(55) the Australian Administration has accomplished much more than the Bri- tish in the Solomons Protectorate.They had the solid foundation of the Germans to build on and set about opening the country by peaceful pene- tration so that now only the very central and most mountainous areas are colored"unknown"on the government map;when they started,only the coast for a distance of five or ten miles inland was considered safe. Their predecessors were bent upon the commercial development first,and they used the natives in achieving what they did.Penetration occured only when a scientific party shot its way across the island on one or two occasions and in retaliation for native reprisals which came,swift and vindictive.At present,practically all of the Buin district at the south end,north to Arawa and diagonally across the island from there (striking the west coast about fifteen miles below the volcano Bagana) has been opened.Meaning that one of the head men of each village has been appointed kukurai(luluai)or government representative and,if possi- ble,another man,who savvies pidgin,appointed tultul(interpreter).This is the first step and is accompanied with gratuitous gifts like axes,bush knives,tobacco,and seeds from His Beneficient Britainic Majesty.The sec- ond is the advent of the tax levy of ten shillings per year per head. Later after some of the village have spent time in the district hospi- tal for treatment one of the brighter patients is kept three months af- ter being discharged during which time he is trained in the rudiments of bush medicine.Then he returns to the village sporting a blue,peaked cap with a red cross insignia.He is the medical tultul.The other tultul has two thin red stripes on his cap,and the kukurai one thick one.This pro- cess would take from six months to a year for each village after which they are visited once or twice a year by a police patrol tax-collecting, and once a year,if they are lucky,by a medical patrol.In this way the most remote bushmen are gradually brought into contact with the white men.On the whole this is a weakening thing because the young men and even the meris leave the home of their ancestors to work on plantations, for the government,or as servants in one of the coastal ports.However, many enterprizing youths working on plantations come from unopened dis- dicts whence they return after their three years indenture is up to tell fabulous tales and become big men.I must not forget to mention the Marist Catholic Mission which was the first force of white civilization on Bougainville and Buka.The Methodist and 7-Day Adventist have since put in their ears much to the annoyance of everyone else,although the latter are quite harmless.Numbers of natives are employed by two larger societies in their propagation of the faith and in their commercial enterprizes.Most traders,recruiters,plantation managers,etc.,have plenty of toleration for the Catholics,who have a reputation for fair-play and kindness and a broad-minded viewpoint.All are unanimously hateful of the Wesleyan brethern(Methodist)composed of ex-waiters and vaudeville comedians who practice extortion on the innocent natives and selfish crookery in their business methods.For such a piebald coterie of jack- a-napes have the original martyrs of religion(Christianity)in these islands died.Each Mission has its own method which is not published; the Catholics have it over the others like a tent.Most of the Fathers are French but I learn that there are two Americans- Wade from Providence, R.I.,and Connolly,who chose the Church over a career as a professional baseball player(probably a Holy Cross graduate). To return to the government- the patrols operate to map the vil- lages in each district,their populations,and general attitude toward the No.I Kiup(District Officer).Medical patrols take health census and dispense medicines,the principal one being injections of NAB for yaws. Any serious cases of illness they reouse to the hospital.The police pa-