A CASE OF BANANAS And Other South Sea Trials

Hardcover. As a British Judge in the South Pacific, the author's circuit stretched north of Capricorn for 3,000 miles, from Polynesian Tawahi in the west, through Salu-Salu and Bai Lalevu in central Micronesia, to Melanesian Tavula in eastern Oceania. No doubt the author did his best to uphold the dignity of British justice in the remote South Sea islands but, as this hilarious autobiography reveals, his best was often not good enough. It did not help that he had to contend with the manic eccentricities of the District Commissioner and the curious customs of the Polynesians. Inevitably, he fell far short of the standards demanded by Mr. Pandit Raj Sharma his beetle-browed Court Registrar. These lighthearted recollections evoke delightfully the end of Empire in a corner of paradise. Noel Coward observed on a visit to Ronnie Knox Mawer, 'Social life in the South Pacific has its limits.' But what they were, Ronnie could never find out. Illus. by Tony Dover. 186pp. 8vo. h/back. F. in F. dw.