Millionaire in customs row
IN the 1970s, millionaire George Talbott said he won’t ever bring his luxury yacht Paka back to the Fiji Islands again.
Talbott, owner of a 65-ft luxury motor yachts, said when he arrived in Fiji waters, he was harassed by customs officials who refused to issue him with papers until he had paid duty on two motorbikes he had on board.
This was reported in The Fiji Times of May 4, 1977.
“I did not bring the bikes to sell in Fiji,” Mr Talbott said.
They are on board so the crew can travel on them to buy stores for the ship.
He added: “I have also had a raw deal with the Agriculture Department which won’t issue papers for my Chinese cat that I have on board.”
His yacht carburetor broke down as he was going to Suva wharf to get the crew’s passports stamped.
But when his wife from Honolulu sent the spare parts by Air Pacific, the customs would not allow him to pick them up either, Mr Talbott complained.
“I am fed up with the inefficiency of officials in Fiji and I’m just ready to leave,” he said.
“I do not see how this kind of treatment is going to help the tourist industry that Fiji is trying so hard to maintain.”
“I wrote a book on Captain Cook and I took this trip so I could rewrite one section of it.”
On board Paka, everything was far removed from Captain Cook’s ships.
She contained sophisticated equipment such as a radar, a desalination plant and three different types of radio.
The custom-built boat had two guest rooms with private bath and a washer-drier in the laundry. The kitchen contained a refrigerator and freezer and there was a colour television set in the living room.
“We’re equipped with a garbage compactor, an evaporator that will produce 125 gallons of fresh water a day and three generators to make our own electricity,” Mr Talbott said.
Although most luxury yachts like Paka had professional captains, Mr Talbott himself sailed his vessel.
He had ample opportunity to go sailing as a young man and later in WWII he sailed on an ammunition ship in the Pacific.
He lived in Hawaii and owned a chain of liquor stores. He was in the process of selling his business when he came to Fiji in 1977.
The best thing about sailing was that you could take comfort and safety with you, he said.
Mr Talbott planned to leave Fiji to go to Tonga, Samoa, Christmas Island and then back to Honolulu.
The acting commander of customs, Les Gardiner, said he did not know the circumstances around Mr Talbott’s complaint.
He said no complaint had been made to his department although he indicated he would be glad to discuss them if Mr Talbott wanted to see him.
He said it was possible the motor bikes had not been listed on the declaration form every yacht was issued with on arrival at port.
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May 24
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