Bringing the World to the South Seas

Radio Record, Volume VII, Issue 14, 13 October 1933, Page 12

Bringing the World

to the South Seas

THE South Sea Islands-dusky maidens weaving hibiscus flowers in their hair, singing their loys plaints to a yellow moon-white men in grubby suits, swigging whisky, gambling, going to the dogs. In other words-the average talkie director’s idea of a tropical island. Actually it is all rather different. The dusky maidens might weave flowers in their hair and sing love plaints, but they have a lot of things to do besides.

might drink whisky, but they do a heap of work and. at The white \

night, go. home to \ wives and children: just as any citizen in New ' Zealand does. It all sounds

horribly prosaic, but it’s really ™ much healthier-and safer. Civil- ac isation has béen at work in the islands now’

tor acentury. Not the civilisation of the five-roomed Sungalow (with, h. and c. and all-mod. cons.), but.a thing of definite use that has every respect for native customs and island beauties. There has been’ no ruthless ripping-out of bush, no forcing of natives into ready-made clothes and setting them to work behind. grocers’ counters, no infant-rearing rules foisted. upon: island mothers-but rather an addition to the beauties already existing in the islands of the Pacific. Boat services: have brought New Zealanders and Australians to admire and wonder, white men have settled there and respected the native . people, among -whom they have moved; radio has broken down: the isolation, : oo It is of radio that we want to write-radio and its uses in these beautiful islands of sunshine and blueness. Wireless is no new thing to Samoa. The Germans installed a transmitting set there before the war

and part of it is still in use. When the New Zealand Expeditionary Force landed at Samoa the set was brought into action, but little was known of the science in those days, and one of the generators was smashed in an endeavour to transmit messages. Only Morse communication is possible. Niue had no communication with the outside world except by boats before wireless came along. The visits of boats depended on the amount of copra to be taken away, and the coming of the ships was usually limited to three visits a ‘year. Niue now has a shortwave transmitter, installed about nine months ago-for three or four years before that its only communication was with Samoa (350 miles away) by means of a. small transmitter. With the new transmitter the island is in communication with New Zealand twice daily and with Apia three or four times each day. By means of a good receiving set, Niue is now able to pick up messages from the Government steamer Maui Pomare, and so be fully prepared for that vessel’s arrival, Apia is the only place in the Samoan group with a transmitting set for ordinary entertain- : ment purposes. A radio enthusiast from

Christchurch went to Samoa .and +. Set up a five watts plant for providing the islands with a local

service. It was later taken over, however, by the \ planters on the island,

Apia has a fair-sized white. population, and there are few people -who have not got a radio set. The little _ town stretches for a mile. or so along a lovely bay, set. with coconut palms and glorious shrubs. In’ the

a harbour is the. skeleton of the German vessel, Adler, one of the six warships wrecked ina terrific hurricane in 1889. and un

in the cool green bush, high above:' the town, is a white speck-the tomb of Robert Louis Stévenson. Between Apia and Suva is the island of Niuafoou -"Tin Can Island," it is- often called. Here one catches a glimpse of the primitive services that radio is rapidly killing. Before the days of wireless the only communication that the island had with the outside world (there are more than 1000 people living on Niuafoou) was by the "tin can" method.. The mails and papers were placed in.a kerosene tin, which was soldered, and thrown overboard: The'tin was guided ashore’ bya native who had swum out, holding the outward mail above him on the end of a bamboo stick. The mails'are still collected and dispatched in this manner, but wireless has brought these people into touch with the outside world. Niuafoou, it is interesting to note, is a crater containing a lake, and it is not so long since it was in eruption. It has the reputation of

growing the largest coconuts in the Pacific, and it is the home of the megapode, a bird which lays remarkably large eggs. There are no "sixpenny-ha’penny" radio sets in Samoa-the islands are a long way from any big broadcasting station, and the receivers must necessarily be of a high standard to pick up the programmes. The islanders listen in principally to American stations, although Australian and New Zealand programmes come in fairly well. The Wellington B station, 2ZW, is frequently heard in Apia. Static is bad in the rainy scason-from Christmas to about March-and it is necessary to have powerful sets so that the volume can be decreased and the static correspondingly. A.C. receivers are used in Apia, while in the backblocks battery sets are in use. At Niue there are only three receiving sets, all battery, and the owners listen in principally to New Zealand stations. Although the Samoans have a wide choice of stations in the evening practically no programmes can be picked up in the daytime. American stations come in late in the afternoon and New Zealand and Australian are clear at night. Samoa is becoming increasingly popular with retired persons with moderate incomes. And, with a zood wireless set, there is no need for the isolation which was formerly one of the drawbacks of the South Sea islands. There are 14 islands in the group, but only three are of any size-Savaii, Upolu and Tutuila (this last one belonging to the United States). Small as the group is, it has ever been a storm-centre of international politics-discovered by Van Roggeveen in the eighteenth century, it remained practically unknown-un-

tif the middle of the nineteenth century, although, by 1861, Great Britain, America and Germany all had resident consuls there, a fact which often led to fighting. In 1899 the position had grown intolerable, and it was decided that America should take Tutuila, and Germany Upolu, Savaii and the smaller western islands, In 1914, however, the German islands were occupied by New Zealand troops, and it is now administered by the Dominion under mandate from the League of Nations. Nothing remains at Apia to-day of the wireless masts that were erected during. German occupation of Samoa. As has already been mentioned a. portion of the plant is still in use, but the masts were felled some years ago. Their demolition gave the residents of the Samoan town a minor thrill-the wire ropes holding the masts were replaced by ordinary ropes which were saturated with kerosene. The ropes were set on fire, everyone fled to a safe distance, and the masts eventually crashed to the ground and were carted away. The wireless station at Apia to-day.is‘a business-like place with a well-constructed transmission building. As time goes on all the populated islands in the Pacific will be equipped with small Morse transmitters for the purpose of sending out urgent messages. In case of hurricane or plague, wireless can be of inestimable benefit in bringing the islanders’ plight to the notice of the outside world. The bigger islands-Rarotonga, Tonga, Suva-are in constant touch, of course, with the world, but the lesser atolls, with their handful of white traders, are, in many cases, as isolated as the planets.