Federation?

ON THE WAY TO A SOUTH PACIFIC

Some Speculation About Our Future Government

By R. W. Robson.

I SUGGEST that the time has come when we might begin seriously to consider a plan for a South Pacific Federation of English-speaking Islanders.

Twelve Territories of the West Indies, all under the Union Jack, are getting ready to form a West Indies Federation.

Why not a South Pacific Federation of nine Territories or Units?

Twenty years ago, when I first published the PIM, there was in the South Pacific an administrative con glomeration of an extraordinary charac ter. From west to east, we had the Aus tralian Territory of Papua; the Man dated Territory of New Guinea; the Mandated Territory of Nauru; the British Protectorate of the Solomons; the Condominium of the New Hebrides; the Crown Colonies of Fiji, and Gilbert and Ellice; the British Protectorate (more or less) of the Kingdom of Tonga; the Mandated Territory of Western Samoa; the New Zealand Territory of Cook Islands. In addition, there were the French Colonies of New Caledonia and Oceania; the Dutch Territory of Western New Guinea; and the United States Ter ritory of Eastern Samoa.

Except that the Solomons and the Gil bert and Ellice Colony were together under the High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, these Territories were— administratively—completely separate and independent. They did not even engage in consultations on matters of common interest, or exchange experience—a ridiculous set-up.

It was ridiculous because, as is ap parent to anyone who knows anything of tropical islands administration, and rea lises that the South Pacific islands lie between the equator and the Tropic of Capricorn, conditions of life in these Territories are similar. Eighty per cent, of the problems with which the respec tive Administrators are faced are com mon to all.

Since then, the Islands Administrations have gone some way along the road to wards co-operation in government and co-ordination of plans for native wel fare. Papua and New Guinea now have a joint administration. There is some exchange of ideas between the Austra lians, in the west, and the British and New Zealanders, in the centre. New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, have joint schemes covering health, educa tion, defence, air transport. There is co-operation between the French officials in New Caledonia, New Hebrides and Tahiti.

BUT there was no deliberate and of ficial effort to achieve overall con sultation, co-ordination and co operation until Australia and New Zea land got together in the Anzac Pact at the end of World War 11, and brought in to being the South Pacific Commission, now supported and maintained by Aus tralia, Britain, United States, France, New Zealand and Holland.

Expert men and women from the Com mission's Research Council are now at work on administrative problems in all the Territories of the South Pacific; and, m Fiji in April, there met the first South Pacific Conference. Under the direction of the Commission, the delegates from 15 Territories—mostly members of the in digenous races—met and discussed many conditions which affect them all, in com mon.

The gathering of these peoples under the one roof, for the first time in his tory, and their exchange of opinions and

experiences, were valuable. Unquestion ably, the foundation of a future struc ture of great importance was laid.

The formal discussions of the Confer ence were confined strictly to non-politi cal subjects. For the present, those sub jects gave the delegates all the scope they needed: they were concerned with the three fundamental needs of the Islanders —food, health and education.

BUT, before long—if there is no World War III —the Islanders will be given assurance of food supplies; their health and natural increase will be guarded by a better medical organisation than they have now; and they will sur

obstacle of a multiplicity of languages! a " “n"o their political wings, and go on to deal with such subjects as self-government, racial security, Asiatic immigration, the estab lishment and protection of industries; and then the present machinery, as rep resented by the South Pacific Commis-

Lion and the periodical Conferences be tween native delegates, will be wholly Inadequate. [ The greater the success the South Pacific Commission has with its plans, the sooner will we discern a movement from the Commission.

The natural tendency will be towards a nationalistic isolationism. But if the six nations behind the South Pacific Commission are wise and far-see ing, they may direct the movement to wards a Federation of small, self-govern ing States, which would maintain and protect a freely-given allegiance to Western Democracy.

PROBABLY, for reasons of sentiment, the non-British countries in the South Pacific Commission will not at first favour the idea of a Federation of the English-speaking Territories — which are, in their order of political im portance, Fiji, Papua-New Guinea, West ern Samoa, and Tonga—with Solomons, Nauru, New Hebrides, Gilbert and Ellice and Cook Islands, of no political im portance. They will point out that New Guinea, Western Samoa and Nauru are Trustee Territories, and New Hebrides is a Condominium; and that, with those four out, there are not enough purely British Territories left to form a Federa tion.

The point I would make—and empha sise—is that New Guinea, Western Samoa, Nauru and New Hebrides, under their present status, have little hone of being anything other than unimportant and undeveloped appendages of some re mote Power. But as Units in a Federa tion, protected by the British Common wealth, they could —and probably would —develop a real life of their own. The Condominium is a farce, and the Man date (or Trustee) system is merely the useless plaything of the mostly useless

Planners who live their happy lives at Geneva and Lake Success.

Non-British nations have possessions in the West Indies. But in the West Indies, as in the South Pacific, there are sufficient Territories with interests predominantly British to form a work able Federation, to enjoy a worth-while status, to give each Unit an independent life of its own.

THE destructive critic will offer a dozen practical objections against the idea of a South Pacific Federation. I myself can see many.

The first —and a very difficult one it is—is that, racially and culturally, there is a bigger gap between the Polynesians and the Melanesians than there is be tween Europeans and Polynesians. An other is the complexity of languages.

Another lies in the fact that the primi tive Melanesians outnumber the more cultured and adaptable Polynesians by 10 to one.

But the things which divide the indi genous races of the South Pacific are small and insignificant, compared with the considerations which unite them.

There is no suggestion of a national union. What is suggested is that a South Pacific Federation may now be regarded as a possibility of the not too distant future. We may contemplate a Federa tion of which each unit would have free dom to develop, as a national entity, within its own borders.

IT is helpful, at this stage, to glance at the “Federal Plan for the British Caribbean/’ as set out in the May issue of the journal, Corona. The plan has two fundamentals —the achievement of political independence within the British Commonwealth, and recognition of the fact that political independence can be secured only through economic stability and solvency. It is obvious that

much has to be accomplished in the latter regard in the South Pacific, through the Commission, before the South Pacific will be ready to consider political independ ence.

The Australian type of Federation is the one recommended —the system under which the units of a Federation surren der to the Federal authority certain clearly defined powers, and retain for themselves all the undefined powers. In the West Indies plan there is an “ex

elusive’’ list, containing all the matters on which the Federal body may legislate, and a “concurrent” list, whereon the Federal body and the Unit government may take joint action, but where the Federal law prevails in case of a clash.

The “exclusive” list is concerned mainlv with defence and external affairs, and also provides for the raising of external loans. The “concurrent” list deals with matters requiring some overall uniformity and central control, like the collection of import duties, the supervision of inter

islands transport, and the development of industries.

The Federal legislature proposed pro vides for a Senate of 23 members ap pointed by the Governor-General, and a House of Assembly of 50 members, elected on adult suffrage. It is con sidered that the nominated revisionary chamber is necessary to protect the small Units against the numerical superiority in the Assembly of the larger Units.

The proposed West Indies Assembly would include the following seats; —

Jamaica 16; Trinidad and Tobago, 9 British Guiana, 6; Barbados, 4; Montser of ’ v,, a . n £ British Honduras, Antigua St. Christopher-Nevis, Grenada, St Lucia, St. Vincent, Dominica, 2 each certain other small groups would be ad ministered by the British Governor- General, as dependencies of the Federa tion. The Governor-General would be as sisted by a Council of State of 14 mem bers.

AT present, Australia is deeply con cerned with the administration ol Papua-New Guinea and the Bis marck Islands, and would give very little thought to any plan to transfer ad ministrative responsibility elsewhere, Australia now is said to be examining the possibility of extending her responsibility into the British Solomons and New Hebrides.

But that is only because Australia, just now, is preoccupied with the problems of defence against Asia and Indonesia. She wants all the Islands, just named, under her control, so that if and when another defence crisis arises, those islands may provide her with a first-line barrier. She is not concerned with colonisation and development; all her thought and ef fort in those directions, for the next 50 years, can be absorbed within her own boundaries.

At present, all considerations affecting the Western way of life in the South Pacific are subverted to the danger in Asia, where the under-privileged half of the human race, directed and equipped by Moscow Communism, is threatening our very existence. Until the menace of Totalitarianism is removed, it seems a waste of time to think much about the present condition and future welfare of the peoples in the South Pacific, in cluding Australia and New Zealand.

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I But, when the Muscovite conspiracy lagainst world peace has been smashed, land the world returns to normalcy—as it I will—Australia probably will be happy to I hand over her Melanesian responsibili ties to another body; and a plan for a iSouth Pacific Federation may become [practical and topical.

FRANCE, with New Caledonia and Oceania, and some responsibility for New Hebrides, would not be in terested in such a Federation. As in the West Indies, her Territories, while friendly and interested, would remain aloof. But Holland, because of the close association of her Territory with the rest of New Guinea and United States, owing to an ever closer association of Eastern Samoa with Western Samoa, might assist the Federation.

Leadership of such a Federation would go naturally—in the beginning, at any rate—to the Polynesian people of Tonga and Western Samoa, and to those re markable folk, the Fijians, who, although scientifically called Melanesians, are in culture, intelligence and general ability entitled to stand as equals beside the Polynesians.

I'think that, in planning and organis ing the South Pacific Conference, we unconsciously took the first definite step towards a South Pacific Federation.