Administration Of
p. 30 · Read in the full issue
Papua
Various Changes Made by New Act
TNTRODUCING the second reading of \ the Papua Bill (altering the desig nation o( the chief offlcer fro ® Madge, Lieut.-Governor to Administrator) in the Commonwealth Parliament at the end of May , the Minister for Pac i flc Territories (]yr r T\r o ck) announced the following changes Tn the Territory’s Ld? ministrative macSnerv m'nistrative machinery.
“The Papuan Public Service formerly contained an office of Administrator, the occupant of which was responsible for the administration of the territory dur ing the inability or absence from the territory of the Lieutenant-Governor. In
1924 it was decided that the senior offi cial member of the Executive Council should carry out such functions under the title of Acting Lieutenant-Governor.
“It is now considered desirable to replace the former provision with one on the lines of that obtaining in New Guinea for the appointment of an Act ing Administrator, namely, that the Governor-General may appoint a person t'o act as Administrator whenever necessary and, in default of any such appointment, the senior official member of the Executive Council present in the territory shall exercise and perform all the powers and functions of the Admini strator; and that the appointment of an Acting Administrator during the absence of the Administrator from the territory shall not affect the exercise or performance by the Administrator him self of any power or function. It is con sidered that provision should also be made for the appointment of a Deputy Administrator in respect of the whole territory in order to facilitate admini stration when the Administrator is still irt the territory, but is carrying out tours of inspection and so is absent from the centre of administration.
“The Papua Act at present provides that the Executive Council shall consist of nine members, one of whom must be a non-official member chosen by and from the five non-official members of the Legislative Council. The remaining eight official members are officers of the territory. The population of Papua at present comprises about 1,600 Europeans and 300,000 natives. It is considered that greater elasticity should be permitted in the number of official members on the Council and, accordingly, instead of the statutory obligation to have an Executive Council of nine members, it is proposed that this number should be a maximum, the actual number of mem bers fluctuating between five and nine as may be necessary to meet the condi tions of the territory. It is proposed that provision be made for the appoint ment of deputies of both the official members and the non-official member of the Executive Council.
“The existing term of the non-official members of the Legislative Council is six years, but it has been decided that this should be reduced to four years.
It has also been thought desirable to provide for the appointment of extraor dinary members of the Legislative Coun cil. Such members would be persons who would be able to tender expert advice on any particular matter with which the Council might be required to deal, but would not be entitled to vote or to be counted in any quorum of the Council.
“It has also been decided to alter the designation of the chief court of the ter ritory from that of the “Central Court” to that of the “Supreme Court”. The court is vested with similar jurisdiction in the Territory as a Supreme Court in the States of the Commonwealth.
“The late Sir Hubert Murray occupied the office of Judge of the Central Court as well as Lieutenant-Governor. There is another judge in the Territory. The salary paid to Sir Hubert Murray was at the rate of £l,BOO per annum. It is proposed that the salary to be assigned to the office of Administrator, who will not be required to perform judicial duties, should be at the rate of £1,500 per annum.”
Mr. L. Logan, Headquarters Officer, Port Moresby, has relinquished his duties in order to take up military work.