Durins the operation it was necessary to hire native labor at the
camps on the v-rious weather islands.
Arrangements were made to pay the
natives at Kusaie with broken lots of food,
At Tarawa and Kapingamarangi,
the only other islands where indigenous personnel were hired, payment was
made in cashes
To =«xpedite payment of these laborers, it was necessary to establish
definite methods of paynent in each case.
To effect payment in broken lots of food,the island Magistrate
certified to the hours worked and signed for appropriate amounts of food,
which was paid on the basis of the current retail value of similiar items
in the local store.
i
In the case of payments made in cash, the Finance Officer at Eniwetok
authcrized the appointment-of a Class "A" agent who would make a monthly
trip to each camp site to make payments.
An additional expense was incurred on the island of Nauru, where
the Australian authorities asked payment of guard fees to natives who
guarded aircraft landing at the Nauru airport.
Prompt payment was essential
in order to maintain good relations with the Nauru administration; therefore nayment was effected expeditiously upon receipt of each bill for
such charges.
Two other minor charges were handled in the same manner as the
suard fees.
The above procedures were considered satisfactory and it is recommended
that similiar rrocedures be adopted for subSequent tests.
The attached charts indicate funds utilization during Operation
—
HARDTACK.
AFWL/Ho