Plan For Pacific Islands
p. 43 · Read in the full issue
Dominion
YOUNG Solomon Islands planter was sent away to a lonely and
isolated place, on important war duty.
He filled in the time, one day, by
drawing up a plan for something
that seems to be dreamed of by many young men of the r Pacific Territories — namely, a Dominion of British Oceania—a new Dominion compris ing the South Pacific Territories lying within the tropics. Here is his plan, scrawled on paper that has been stained by rain and sweat, and looks as if it had been chewed by cock roaches: rE Dominion would consist of the Mandated Territory of New Guinea, the Territory of Papua, the British Solomon Islands Protectorate, the New Hebrides Condominium, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony, the Colony of Fiji, the Mandated Territories of Samoa and Nauru, and the Territory of Norfolk Island.
Geographically, the capital should be at Vila, in the New Hebrides.
A Governor-General should be ap pointed by the King for an indefinite period; and there should be no State Governors, Resident Commissioners, Ad ministrators or other superfluous offices.
Parliament should consist of two Houses —Legislative Assembly, elected by the people for three years; and a Senate, appointed by the Governor-General and Prime Minister from the Dominion’s leading citizens, and should be a life appointment.
Members of both Houses should not receive salaries but should receive ample allowances to cover all their expenses.
Party politics should be against the Constitution, and declared illegal.
To ensure the natives receiving a just deal, and to allow them to take part in the administration of their own country, all chiefs or district headmen should be present when Parliament meets, and any chief who shows sufficient enlightenment should be eligible for appointment to the Senate. This does not mean that the chiefs would' take part in Parliamentary debates: but they would all meet in their own “talking house,” and would be kept informed of what was going on, and could submit proposals to Parliament.
The franchise should not be allowed to any European who had not resided in the Dominion for, say, three years; and then only if he occupies a responsible position, or owns property valued at, say, £2OO.
Every native headman would have a vote, but the ordinary rank-and-file would not. They would record their votes when they elect their headman. This would not apply to Norfolk Island.