Taniela Fuka, a prominent member of the Free Wesleyan Church in Tonga and Town Officer of Kolomotua for 38 years, has died, aged 85. He was educated at Tupou College and was one of the founders of the Old Students’ Association of the college. Queen Mata’aho, members of the nobility and church dignitaries attended his funeral. Mr Fuka is survived by four sons and three daughters.

Mr S.A. Shah Mr Saiyad Anwar Shah, a prominent figure in the Fiji passenger transport industry for many years, has died. He was 59. Mr Shah was a director of Amalgamated Transport Co till a few months ago. He owned Gordon Properties Ltd and was a director of the Fiji Property Centre.

Mr Shah was a member of the Fiji Public Service Commission for six years, and was active in Fiji Muslim League affairs. He leaves seven daughters and two sons.

Ratu Senator A. Nanovo Ratu Senator Apakuki Nanovo, a prominent Fijian administrator and a Great Council of Chiefs representative in the Fiji Senate since 1970, has died aged 73. Coming from the island of Kadavu, where he was Fijian administrator for many years, he was appointed a member of the Great Council of Chiefs in 1938, and was still a member of that body when he died.

During World War II he served in the Solomons and Bougainville campaigns with the Fiji Docks Company. He retired from the Fijian administration in 1960, but joined again five years later for another three years. In 1973 he was awarded the OBE. He is survived by his wife, four sons and a daughter.

Mr A. E. Cridland Mr Albert Ernest Cridland died at Wanigela in Papua New Guinea’s Northern Province in March. He was 84. An Australian, Mr Cridland first went to PNG in 1913 for service with the then Papua Public Service. Wounded at Gallipoli his service with the AIF, he returned to PNG at the end of World War I and served for many years as a resident magistrate. He was in private business following his retirement in 1940.

Mr A. Houng Lee Mr Arlie Houng Lee, a well known Fiji Chinese, who emigrated to the United States in 1965, died in Seattle, aged 60. He was a son of the late Mr George Houng Lee, a famous shark catcher. Like his father, he was a keen fisherman. 93 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

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CFP (about SA26I million).

Two other indices of economic interest reflect the level of car sales and home building. New vehicle registrations for 1976 totalled 3,877 compared with 5,332 in 1974. In addition 493 motorcycles were registered. On the building front, only 724 new dwelling units were completed in 1976, compared with 1,858 in 1975.

Above this sombre situation hang the 1977 territorial budget figures which continued to be strongly contested in February. While Paris firmly refused any postponing in repayment of the public debt amounting to about SAI2 million for 1977, both sides of the Territorial Assembly bitterly, but belatedly, blamed Paris for encouraging this build-up of the island’s debt.

At the same time, local protest continued over how Paris would take over payment of salaries in mission schools, amid a struggle in which Catholic Archbishop Klein strongly defended the rights of the Melanesians to a retention of their own culture.

Stern Words

Papua New Guinea’s Minister for Provincial Affairs, Mr Oscar Tammur, had some stern words for provincial government leaders at a March seminar in Rabaul which discussed the problems of the new provincial government system in PNG.

He said: “If you are a leader of your people you must do something about finding finance to help fund your provincial government.

“If you can’t, give the job to someone else. It’s your responsibility. It’s your country.

“While I am minister, I don’t want to see slack leaders.’’

Mr Tammur said many government departments seemed to think the old Australian way was the only way and “the road to heaven”.

He told the provincial leaders to stop citing the Bougainville case as an example of what should flow to other provinces.

“Bougainville was a special case and I nearly lost my life fighting to keep PNG united there,” he said.

“You can’t copy that special case.” 95 ACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977 Caledonia's problems continued from p. 15.

Kyowa Line

Your Trading Partner

Monthly Services Hong Kong, Taiwan, S. Korea, Japan To: Guam, Saipan, British Solomon, New Caledonia, Fiji, W. Samoa, A. Samoa. Tahiti, Cook Is., Tonga, New Ftebndes.

Taiwan,Hong Kong,Singapore,Jakarta To: Australia, Papua New Guinea, Sabah & Sarawak.

South Korea, Japan To: Guam, Saipan, Papua New Guinea, Other Pacific Islands.

Taiwan: Royal Steamship Corp., Ltd., Taipei S. Korea: Dong Sue Shipping Co., Ltd., Seoul Hong Kong; Dahzun Enterprises Ltd Singapore: Ocean Shipping & Enterprises Pte , Ltd Mariana Is.: Island Navigation Co., Ltd.. Guam 8.5.1. P.: Solomon Taiyo Ltd.. Honiara Tahiti: J.A. Cowan & Fils, Papeete Cooks: Union Citco Travel Ltd., Rarotonga Tonga: E M. Jones Ltd., Nukualofa New Hebrides: Agence Maritime Raymond Velicite, Port Vila A.Samoa: Island Pacific Agencies Inc., Pago Pago W. Samoa: Morris Hedstrom Ltd., Apia Fiji: Ca rpenter Shipping, Suva & Lautoka PNG: Carpenter Shipping Agencies, Port Moresby, Rabaul New Caledonia; Agence Maritime Du Rond Point Du Pacific, Indonesia: P.T. Porodisa Raya Shipping Lines, Jakarta Sabah: KOH Han Ming Shipping & Forwarding Agent, Kotakmabalu Sarawak: Pan Sarawak Agencies Sdn. Bhd .Sibu & Kuching Australia; Hethermgton Kingsbury Pty. Ltd , Sydney, N.S.W.

KYOWA SHIPPING CO., LTD.

Ojima Bldg., 22-8, 6-chome, Shinbashi, Frontier Bldg., 3-13 Hirano-cho, AGENTS Noumea

Head Office

Osaka Office

Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan Phone; 03(437)2885 (Rep.) Cables: “MARIQUEEN” Tokyo Telex; 242-4651 Kyowa J.

Higashi-ku, Osaka, Japan.

Phone: 06(227)0422 (Rep.) Cables: “MARIQUEEN” Osaka.

Telex: 522-3896 Kyowa 0.

SHIPPING

Sydney - Nz - Fui/Tahiti - Uk

Chandris Lines maintains a passenger service from Sydney via NZ, Suva or Papeete every second month.

Details from Chandris Lines, 135 King Street, Sydney (232-2455).

SYDNEY - LORD HOWE IS -

Norfolk Is - New Hebrides

Compagnie des Chargeurs Caledoniens operates four-weekly cargo service Sydney - Lord Howe Island, Norfolk Island, Port Vila and Santo.

Details Hetherington Kingsbury Pty Ltd, 37-49 Pitt Street, Sydney (27-1671).

Sydney - New Caledonia

Somacal operates 30-day service from Sydney to Noumea.

Details from Karlander (Aust) Pty Ltd, 19-31 Pitl Street, Sydney (27-6301).

SYDNEY - NZ - FUI - HAWAII -

Canada - Us

P & 0 liners call at Auckland, Suva, Honolulu and Vancouver on eastbound and westbound voyages between Sydney and the US.

Details from P & O Booking Centre, World Travel headquarters Pty Ltd, 33 Bligh Street, Sydney (231-6655).

SYDNEY - NZ - FIJI - TONGA - N. HEBRIDES - NOUMEA - PNG -

Solomons -Samoas

Sitmar Cruises operates a year-round cruise programme to include most of the above countries.

Details from Sitmar Cruises, 22-30 Bridge Street Sydney (27-4521).

Royal Viking Line, with luxury cruise ships Roya Viking Sea, Star and Sky, cruises the Pacific fronr Sydney, Hobart and Cairns calling at most of above countries.

Details from Wilh, Wilhelmsen Agency Pty Ltd 13-15 Bridge Street, Sydney (2-0517).

P & 0 liners call at Apia, Auckland, Bay of Islands Borabora, Honiara, Honolulu, Lautoka, Noumea Nukualofa, Pago Pago, Papeete, Port Moresby, Santo Savusavu, Suva, Vavau and Vila on cruises fronr Australia.

Details from P & O Booking Centre World Trave Headquarters Pty Ltd, 33 Bligh Street. Sydney (231-6655) AUSTRALIA - NEW CALEDONIA -

New Hebrides

Compagnie des Chargeurs Caledoniens operates three-weekly cargo service from Sydney to Noumea Port Vila, Santo.

Details Hetherington Kingsbury Pty Ltd, 37-49 Pit Street, Sydney (27-1671).

Sofrana-Unilines ships serve Noumea every three weeks from the main ports along the east Australian coast and Port Vila monthly from Melbourne anc Sydney.

Details from Sofrana-Unilines, 37 Pitt Street, Sydney (27-2031), Trans-Austral Shipping Pty Ltd, 57C Bourke Street, Melbourne (67-9162), ACTA Pty Ltd Brisbane (221-3166), Elder Smith Goldsbrough Mon Ltd, Port Adelaide (47-5688), ANL, Newcastle (049-24364), Clements & Marshall, Burnie. Tasmania (31-1833).

South Pacific United Lines maintains a four-week cargo service from Sydney to Noumea, Vila and Santo.

Details from Omni Traders & Brokers Pty Ltd, 261 George Street, Sydney (24-2872/6).

Australia - Fiji

Karlander (Aust) Pty Ltd operates monthly cargo services from Sydney to Suva and Lautoka. 96 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

bfei

Daiwa Line

Direct Regular Service

Japan-South Pacific

Tarawa-Papeete-Pago Pago-Apia

Suva-Lautoka-Noumea-Vila

Santo-Honiara

Japan - Taiwan - Guam

Japan-Keeluimg-Guam By

Excellent Car/Container-Carrier

Japan-West Irian-Dili

Hong Kong-Taiwan-West Irian-Dili

AGENTS: GUAM; ATKINS, KROLL (GUAM) LTD.

TARAWA: G. & E. I. DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY.

APIA: BURNS PHILP (SOUTH SEA) CO., LTD.

PAGO PAGO: KNEUBUHL MARITIME SERVICES CORP.

NUKUALOFA: PACIFIC NAVIGATION CO., LTD.

SUVA: BURNS PHILP (SOUTH SEA) CO., LTD.

LAUTOKA: BURNS PHILP (SOUTH SEA) CO., LTD.

Noumea: Societe D'Acconaga Et

Transport D'Oceanie (Sato)

SANTO: BURNS PHILP (NEW HEBRIDES) LTD, VILA: BURNS PHILP (NEW HEBRIDES) LTD.

HONIARA: BRITISH SOLOMONS TRADING CO., LTD.

PAPEETE: AGENCE MARITIME DE FARA UTE.

HONG KONG: IKE MARITIME CO., LTD.

SINGAPORE: THE BORNEO CO., (SINGAPORE) LTD.

DJAJAPURA: P. N. PELAJARAN NASIONAL INDONESIA.

Dili: Sang Tai Hoo

Taiwan; For Cargo Between Japan/Guam/Taiwan &

SOUTH PACIFIC.

FORMOSA SHIPPING & ENTERPRISE CORP.

THE DAIWA NAVIGATION CO.* LTD.

Osaka: “Dailine” Tokyo; “Funedailine”

Head Office

DAIICHI KYOGYO BLDG., 45, 2-CHOME, AWAZAMINAMI-DOR I,

Nishi-Ku, Osaka, Japan

TELEPHONE: (06) 531-0471 ~9 TELEX: 525-6324 & 525-6325

Tokyo Office

SHIN-DAIICHI BLDG., 4-13, NIHONBASHI 3-CHOME, CHUO-KU

Tokyo, Japan

TELEPHONE: (03) 274-3251 ~8 TELEX: 222-3343, 23559 Details from Karlander (Aust) Pty Ltd, 19-31 Pitt Street, Sydney (27-6301), Dalgety Shipping, 461 Bourke Street, Melbourne (60-0731), Burns Philp (SS) Co Ltd, Suva and Lautoka Sofrana-Unilines (Fiji Express Line) operates to Suva every three weeks from the main ports on the east coast of Australia and monthly to Lautoka from Melbourne and Sydney.

Details from Sofrana-Unilines, 37 Pitt Street, Sydney (27-2031), Trans-Austral Shipping Pty Ltd, 570 Bourke Street, Melbourne (67-9162), ACTA Pty Ltd, Brisbane (221-3116), Elder Smith Goldsbrough Mort Ltd, Port Adelaide (47-5688), ANL, Newcastle (049-24364), Clements & Marshall, Burnie, Tasmania (31-1833)

Australia - Fiji - W. Samoa

Nauru Pacific Line operates regular containerised, unitised and b/bulk service from Sydney and Brisbane to Lautoka. Suva and Apia.

Details Nauru Pacific Line, Nauru House, 80 Collins Street. Melbourne (653-5709), Interocean Swire, 8 Spring Street, Sydney (2-0522)

Australia - Tonga - W. Samoa

Karlander operates a monthly cargo service from Melbourne and Sydney to Nukualofa and Apia, thence US west coast Details: Karlander (Aust) Pty Ltd, 19-31 Pitt Street, Sydney (27-6301).

Australia - Tahiti - Us West Coast

South Pacific United Lines maintains a four-weekly service from Sydney to Papeete, and US west coast.

Details from Omni Traders & Brokers Pty Ltd, 261 George Street, Sydney (241-2872/6).

Australia - Png

Containers Pacific Express (Burns Philp and AWP Line) operates four-weekly cargo service from Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane with Samos to Port Moresby and Lae, supplemented by availability of additional tonnage on NGAL ships to cover transition period, Jan 1-June 30, 1977, pending start of fully containerised joint NGAL/Conpac service.

Details from Burns Philp & Co Ltd, 51 Pitt Street, Sydney (241-3816).

Farrell Lines operates a service every 18 days from Tasmania, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane to Lae and Rabaul.

Details from Wilh Wilhelmsen Agency Pty Ltd, 13 Bridge Street, Sydney (2-0517), 60 Market Street, Melbourne (61-3031), Burns Philp (NG) Ltd, Rabaul.

Robert Laurie-Carpenter (NG) Pty Ltd, Lae New Guinea Express Lines operates three-weekly conventional and container services, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Port Moresby, Lae, Rabaul.

Details from New Guinea Express Lines, PO Box R 73, Royal Exchange PO, Sydney (241-3991), MacArthur Shipping Agency Co, 82-92 Eagle Street, Brisbane (229-3777), Western Farmers Transport Pty Ltd, 459 Little Collins Street, Melbourne (67-8291), Breckwoldt's Shipping Agencies in Port Moresby (24-2525), Lae (42-1536), Rabtrad and Nuigini Pty Ltd, Rabaul (92-2911).

Karlander New Guinea Line's cargo vessels call at Melbourne, Sydney, Port Moresby. Lae, Madang, Wewak, Manus, Kimbe, Rabaul.

Details from Karlander (Aust) Pty Ltd, 19-31 Pitt Street, Sydney (27-6301), Dalgety Shipping, 461 Bourke Street, Melbourne (60-0731).

Australia - Png - Solomons

New Guinea Australia Line’s vessels operate from Sydney and Brisbane to Port Moresby, Lae, Rabaul, Kavieng, Wewak, Honiara, Kieta, Gizo, Madang and Samarai Details from Interocean Swire, 8 Spring Street, Sydney (2-0522).

AUSTRALIA - SOLOMONS - GILBERT IS - MICRONESIA Daiwa Line runs a container service every 35 days from Sydney to Honiara, Tarawa, Guam, Saipan and Palau Details: Tradex Transport Pty Ltd, 185 O’Riordan Street, Mascot, NSW (669-1099).

Australia - Nauru

Nauru Pacific Line operates regular 97 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY May, is//

THE

Global Service For Shippers

V $3

Monthly Services

United Kingdom and Continent to: Papeete, Noumea, New Hebrides, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands.

Papua New Guinea to: North America, United Kingdom and Continent.

Solomons, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and Tarawa to: United Kingdom and Continent.

For particulars apply: THE BANK LINE (AUSTRALASIA) PTY.

LTD., 18TH FLOOR, 1 YORK STREET, SYDNEY, N.S.W. cargo/passenger service from Melbourne to Nauru.

Details Nauru Pacific Line, Nauru House, 80 Collins Street, Melbourne (653-5709), Interocean Swire, 8 Spring Street, Sydney (2-0522) US - PNG Farrell Lines operates regular services from all US west coast ports to Lae and Rabaul.

Details from With, Wilhelmsen Agency Pty Ltd, 13 Bridge Street, Sydney (2-0517), Farrell Lines, 1 Market Plaza, San Francisco, LA. (9-4105), Burns Philp (IslG) Ltd, Rabaul and Kieta, Robert Laurie-Carpenter (PNG) Pty Ltd, Lae.

PNG - US - CANADA Farrell Lines operates regular services from Lae and Rabaul to US west coast ports and Vancouver.

Details from Burns Philp (NG) Pty Ltd, Rabaul, Robert Laurie-Carpenter (PNG) Pty Ltd, Lae, Farrell Lines, 1 Market Plaza, San Francisco, LA. (9-4105), Wilh, Wilhelmsen Agency Pty Ltd, 13 Bridge Street, Sydney (2-0517).

Far East - Fiji - New Zealand

New Zealand Unit Express (CNC, MNOL RIL) operates a three-weekly cargo service from Hong Kong to Lautoka, Suva, NZ ports, Manila, Kaoshiung, Keelung, Hong Kong.

Details from Interocean Swire, 8 Spring Street, Sydney (2-0522).

Royal Interocean Lines operates monthly cargo service with three ships from Surabaya, Jakarta, Bangkok, Port Kelang and Singapore to Suva and NZ ports Details from Interocean Aust. Services Pty Ltd, 8 Spring Street, Sydney (27-3801), Burns Philp (SS) Co Ltd, Suva and Lautoka.

Ben Shipping Co (Pte) Ltd, sailing monthly from Singapore, Hong Kong, Keelung, Kaoshiung, Suva and main NZ ports.

Details from Seatrans (Fiji) Ltd, GPO Box 152, Suva, Fiji.

JAPAN - NZ - PNG China Navigation Co, with three ships operates £ monthly cargo service from Japan to New Zealanc calling at Lae on return journey.

Details Interocean Swire, 8 Spring Street, Sydney (2-0522).

Far East - Mid-S. Pacific

China Navigation Co’s vessels operate a regulai cargo service from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore to Rabaul, Wewak, Madang, Lae, Port Moresby Honiara, New Hebrides, Noumea, Papeete anc Samoa.

Details from Interocean Swire, 8 Spring Street Sydney (2-0522).

Kyowa Shipping Co Ltd operates monthly services from Hong Kong, Taiwan, S. Korea and Japan, tc Guam, Saipan, Solomons, New Caledonia, Fiji Western and American Samoa, Tahiti, Cook Is., Tong£ and New Hebrides.

Details: Hetherington Kingsbury Pty Ltd, 37-49 Pit Street, Sydney (27-1671).

North Europe - New Caledonia

Hamburg-Sued operates monthly cargo services from Dunkirk and Le Havre to Noumea, via Panama Details from Columbus Overseas Services Pty Ltd 333 George Street, Sydney (290-2966) NORTH EUROPE - TAHITI -

N. Caledonia - Png

Compagnie Generale Maritime operates three multi-purpose and three ro/ro cargo services a montl from North European and Mediterranean ports t< Papeete and Noumea. Three multi-purpose ships cal monthly in Papua New Guinea.

Details from Compagnie General Maritime, 4-f Bligh Street, Sydney (221-2522).

JAPAN - GUAM - FUI - SAMOA -

N. Caledonia - N. Hebrides

Daiwa Lines runs a monthly cargo service frorr Japan via Guam to Suva, Lautoka, Pago Pago, Apia Vila, Santo and Noumea.

Details from Burns Philp (SS) Co Ltd, Suva.

NZ - FUI - TONGA - SAMOAS - TAHITI Union Steam Ship Co of NZ operates a full} 98

Pacific Islands Monthly May, 197'

HENRY CUMINES PTY. LTD.

Exporters • General Merchants

428 GEORGE ST., SYDNEY CABLES: HENCO SYDNEY. G.P.O. Box 3949. PHONE: 25-3383.

For specialised and personalised buying service throughout the Pacific Islands and the East.

LOCAL AGENTS AND REPRESENTATION: PAPUA NEW GUINEA.

PORT MORESBY: Mr. Tan, P.O. Box 5445, Boroko.

Telephone 25 2542.

RABAUL: M. & C. Seeto, P.O. Box 131, Rabaul.

Telephone 92 2902.

MADANG: W, Double, P.O. Box 22, Madang.

Telephone 82 2696.

FIJI.

K. Witherington Ltd., P.O. Box 293, Suva.

Telephone 22 356.

NEW HEBRIDES.

John Lum & Associates, P.O. Box 65, Santo.

Telephone 329.

SOLOMON ISLANDS.

Lo See War Ltd., P.O. Box 327, Honiara.

Telephone 399.

Resident Agents in other Pacific Territories.

Q E offers expert insurance service throughout the Islands

Qbe Insurance

LIMITED

(Formerly—Queensland Insurance Company)

Central Office: 82 Pitt Street, Sydney FlJl—Branch Office, Suva, Manager for Fiji: L.G.Liddell A A I I.

LAUTOKA—Sub-Branch Office: Bums Philp Bldg.

HONIARA (8.5.1. P.) —Breckwoldt & Company (5.1.) Pty. Limited.

NEW CALEDONIA—T. A. Hagen, Stc. W. A. Johnston, SA.R.L. —Noumea.

NEW HEBRIDES— District Manager: G. F. Donnelly, Vila; Santo: Burns Philp (New Hebrides) Ltd.

TAHlTl—Arthur Chung: Immeuble 8.1., Front dc Mer, Papeete.

NIUE, NORFOLK ISLAND, SAMOA, TONGA and other South Sea Islands—Bums Philp (South Sea) Company Ltd.

Queensland Insurance (P.N.G.) Ltd

PAPUA NEW GUINEA-Head Office, PORT MORESBY.

General Manager: J.M.Dawe. Assistant Manager: R.Jackson,A.A.l.l.

District Managers at: ARAWA: J.Longbut LAE: W.J.Leonard MADANG: I.R.Martin MOUNT HAGEN: D.F.CarroU RABAUL: A.M.Tanner containerised service Auckland-Suva-Pago Pago- Apia-Nukualofa every 14-16 days.

A 28-day service by conventional ship is operated from Auckland to Papeete, Apia and Nukualofa.

Details from Union Steam Ship Co of NZ Ltd, PO Box 12, Auckland, or from branch offices/agents in Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and Tahiti NZ - N. CALEDONIA - N. HEBRIDES - PNG - SI Sofrana-Unilines with two ships operates to Vila and Santo, to Honiara and Papua New Guinea, and to Noumea.

Details from Sofrana-Unilines, 42 Customs Street, Auckland (7-3279), PO Box 3614, Telex: NZ2313.

NZ - PNG Farrell Lines operates regular service every 18 days from Auckland to Lae and Rabaul.

Details from Dalgety NZ Ltd, 41-45 Albert Street, Auckland (7-1859), Burns Philp (NG) Ltd, Rabaul, Robert Laurie-Carpenter (PNG) Pty Ltd, Lae

Nz - Fui - North America (Wc)

Crusader cargo ships call at Suva, Levuka and Honolulu on NZ-US west coast trips and at Suva and/or .autoka on US-NZ return trips.

Details from Blueport ACT (NZ) Ltd, PO Box 192, Wellington (739-029), Burns Philp (SS) Co Ltd, Suva.

NZ - FIJI Reef operates a regular 18-day service from Auckland to Suva and Lautoka Details from Reef Shipping Agencies Ltd, PO Box J 382, Auckland, NZ (7-1221-3).

Pacific Line with one ship operates monthly cargo service New Zealand, Lautoka, Suva.

Details: Sof-'ana-Unilines, 42 Customs Street, Auckland (7-3279) PO Box 3614, Telex: NZ2313.

Warner Pacific Line operates monthly freezer :argo service, Timaru-Suva.

Details from Air Marine Services (NZ) Ltd, PO Box >505, Auckland (362-730).

NZ- TONGA Warner Pacific Line services Onehunga - Nukualofa - Vavau - Haapai fortnightly, and Timaru - Nukualofa - Vavau monthly Details from Air Marine Service (NZ) Ltd, PO Box >505, Auckland (362-730) NZ - W. SAMOA Warner Pacific Line services Onehunga - Apia ;very 21 days carrying general and freezer cargoes Details from Air Marine Services (NZ) Ltd, PO Box >505, Auckland (362-730) NZ - W. SAMOA • TONGA McKay Shipping Ltd operates a four-weekly cargo service, Auckland - Nukualofa - Vavau - Apia - Nukualofa - Auckland.

Details from McKay Shipping Ltd, Downtown House, Queen Street, Auckland (33-656) NZ - COOK IS - NIUE The Shipping Corporation of NZ Ltd with Toa doana and Lorena, operates cargo services from Auckland to Rarotonga and Aitutaki (fortnightly) and Hiue (monthly) Details from the Shipping Corp of NZ Ltd, PO Box )420, Auckland (379-430); Waterfront Commission, PO Box 61, Rarotonga, Lighterage and Stevedoring Co, Aitutaki, Niue Govt Offices, Niue Island

Nz - Far East - Pacific Islands

Sofrana Fareast Lines operates a five-weekly service from Auckland to Far East, PNG, New Daledonia and Fiji Details from Sofrana Unilines, 42 Customs Street, Auckland (73-279).

UK - PANAMA • SAMOA - FUI The Fiji Direct Service, cargo only, is maintained jy Conference vessels, sailing at regular monthly ntervals out of Avonmouth, via Panama, for Apia, Suva smd Lautoka Details from Burns Philp (SS) Co Ltd, Suva.

UK - TAHITI - N. CALEDONIA - N. HEBRIDES - PNG - SOLOMONS -

Gilbert Is

Bank Line operates a monthly direct cargo service from Europe, via the Panama Canal to Papeete, Noumea, Vila, major PNG ports and Honiara, accasionally to Tarawa, Santo, Kieta, Jayapura and 99 ’ACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

Dateline Hotel

TONGA 'Friendly Hotel” of the "Friendly Islands Situated along the Nukualofa waterfront. Only five minutes walk from town. Single, double, family suites, airconditioning, and hot and cold water showers. Pool, bar, restaurant, duty-free shop, tour desk and boutique.

Book through your travel agent or write to International Dateline Hotel, P.O. Box 62, Nukualofa Tonga.

Cable Address; ''DATELINE".

Represented Overseas by: Charles J. Henry and Associates Pty. Ltd.

Sydney and Melbourne. 29 76

The Papua Hotel

Port Moresby

• Right in the business centre • A tradition for comfort and fine food • All rooms air conditioned • Restaurant • Bars • Banquet Hall Telephone 24 2121 Cables PAPTEL A. C. NEUMANN Manager Regular Pacific Services "Union South Pacific”, cellular container vessel. Reefer and general cargo from Auckland at approximately fortnightly intervals. Calls at Suva, Pago Pago, Apia and Nukualofa before returning to Auckland.

"Luhesand”, conventional reefer and general cargo. Monthly sailings from Auckland, calls at Suva, Apia, Papeete and Nukualofa. jmimwuon Jm/mcompanij Branches at all main Australian, New Zealand and Pacific Island ports.

Pacific Islands Transport Line

Owners: Thor Dahls Hvoljangerseiskap A/S — Sandefjord, Norway.

Ms Camellia Venture

Express Freight Service between Pacific Coast Ports of U.S.A. and TAHITI and SAMOA Full container service including reefers.

GENERAL STEAMSHIP CORPORATION LTD.

General Agents 400 California Street, San Francisco, California, U.S.A.

APlA—Burns Philp (South Sea) Company, Ltd. . .

PAPEETE—Afenco Maritime Internationale Tahiti. •AGO PAGO—Polynesia Shipping Services Inc.

NOUMEA—Etablissements Ballande.

SYDNEY—Trans-Aostral Shipping Pty. Ltd.

SUVA —Bums Philp (South Sea) Company, Ltd.

LAE/RABAUL—Burns Philp (Now Guinea) Ltd.

PORT VlLA—Comptoirs Francais de Neuvelles Hebrides.

Yandina and return.

Details from Bank Line (A’asia) Pty Ltd, 1 York Street, Sydney (27-2041); Burns Philp (SS) Co Ltd, Suva.

EUROPE - TAHITI - W. SAMOA - FUI - N. CALEDONIA Nedlloyd offers regular cargo services from Northern Europe and UK to Papeete, Apia, Fiji and Ne\k Caledonia.

Details Interocean Aust Services Pty Ltd, 8 Spring Street, Sydney (27-3801).

SAN FRANCISCO - HONOLULU - MICRONESIA Nauru Pacific Line operates regular conventional/container service from San Francisco and Honolulu to Majuro, Nauru, Ponape, Truk and Saipan.

Details from Nauru Pacific Line, Nauru House, 80 Collins Street, Melbourne (653-5709), North American Maritime Agencies, 100 California Street, San Francisco, California 9411 (981-0343).

Us - Fiji - Tahiti - Australia

Bank Line Ltd operates regular cargo services from US Gulf ports to Australia and NZ. Calls at Suva, Lautoka and Papeete on demand.

Details from Bank Line (A/asia) Pty Ltd. 1 York Street, Sydney (27-2011).

Pacific Far East Line cruise ships operate from San Francisco, Los Angeles, Honolulu, Moorea, Papeete, Rarotonga, Auckland, Opua (Bay of Islands), Sydney and return via Suva, Niuafoou, Pago Pago and Honolulu to San Francisco.

Freight is carried on these passenger liners.

Passenger details from World Travel Headquarters Pty Ltd, 33 Bligh Street, Sydney (231-6655); freight details from Beaufort Shipping Agency Co, 2 Castlereagh Street, Sydney (221-2388).

US - A. SAMOA - NZ - AUST - PNG Farrell Lines LASH ships operate regularly fronr US to Australia, via Pago Pago and Auckland, returning via PNG ports.

Details from Wilh, Wilhelmsen Agency Pty Ltd, 12 Bridge Street, Sydney (2-0517), 60 Market Street Melbourne (61-0301); Farrell Lines, 1 Market Plaza San Francisco, LA. (415-777-3300); Dalgety NZ Ltd Auckland (7-1859); Kneubuhl Maritime Services, Page Pago (633-5121)

Us - Tahiti - Samoa

Pacific Islands Transport operates a five/six weekly cargo service from North American west coas ports to Papeete, Pago Pago, Apia.

Details from Trans-Austral Shipping Pty Ltd, 19 Pit Street, Sydney (27-2441).

Polynesia Line operates container and genera cargerservice from US west coast ports to Papeete anc Pago Pago.

Details from Polynesia Shipping Services Inc, PC Box 1478, Pago Pago (9-6799)

Solomons’ Hopes

For Forum Line

The Solomon Islands expects another 18 more commercia voyages a year if the government de cides to join the South Pacific Forum’s regional shipping line. The services would be from Australia and New Zealand. At present there are 14 voyages a year from Australh and nine from NZ.

While not expecting a cut ir freight rates, the group sees an econ omic advantage in a speed-up in the flow of goods, particularly exports and a cut-back in periodical shor tages of commodities. 100 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

Hie Po/ynesian mangle Western Samoa Niue Island Fiji Ponga Its place in the Pacific has shifted Because now the Polynesian Triangle fare brings a Polynesian holiday much closer. Now when you visit Fiji you can include Tonga, Niue and Western Samoa for very little extra! Talk to your travel agent about working in our Polynesian Triangle fare with your Fiji itinerary. Only U55253.00* (AUSSI9B.OO or NZ$2lB.OO) more to see three more islands in the beautiful Pacific. Our Polynesian Triangle fare is available all year round with no minimum stopover restrictions and may be purchased while you are in Fiji or before you arrive.

Contact your travel agent for more details. * Fare subject to change without notice.

Serving the heart of Polynesia POLYNESIAN PO Box 599, Apia.

Western Samoa

PRODUCE PRICES Unlass otherwise shown, statod quotations are n Australian dollars. Australian dollar (Mar 31) iqualled: Naw Zealand, $1.1504 (buying), $1.1446 selling); Papua New Guinea, K 0.8855 (buying), (0.8788 (selling); Fiji, $1.0344 (buying), $1.0104 selling); Western Samoa, tala 0.8599 (buying), tala I. (selling); Tonga, pa'anga 1.0275 (buying, la'anga 0.9830 (selling); US, $1.1055 (buying), 11. (selling); UK, £0.8448 (buying), £0.6374 selling); French Pacific, CFP 100.46 (buying), CFP 18SI (selling).

COPRA Copra industries are controlled through copra joards in PNG, the Solomons, the Gilberts, both Jamoas, Fiji, Tonga, the Cooks and the US Trust territory New Hebrides, French Polynesia and New Caledonia do not have boards and copra is either sold ndividually by growers to overseas buyers or used ocally PNG The board, with planters' reps, directs distribution and sales and pays planters. Shipments are made to UK, European markets and to Australia md Japan, and coconut oil mills in New Britain Latest prices are: Per tonne, delivered main ports, lot air dried, K 225, FMS, K 222, smoke dried, $220 FIJI The board fixes prices on Philippines :opra, taking into account freight, taxes, selling costs, shrinkage, etc. Latest prices were: Fiji 1, $245, Fiji 2, >235, CAS $216 NEW HEBRIDES Copra sold direct by planters o France and Japan, Burns PhHp paying on wharf, Vila ir Santo Mar 21 FNH 18,000: London Mar 11, !25-227 50 met francs 100 kg cif Marseilles US TRUST TERRITORY Palau Ist grade 1180, 2nd grade, $l7O, 3rd grade, $l6O, at district ;entre, outer islands $155, $145 and $135 for the three irades Yap: $l6O, $l5O and $l4O respectively at listrict centre, outer islands. $135, $125 and $ll5 espectively Truk, Ponape, Kusaie, Marshalls and Jorthern Marianas: $l5O, $l4O and $l3O respectively it district centre, outer islands. $125, $ll5 and $lO5 COOK ISLANDS All production is sold to kbels Ltd. Auckland Prices are based on average i/orld prices for the prior three or six months and emain in force for three months SOLOMON ISLANDS Copra Board pays per b at Honiara, Yandina and Girzo, 8c Ist grade, 7'/?c !nd grade, 6’/ >c 3rd grade GILBERT ISLANDS $134 40 a ton, or 6c a lb WESTERN SAMOA Ist grade, SWSIB7 10. 2nd grade SWSI74 00 TONGA— All copra sold to EEC, Ist grade, 5P70, 2nd grade. SPSB NIUE Standard. $lBO a tonne gross

Other Produce

COCOA Island rates are based on Ghana price Ghana price on Mar 31 was £stg2,32o ton, cif.

UK Continent Mar 31, fob Rabaul, export quality, K 2.650 per tonne, delivered ex-wharf Sydney, $3,350 per tonne.

New Hebrides— London, Mar 11, 1,010 met rancs 100 kg Solomon* — Delivered Honiara prices recently vere 45c per lb Ist grade, 35c 2nd grade CHILLIES Solomons, Honiara buyers pay for jry tabasco, Ist grade 38c per lb, 2nd grade, 28c per b Long Red is 20c per lb COFFEE— PNG Apr 1 Good quality, per kg: A Srade $7 12, B Grade $7 09: C & Y Grades $7 07 W. Samoa Recently. WSTEC ground and dried Deans, 60c per lb wholesale PEANUTS — PNG. Sydney agents reported recently fob Lae, kernals, white Spanish, 19c per lb BROOMCORN Fiji, Ist grade 16V?c per lb; 2nd grade. 14'/?c per lb; 3rd grade, 4c per lb RICE (Aust): — PNG: Dried brown, 25 kilo bags, $298 94 per tonne Vitamin enriched white, 25 kilo bags, $303 94 per tonne, all tow Sydney/Melbourne Pacific Islands: Calrose med grain, white, 25 kilo bags, $320 per tonne. Kula long grain white, 25 kilo bags, $335 per tonne All prices cif Sydney/Melbourne.

RUBBER Singapore, Mar 30, 52 50c-54c per kg VANILLA BEANS Prices recently were: White and yellow label processing standard packs, $7 50, green label $7 40 cif Sydney Tonga P 4.20 fob Nukualofa, $4 50 Melbourne.

TROCHUS — Solomons: Co-op and private buyers pay 20c per lb for good quality BLACK LIP — Solomons; Co-op and private buyers pay 26c per lb for good quality.

GOLD LIP: Solomons: Co-op and private buyers pay 38c per lb BECHE-DE-MER Solomons: Co-op and private buyers pay: Ist grade $2 per lb: 2nd grade $1 40 per lb: 3rd grade, $llO per lb GREEN SNAIL Solomons: Co-op and private buyers pay 42c per lb.

TORTOISE SHELL:— Solomons: Co-op and private buyers pay max of $5 per lb, depending on quality $1 80-$4 per lb.

SANDALWOOD: — New Hebrides, London Mar 11, 345 met francs 100 super ft SHARK FINS: — Gilbert Is Co-op Federation pays per lb, $1 32 Ist grade, $1 2nd grade, 80c 3rd grade.

Solomons: Co-op and private buyers pay $1.20 per lb COCONUT OIL; PNG: London, Feb 11, £stg37s ton cif N. Europe ports.

MEAL CAKE;— PNG, London, Mar 11, £stglo3 25 tonne cif E. Europe ports.

Exchange Rates

FUI;— Mar 31, Through Bank of NSW, ANZ Bank, Bank of NZ, Bank of Baroda, First National City Bank, Aust $ on Fiji, buying SFI =$A.99 COOK IS., NIUE: — NZ currency is used NEW HEBRIDES: — Apr 1, Through Banque Nationale de Paris (Sydney), Indosuez Bank, ANZ Bank, Bank of NSW, National Bank of Aust, Commercial Banking Co of Sydney, Commercial Bank of Aust, Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp, Barclays Bank International, SAI = FNH 89.77 (buying), FNH 88 12 (selling) airmail transfer rate WESTERN SAMOA: — Mar 31, through Bank of Western Samoa, controlled from NZ, T 1 = SAI 18 TONGA;— Mar 31, PI = SAI 1

Norfolk Is, Solomon Is, Gl, Nauru:—

Australian currency is used, no exchange payable on transactions with Australia.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA;— Mar 31, Through PNG Banking Corp, Bank of NSW, ANZ Bank, Bank of South Pacific, K 1 = SAI 14 FRENCH PACIFIC: — Pacific francs (CFP) are used in New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna Is, and French Polynesia French Bank, Sydney, Apr 1, quoted $A = 100 99 CFP (buying), 98.12 CFP (selling). Paris- London, £1 = 8 5485 francs (buying), 8.535 francs (selling) CFP-London. £1 = 155 5000 CFP (buying), 155 3181 CFP (selling). CFP to 1 met franc 18.43 (buying), 17 94 (selling).

Banks should be approached for daily rates. • The Asian Development Bank has agreed to lend s2'/ 2 million to the Solomon Islands to help expand the group’s cattle industry. A cattle development authority, set up by law, will carry out much of the work. However, the small farmer will have a key role in the scheme, which could ultimately lead to a beef export industry. 101 ‘ACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY MAY, 1977

Classified Advertisements

Per Line $3.00 Aust Minimum 4 lines. w Stay at Aggie Grey's the South Pacific's legendary hotel Situated right in the heart of Western Samoa. Enjoy Polynesian-style friendliness and service, in cool surroundings, superb entertainment and food. Magnificent white sand beaches only a short drive away.

Airconditioned rooms, swimming pool and full bar facilities.

Bookings through Union Steamship Company of NZ, Pan Am, Air New Zealand or direct to Aggie Grey's. Apia, Western Samoa. Cables: AGGIES, APIA.

FOR SALE Coastal Vessels Built 1960. B.V. Class. Survey due 6/77. 43.9 m x 7.9 m x 2.83 m. Gross 351.9. Nett 172.8. M/E S/S Brons 2SA. 330 BHP. I hold, 2 hatches. Offers.

Built 1969 PNG survey. 21,5 m x 6.4 m x 2.13 m. 62 DWT. S/S Caterpillar D 333.

K 75,000 ONO.

Built 1965 PNG survey. 24.41 m x 5.9 m x 2.28 m. 100 DWT. I hold, I hatch.

S/S SMS Yanmar diesel. 150 BHP.

KBO,OOO ONO.

Barges Built 1969. PNG survey. 23.37 m x 6.09 n 60 DWT. 2x4 cyl. Caterpillar D33OC.

K 75,000 ONO.

Rebuilt 1976. 10.1 m x 4.8 m. 20 DWT.

Capacity T/S Ferdson diesel each 56 BHP. K 25,000.

Built 1969. 27.4 m x 7.9 m x 2.13 m. 127 DWT. 280 sq ft deck space. 4 Perkins diesels. K 175,000.

Built 1970. Abs. S/S 76. 38.4 m x 9.3 m x 2.13 m. DWT 250. M/E 3x6 cyl.

Caterpillar D 333. K 275,000.

Many other vessels also available on request. For further details apply:

New Guinea Marine Surveys &

SERVICES, BOX 783, LAE, PAPUA NEW GUINEA.

TELEX: MARINESERV NE42515.

FOR SALE Pacific Island Business for sale.

Established electronics firm providing good income with small investment.

Write PIM, GPO Box 3408, Sydney, for details.

Tag Shells

Australian specimen shells for the serious collector. Send your "WANT" list now. Prompt and personal replies.

To: C. Samson - PO Box 13, Hampton, Vic, 3188. Aust.

FLEETS 30ft. fibreglass cutter bit. 1976, 25 hp mar. diesel, alum, mast & boom, sails, s.s.stays, self-steering, 4 berths, toilet, gas stove, sounder, $32,000.00. FLEETS 221 Esplanade, Wynnum Central, Brisbane. Cable FLEETS BRISBANE.

TRADE MARK CAUTIONARY NOTICE: Wiggins Teape Limited of Gateway House, Basing View, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG2J 2EE, England wish it to be known that they are the owners of the trade mark IDEM and that the IDEM mark is used by Wiggins Teape Limited on or in connection with paper.

Proceedings will be taken against any third party found to be using the IDEM mark or any closely similar mark on or in connection with paper.

IS

Vu.H. Grove 0 Sons

LTD

The Active Exporters

Shippers Of Fresh, Frozen

And Processed

New Zealand Products

SINCE 1896

Enquiries Welcome

Air Freights A Specialty

W. H. Grove Ft Sons Ltd

16-18 FANSHAWE ST AUCKLAND NZ P.O. BOX 3718 AUCKLAND TELEPHONE 74-2*5

Telex Auckcom Nz 2326 Cables Grove Auckland

MODERN TEACHING AIDS PTY. LTD. has progressively introduced sound educational materials into the classroom and homes that guide children's natural interest to their learning needs. Foremost among these are the very successful Tutor Books, M. T.A.

Reading Laboratories, and now the recently published Open House Math Laboratory.

Continuing with this policy of meeting the educational needs in Papua New Guinea, and the Pacific. MT.A. have appointed Mr T. Unwin to service this region.

For your educational needs, please contact Isopang School & Library Supplies P. 0., Box 9123 Hohola. P.N.G.

Telephone: 25-3817 TOWAGE Contract towage Australia and Pacific Islands. International survey - F.G. Crews. Interocean Marine, 106 Anderson St, Ballina, NSW. Cable INTERSALVAGE. 102

Pacific Islands Monthly May, 197

THE W th ’ re,l able. di,r^,- s men mh the accents’ quality. Trucks £act n % inee ring' TRUCksi ssiS^tt 9 re teUeJsu^i e truck - Powerful SUZU d 'ese/ PoweTs^yortab/e, gearbox. Dua°br*l! :Synchro Suner b r klng ov erslunq ,7 system 9 S^ p f ns -on springs UDf ® s ' ,,enf teaf j ffi'* I absorbers.

I —wfoers. Foo,, „ ac °es sibiiify Syen 9' n e Jj 1 7 | , >~ ; n if ISUZU TXD ISUZU TLD 238 BUS A big, powerful truck designed to A great way to carry up to 15 tackle the toughest jobs with ease! passengers reliably and comfortably.

Western Samoa O.F. Nelson & Co. Ltd. < Fiji Burns Philp (South Sea) Co. Ltd.

Papua New Guinea Dawapia Motors, Rabaul Wamp Nga Motors, Mt. Hagen Solomon Islands Solomon Islands Service Station New Caledonia SAIP SMI General Motors. Serving you in the South Pacific.

m v ti / Beautiful Sunset, Astounding Soundset!

The component hunt ends with Akai’s ultra-compact stereo System-A Series. Perfectly matched audio engineering between turntable and Receiver/Cassette Deck, and your choice of speakers, lets you construct the system most in harmony with your taste. Akai’s vertical display rack completes System-A’s easy operation and good looks. System-A is the professional-quality component system that recreates music both naturally bright and beautiful.

Vi ■ ifc if v m I * # Australia; Akai Australia Pty. Ltd., 17/18 Hordern Place Denison St. Camperdown, Sydney, N S W. 2050 Tel: 516-3366/P.N.G.: S O. Svensson (N.G.) Ltd., P 0. Box 705, Port Moresby Tel; 2275/Fiji Islands; Motibhai & Company Ltd , P 0 Box 9175 Nadi International Airport Tel; 72-165/New Zealand; Pye Ltd, Consumer Product Division, 110 Mt. Eden Rd., Mt. Eden, Auckland Tel: 686-437/ New Caledonia: Menard Freres, B P, H 2, Noumea Tel; 275222/Tahiti. Etablissements Comimpex, P.O. Box 200. Papeete Tel: 20477/New Hebrides Island: Burns Philip (New Hebrides) Co., Ltd., Port Vita, New Hebrides Island /Norfolk Island: Burns Philip (Norfolk Island) Co., Ltd , P.O, Box 21, Norfolk Island/ Samoan Islands: Burns Philip (South Sea) Co., Ltd., P 0. Box 129, Pago Pago, American Samoa, Apia, Western Samoa /Mariana Islands: J C. Tenorio Enterprises, P.O. Box 137, Saipan Tel: 6444/8/British Solomon: Security Electrical Co., Ltd., P.O. Box 174, Honiara Tel; 881 /Cook Islands: JPS Enterprises Ltd..

P.O. Box 15, Rarotonga Tel: 2150, 2176 SYSTEIfIiV Audio & Video IAKAII AKAI ELECTRIC CO., LTD.

Tokyo, Japan

Honda is a true life drama, performed on the world’s stage. By average folks, teenagers, men, and women everywhere. Your neighbors, maybe even you are playing a part. If so, you know Honda is more than great machines.

It’s people concerned with taking people where they want to go in life.

On two wheels, we’re the best selling motorcycle. The easy to operate hard workers who don’t demand much. Honda is always ready and gets you there safely. We move on four wheels. The precedent setting Honda Civic continues to receive international economy and performance awards. It’s the elegant compact car.

Sometimes, we have no wheels. Honda portable power operates machinery, generates electricity, pumps water and tills the soil.

Little wonder good things happen on Honda —we work harder to assure they do. r

Honda Motor Co., Ltd. Tokyo, Japan

PapeeWFMl' ISLANDS: Suwu'S°TRUST TERRITORY 'ij It"*!! de ‘ Produi, ‘ H »" da B P 1665- 105 :iFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY - MAY, 1977

4-Wheel Drive Built By the People Who’ve Made Datsun World Famous.

The Nissan Patrol, Datsun cars and trucks all share the same tradition of quality engineering.

The 4-wheel drive Nissan Patrol is specially designedf^o''handle a wide-range of work assignments both on and dff the road.

It’s tough and dependable.

The Nissan Patrol —built to do the job betl □J V s Nissan PATROL Pickup Nissan PATROL Hardtop' DATSUN Product of NISSA^ 106

Pacific Islands Monthly - May, Is