A SIMPLE LIFE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 244, 12 September 1935, Page 12

A SIMPLE LIFE.

INHABITANTS OF SOLOAION ISLANDS. The simplicity of the life of the Solomon Islanders, the small degree to which they have been affected bv Western civilisation, and the consequent survival of many ancient customs were described in an interview at Christchurch by the Very Rev lather J. M. Aubin, S.M. Father Aubin. a frenchman who has been on the islands loi 27 years, is accompanied by F ather V. Coieaud, S.AI. Father Aubin will be consecrated Bishop in Wellington by Archbishop O’Shea on September 29. There was no need for the natives to work, said Father Aubin. Eating sleeping, smoking, and chewing betel nut were their major occupations. Their diet of yams, taro, sweet potatoes, and fish was varied by an occasional wild pig- When the area of ground supplying them failed, they allowed it to run wild and moved on to another, which was burnt off and planted. As tho country was tropical there was always an abundant growth and the natives never lacked the necessaries of life. Their standard of living, however, was low. Unusual methods of cooking were used. All the food was mixed in a wooden bowl with milk from coconuts. Into this red hot stones were dropped, the bowl then covered with leaves and left for half an hour or three-quarters of an hour, when it. was considered sufficiently cooked.

ANCIENT CUSTOMS SURVIVING. In general the health of ill© natives was good, but they were old at 50. As the country was swampy., malaria was a common disease, the natives themselves having to resort to quinine to guard as far as possible against the attacks of the disease. The infant mortality rate was high. Polygamy was practicesd, but it was largely a matter of what a man could afford. A wife cost the equivalent of about £4O in native money —strings of shell—an amount which was shared by the wife’s relatives. The bride and bridegroom might not have seen one another up to the time of their marriage. There were no signs of civilisation in many parts of the islands. In the remoter parts it was not unknown for cannibalism still to be practised. M’iissjonarijes travelled by boat or forest tracks, there being no roads and bridges. Alail arrived each six weeks, by steamer. When necessary, added Father Aubin, the native could be a good worker, but there was little incentive to work. Formerly he would work on a platation for two years, his remuneration for this being £24. On his return to his village he would have to share his wealth, even to his clothes, ‘with his relatives. It had frequently happened that on his return he was deprived of everything he possessed. With the fall in the price of copra many of the traders had left the islands. The white population is now. less than 400, the natives numbering 100,000.