CONDITIONS VARY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 110, 11 May 1943, Page 2

CONDITIONS VARY

SERVICE IN PACIFIC

LIFE OF R.N.Z.A.F. PERSONNEL Reality shatters many illusions in the popular conception of the South Sea Islands as places of glamour, romance and beauty. The islands on which the various R.N.Z.A.F. units serving in the South-west Pacific are based differ greatly in climate, appearance, population and geographical position, and, for that reason, it is impossible to lump all the island groups together for the purpose of a general description. The conditions under which personnel live are varied in the same way. In the Solomons, for example, there is an intense humid heat, and the islands for the most part are covered with dense jungle consisting of huge trees laced together by heavy vines and creeping plants, with heavy undergrowth. It is, indeed, close to the average conception of the jungle and heat of darkest Africa. The sole concession to the popular novelist is the coconut palms about the shore and the tropical blue skies and sea. Far away another R.N.Z.A.F. unit carries out its work in entirely different surroundings. Here the soul can find a greater faith in the prefection of reality and the achievement of anticipation. Here there are white coral beaches and graceful palms, fruits in abundance, and the scent of frangipani and the glory of hibiscus. Here, too, the trade winds play, and the nights are cool and made glamorous by the tropical stars. And here, also, unromantic flight mechanics curse in the old familiar way at recalcitrant valves, and clerks fill in the old familiar forms. In yet another island a sweating air gunner may be engaged in the prosaic task of scrubbing a shirt, quite oblivious to the colourful picture presented by a group of natives weaving the fascinating pattern of a palm-thatched hut. At Home with Islanders The natives of islands of the South-west Pacific may be divided broadly into two groups—the Melanesians and the Polynesians. The latter, of course, are of the same race as our own Maoris, to whom they bear a strong resemblance in many ways. The New Zealanders are instantly at home with these people, and the greatest goodwill exists between them. As a rule the islands inhabited by the Polynesians come much closer to the romantic conception of the South Sea Islands than do those inhabited by the Melanesians, which are usually hotter and closer to the equator.

The people of Melanesian stock are much less uniform in type than the Polynesians. The Solomon Islander is short, wiry and primitive in his habits. Further south the Melanesian is taller and more strongly built, and in Fiji he is a magnificent individual. They are extremely dark-skinned, and their language is divided into a great number of dialects. It is virtually impossible for a Melanesian from one group of islands to understand the language of a native from another, whereas the Polynesians have similarities in language in most parts of the Pacific.

The culture of the natives of Polynesian stock is not dissimilar from one island group to another, but the Melanesians may range from Stone Age simplicity to well-organised health, educational and social services.

It may be seen that one cannot obtain a general picture of the conditions under which R.N.Z.A.F. personnel in the Pacific are living. In fact, each unit based on a different island has conditions which are peculiar to that island, and have little in common with any other unit.