Sunday October 21, 1967
'Mr H' Really Is an Island Trader - He Buys And Sells Them
Robert H Hunter (33) right, of Seattle, tall, bald and friendly, picked up a ringing telephone in a Suva hotel at 11.30 yesterday morning.
A long distrance voice said: Negotiations for the 600-acre island in Puget Sound, Washington State, successfully completed. Purchase price 445,000 US dollars'.
Soon after that, the friendly American called for drinks. And a Fiji Times photographer and a reporter drank briefly to the latest success of "Mr H, the island specialist".
In the past five years, Mr Hunter has negotiated the sales of about 400 islands or large tracts of waterfront in Greece, British Columbia, the Bahamas, New Zealand and the north-west of Washington State.
Total value of the property which has passed through his busy fingers is about eight million dollars.
The island buyer's dream: To settle down within the next 10 years and live five months of every year in Fiji.
Los Angeles today For Our Annette
Pictured right, getting to know the captain and one of the flight hostesses on her flight before she left for Tahiti is Miss Hibiscus 1967, Miss Annette Lepper.
Annette, who left Fiji on Wednesday night on UTA for Tahiti arrives in Los Angeles today.
She will tour Los Angeles sight seeing and tomorrow appear on television's Dean Martin Show. On Monday, she will tour Columbia Studios and on the next day appear on another TV Show - the Joe Bishop Show. She will be guest of honour at a reception at Disneyland on Wednesday and then go to the city of Santana for three days.
From Santana, Annette will visit San Fransisco and October 31, return to Los Angeles to start her journey home.
Former Levuka Pupils Form Association
About 60 former pupils of Levuka Public School met at Suva to form the Levuka Public School Ex-Pupils' Association.
The first of its kind to be formed, the association's aim will be to provide funds for scholarships and bursaries, for pupils attending the school. Mr RG Kermode is the association's patron and Miss A Williams its president.
Other officers: Secretary, Mr W Pickering, assistant secretary Mrs E Kitione treasurer, Mr N Morris; assistant treasurer, Mr E Chang, auditor, Mr H Powell, legal advisor, Mr D Whippy, public relations officer, Mr T Ricketts. The association will hold its inaugural dinner at Suva on November 11.
Little Otter
Drops In For A Look
An aircraft which could become a familiar sight in Fiji showed its paces over Nausori Airport yesterday. It was the turbo-prop Hawker de Havilland Twin Otter. Capable of carrying 19 passengers, it is claimed to be ideally suited to conditions in Fiji. A spokesman for Hawker de Havilland said the Otter can take off on a strip only 1500 feet long and land on very rough ground.
The Twin Otter is manufactured in Canada. The Nausori visitor was taken to Britain and then flown to Australia where it stayed for some months before setting off on a demonstration tour of the South-West Pacific.
It has been to Papua New Guinea, the Solomon islands, the New Hebrides and New Caledonia and after Fiji will visit Norfolk island and possibly New Zealand. The spokesman said his firm hopes to sell the Twin Otter to one of Fiji's local airliner.
The aircraft has already been sold to Transpac in New Caledonia.
Adi Lala Had An Answer For Mini-Skirt
"My personal protest against the mini-skirt"....this was the laughing comment which Adi Lala made on her sulu whenever her clothes became a subject of interest to women journalists while she and Ratu Mara were on their recent world tour.
The six-week tour began with a stop-over at San Fransisco.
...the long flight to London tired Adi Lala, Ratu Mara and Mr R Sanders who accompanied the couple. Both slept whenever they could while travelling, but Adi Lala is one of those unfortunates who can little more than doze in a plane no matter how long the flight may be. This air insomnia proved somewhat a trial throughout the tour as an official function almost inevitably followed their arrival in a new country.
....we were exhausted and we slept and slept", smiled Adi Lala, "In fact I think we slept the greater part of the time we were in Sydney".
Leaving Sydney, they made their way home via Noumea.
"My biggest thrill was seeing my family again when we finally reached Fiji," said Adi Lala. "It had been a long trip and at times very tiring, but strangely enough it was only when we paused that we actually felt tired. Otherwise, everything was far too interesting.
"To me, it was an education to see how women live in different parts of the world. I am sure that we all have a great deal to learn from each other".
'Exciting ' Two Years Study Among Welsh
When a Fijian speaks English with a Welsh accent, the result is most attractive - as Amelia Rokotuivuna proves.
After two years at Swnasea University College studying social development and administration, Amelia (pictured) has returned to Suva.
As assistant to the YWCA general secretary, she is reorienting herself with YWCA affairs, in order to take over the running of the 'Y' in December when Ruth Lechte goes on leave. Amelia describes her 2-year study period at Swansea as "very interesting and very exciting". The 15 students at course were all from developing countries - Kenya, Jamaica, Bahamas, Ethiopia, Uganda, Nigeria, Thailand, Malawi and Fiji. Most of the students were males who held top-level government positions in their home countries and the 26-year-old Amelia found herself one of the three youngest in the group. Age of the others ranged from 30 upwards.