"Sometimes", said Mr, Kinney, "I tune in to a station from which a war report is being broadcast. Then I say to myself, 'If that. is civilization, thank God I am in Tahiti', and switch to another station, I am glad to say we have no newspapers down in Tahiti, We do not have to put with any scare headlines, which would not really interest us anyway. We get all our news over the radio, or from the daily bulletin sheet which is hung up outside the Post Office.
"We are really far more interested in the simple, quiet life which we lead amid the most beautiful surroundings which I have ever seen. Tahiti is practically unspoiled. The mountains come right down to the sea, and there is no area big enough for industry. There are waterfalls, lagoons, mountains, and the most magnificent foliage It is a tradition in Tahiti that socks are worn only on July 14, the French National Day. Otherwise, its foreign inhabitants are content a pair of shorts, a singlet and sandals. Tt is impossible to make any money in Tahiti, and. there is no room for ambition, The only possible life is the quiet life, boating, fishing, riding, and occasionally motoring.
Mr. Kinney, for. instance, spends his days on his property, clearing away the brush, making paths, planting vegetables and tending his chickens, fishing in the lagoon which laps his front garden.
The administration of Tahiti, which has been under the French since the letter half of last century, is one of the most sensible in the world, according to Mr. Kinney. The natives are given just enough education, (which does not include a course in political science, or the history of revolutions and wars), and are among the most peaceful and contented people to be found anywhere.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.