get English pipe tobacco anywhere, at very fancy prices. It seems that the small shops - stationers, barbers, etc.- that used to sell cigarettes and tobacco, now make a living by selling tickets in the Golden Casket (state lottery, for support of public hospitals, ambulances, etc.). Cigarettes when available are a penny each. Was offered English cigarettes at 7/6 per 50 tin. Called on the A merican Consul (W. L. Peck). Tried without success to buy a rewind spool for my old Leica. Am having the camera tested - there is something wrong with the shutter, perhaps - and hope to take it to Cape York so that I will have one 35 mm camera for color and one for b and w pictures. Revised radio script with Hyde of ABC, recorded it in afternoon and it went on the air 7:45q. Called on Mr. Brooks, Senior Inspector of Customs. He will give clearance for our cargo when it lands in Brisbane, but advises that I first get advice from Burns Philp on the question whether, after customs clearance here, we will have any claim on the coastal shipping company for damage or loss between Brisbane and Cairns. Nice old boy who looks like a well fed German professor; looks at you over half-moon glasses and talks about insects and native medicinal plants. A keen amateur naturalist. Good contact. A good part of the afternoon spent in getting ration cards for meat, tea and butter. When finally I got the cards, I found they had given me clothing coupons to boot. Before ration cards were issued me I had to register as an alien - a new regulation, in operation since the first of the year. That took the time. No red tape. But the registering officer wanted to talk about conditions and trends in America. Australians are greatly interested in American affairs, and many of them are surprisingly well informed. Rations are 6 oz. butter and 2 oz. tea a week. Meat rationing is complicated. It applies only to beef and mutton. There is no fresh pork on the market. All other meats, including cooked beef and mutton, are not rationed. Townspeople seem to get plenty of meat under the system. Am told that in country districts rationed meats are sold freely without coupons.