Future of the South Pacific Commission

THE South Pacific Commission seems to be at the cross-roads. If its affairs are not handled with skill and vision, in the next few months, it will collapse.

That it has functioned so well In the work‘o? v y |ry S real valufta “lids of research and administration, is due partly to the organisational genius of Secretary- General Forsyth, partly to the devotion. tors of h atoh Sm an°d mruf service rendered by certain non-Australian Commissioners.

Australia was responsible for the ereation of the Commission; Australia’s Territories are by far the biggest in the South Pacific: but—apart from the fact that the Secretary-General is an Australian—Australia’s contribution to the establishment and activities of the Commission has been unimpressive. A recent Australian appointee—a Sydney professor who acts as part-time Commissioner— is said to be rendering distinguished service; but he came into the picture only a few months ago. If the Commission is to be kept in being—and there very definitely is a need for it in the South

Pacific—Australia, through its Ministers and its Departments, will have to con tribute something more in the way of in telligence, vision and inspiration.

Two major posts now have to be filled —those of Secretary-General and Deputy Chairman of the Research Council. In addition, the Commission is due soon to lose one of its most valuable members in Sir Brian Freeston, who is to retire this year from the Governorship of Fiji. To add to the sense of strain, there are some people who ask whether the Commission now should continue with its full pro gramme, in view of the possibility of war.

If war comes, it is unlikely that the South Pacific will be again an operational area. Instead, it is probable that every class, European and native, will be called upon for increased production of food stuffs and materials; and that clearly will create a greater need than ever for the Commission’s services. If, through diffi culties of personnel, and lack of vision, the South Pacific Commission is allowed to become just another Government in strumentality, feebly functioning in a backwater, that will be the end of it. An organisation that now has great possi bilities for good will die, and will not be revived.