Real Progress By Pacific

Islanders

Future Needs Discussed by Delegates from 18 Territories in 12 Days’ Conference

Special Report for Pacific Islands Monthly by C. E. SAYERS

NOUMEA, April 28.

HE Second South Pacific Con ference, which ended a twelve days’ Session at the Noumea idquarters of the South Pacific nmission on April 27, advanced a further stage the aspirations the peoples of the region.

The discussions covered a wide d of activity and endeavour, and iewed the work of the Commis i and its technical officers since first Conference was held at linu, Fiji, three years ago. jnong observers at the Confer e were representatives of the srnational Labour Organisation, lific Science Board of the iional Research Council of USA, rid Health Organisation, French titute of Oceania and missionary anisations of Australia, New land, the Netherlands and the th Pacific. he flags of the six nations form the Commission Australia, nee, the Netherlands, New Zea 3, the United Kingdom and the ted States of America—flew

from the Commission’s head

quarters. Delegates were welcomed

by the Governor of New Caledonia, M R. Angammarre.

List Of Delegates

Papua-New Guinea

Delegates (Papua): Paulus Arek (Teacher on staff of Sogeri Education Centre); Miss Tani Sisa (Stationed at Saiho, near Mount Lamington, engaged in rehabilitation work).

Alternates: Timeaus Sambuba (Chief Instructor at Saiho Medical Orderly School); Elliott Elijar (Co-operative In spector, Bougainville).

Delegates (New Guinea): Advent Tarosi (Senior Teacher with Department of Education); Waiau Ahnon (Member of the Rabaul Town Advisory Council and President of the Kambiu Club, Rabaul).

Alternates: Takapan (Paramount Luluai of his District); Nason (Chairman of Nanga Nanga Village Council: Responsible for the development of the Tapipip Cacao Project).

Advisers: H. L. R. Niall (Senior District Commissioner); Miss B. A. McLachlan (Officer-in-Charge, Female Education Division, Department of Education); R. S- Came (Senior Agricultural Officer for Central Highlands); R. Thomson (Social Welfare Officer in Administration).

Nauru

Delegate; Alternate: James Ategan Bop (Councillor and Treasurer, Nauru Local Government Council).

Adviser: J. N. Snell (Accountant, Nauru Administration).

New Caledonia

Delegates: High Chief Kowe Bouillant (High Chief of Poyes Tribe; President of

NC and Loyalty Islanders Association; Member of the General Council of NO; Rock Pidjot (Chief of Conception Tribe and Member of General Council).

French Oceania

Delegates: Jean Millaud (former Presi dent of the French Oceania Representative Assembly); Antelme Buillard (Member of staff of Bank of Indo-China).

Netherlands New Guinea

Delegates: M. Kaisiepo (Official of In formation and Broadcasting Service, Hollandia); W. Inury (School Inspector, Hollandia).

Advisers: Rev. I. S. Kijne (Field Director of NG Missions of the Dutch Reformed Church); Dr, J. V. de Bruyn (Assistant Resident, Bureau of Native Affairs, Hollandia).

Western Samoa

Delegates: Hon. Gatoloai Peseta Sio (Chairman of Fono of Faipule); Hon.

Tualaulelei (Member of Legislative As sembly).

Advisers: Hon. Maualaivao Sunu (Mem ber of the Fono of Faipule); Hon. Te’o Leutele (Member of Legislative Assembly).

Cook Islands

Delegates: William Parau Browne (Mem ber of Rarotonga Islands Council); Tiri Trigo.

Alternates: Mrs. Tapaeru Terito Taite Ariki (Member of Rarotonga Council); J. W. W. Graham.

Niue

Delegates: Councillor Anaki (Island Council Member for Tamakautoga).

Adviser: Leslie Rex.

Fiji

Delegates; Hon. Ratu G. C. Tuisawai, OBE (Senior Fijian Member of Legislative

Council); Hon. T. R. Sharma (Indian Member of Legislative Council: Barrister and Solicitor in Supreme Court of Fiji).

Alternatives: Rata Tiale Duiyasawa (a Senior Native Administrator of Fiji); Hon. B. M. Jannif (Indian Member of Legislative Council).

Gilbert & Ellice Islands

Delegates (Gilbert Islands): Tutu Tekanene, BEM (Senior Assistant Medical Practitioner); Monokoa (Clerk, British Phosphate Commissioners).

Delegates (Ellice Islands): Falanl Pasefika (Clerk and Customs Officer!

Melitiana (Headmaster).

Adviser: R. G. Roberts (Administratis officer).

British Solomon Islands

Delegates: Simon Siapu (Sergeant, BSlf Constabulary); Gideon Zoleveke (Assistant Medical Practitioner).

Adviser: J. L. Bergelin (Inspector ol Labour).

American Samoa

delegates: Hon. Mariota Tuiasosopo resident of Senate); Hon. Salofi moegalogo (Speaker of House), llternate: Tufele Faiaoga (Paramount ief). kdviser: John Cole Cool (Staff thropologist).

Guam

Jelegates: Manuel F. E. Guerrero •esident of House of Council, Guam igress, 1935-1950); Baltazar J. Bordallo ember of Legislature).

Rust Territory Of Micronesia

lelegates: Roman Tmetuchl (Adminis tive Assistant); Ignacio V. Benevente icretary of Congress of Saipan and ociate Judge of Saipan District mcil).

Jternatives: Amata Kabua (Instructor, rshall Islands Intermediate School); tz Weilbacher (Staff of Ponape Co rative Co.).

New Hebrides

'elegate (British); A. M. P. Philip Ho sistant Medical Practitioner), elegate (French): M. Kaisautu (Chief Mele Village, Vate Island).

Tonga

elegate: H. R. H. Prince Tu’ipelehake »vernor of Ha’apai). dviser: W. Straatmans (Senior Agri ;ural Officer).

Observers

ev. Father John Soury Lavergne, nan Catholic Missions. ev. V, W. Coombes, National Missionary ncil, Australia. . G. Horwell, National Missionary ncil, Australia. r. A. J. Patterson, World Health anisation. . R. Bray, International Labour Office, rof. J. W. Davidson, Australian ional University. arold J. Coolidge, Pacific Science rd, Pacific Science Association, epresentative of Institute Francais ceanie. . Krijger, Netherlands Commissioners’ erver for Royal Institute for the pics, Amsterdam. ev. I. S. Kijne, Adviser Netherlands r Guinea Delegation; Observer for ted Netherlands Missions, N.H.G. t. Lynford Keyes, Public Health Edu on Adviser to the Regional Office of World Health Organisation, Manila, nded the Conference in a private acity. ?he Chairman, M. R. Lassalle •e, Senior Commissioner for ince, told delegates that he felt : greatest benefits they could de -2 would come through the cen

ts they made, conversations with

h other and the knowledge they

Lild gain in this way, at least, the outside world. Let no one that that would be a slender ult. ’he Secretary-General, Sir Brian seston, reviewed the work that i been done since the first Con ence was held in Suva in 1950. finite, practical action, he said, i been taken on at least 30 of 43 recommendations of that iference. Filariasis control

asures, vacational training and

r elopment of food and export

ps were examples. The Commis

sion had done its utmost, within limited resources, to bring nearer to realisation the hopes and aspirations of the Pacific people by correspondence, specialist conference and personal contact. Specialist conferences were planned for next year on rice production, and technical aspects of the co-operative movement. axtat vsiis of pi mrcpw

Analysis Of Progress

DR. E. M. OJALA, Deputy Chairman of the Research Council, an auxiliary of the Commission, said the main impression he had gained in moving about the Pacific in the past year was that very few people were not interested in progress. The course of progress was well under way in some Pacific

territories, and was just beginning in others. He was impressed with the vital role that administrations were playing in helping the people to express their aspirations in prac tical achievements roads, co operative societies, village councils, new tools and machinery, new crops, hospitals, schools, The people, missions, traders, planters and the administrations played the vital role in Pacific pro gress. The Commission had the selective but important role of regional research and action, in co operation with governments. It was always looking for new ways of working with the people, and was most anxious to have their recom mendations.

Dr. Ojala concluded: “I believe

iat the Commission is already roviding a demonstration to the orld of what six nations can ac wnplish when they decide to work >gether for the development of le people and the resources under leir care. This demonstration will row in strength as the years pass.”

Opulation Pressures

Nd Food

POPULATION trends and pres sures and problems of food pro duction and conservation of re urces, were keenly debated on the isis of a paper prepared by Prince ungi, Premier of Tonga.

Prince Tu’ipelehake, who presen d the paper, said the Tonga overnment had made efforts to lucate its people in birth-control, it with little success. One possible lution was to remove people from erpopulated to less crowded ands in the group. Another •ssibility was to study intensive Itivation to see if it was possible r people to make a living on a mller area than the 81 acres every mgan boy was granted on reach g sixteen years.

The Nauru delegation asked the inference to support a request to e Australian Government that a w home be found for the people that Territory somewhere in the uth Pacific, where resources ►uld be adequate for an increasing pulation.

That delegation opposed birth control; but it was put forward by the Gilbert and Ellice Islands dele gation “as the only rational means of limiting population after it reached the optimum level relative to resources.”

American Samoa also opposed birth-control, not only on moral grounds, but because they had pride in their people and wished to see them increase. Migration of young men was also rejected. The solution offered was the possibility of introducing new techniques and ideas for the fuller development of available resources.

A delegate from the Trust Terri tory of Micronesia warned against the standard of living being taken too far out of balance with re sources.

The Australian-New Guinea delegation told of an under populated, under-developed country, with little more than a million people settled on 93,000 square miles.

It would welcome people from Nauru as settlers.

A debate on the development and conservation of resources showed the need for the greater use of existing resources, and the develop ment of new ones. This need was stressed because of growing popula tions in most territories.

More Market Information

NEEDS emphasised in the dis cussion on marketing problems included the study of means for assuring Islanders price stability, encouragment of greater produc tion of export crops, and greater

assurance of markets, and the possibility of area-wide action as a means of improving the position of basic export industries.

The Conference adopted a series of resolutions on the subject.

Amongst them was a recommend ation that the Commission establish a marketing information service.

The object of this service would be to collect and distribute informa tion on the kind, grade and quantity of Islands’ produce which other Pacific territories can absorb; ruling prices in different territories; exist ing import prohibitions in the dif ferent territories, and the reasons for them; and inter-territorial transportation.

Native Co-Operatives

THE Conference passed a resolu tion expressing its consciousness of the great value and import ance of co-operatives in the pro duction, transport and marketing of copra and other commodities, and in securing fair prices to the pro ducer.

The Commission was requested to intensify its efforts to encourage and develop the co-operative move ment, and to place specialist ad visers at the disposal of territorial administrations requesting such assistance.

Wide price fluctuations could be

best countered by governmental price guarantees, It was felt.

The Commission’s attention was drawn to opportunities for concen trating processing industries in centres from which products would have tariff-free access to principal markets.

Peoples’ Food Habits

CHANGES in food habits of the Islanders, and their effects on health, were discussed on the basis of a paper presented by the Fiji delegation. The paper sug gested, among other things, ways in which native diets could be iml

oved. Dietary improvement de nded on long-term economic, edical, agricultural and educa mal programmes.

Warnings of the danger of try g to change native food habits d quickly were sounded by several legations.

A New Caledonia delegate said s people should be introduced to iropean food very gradually. He ggested that nutritional standards laid down in order to establish rational diet for the natives.

Miss Tani Sisa (Papua), one of e three women delegates to the inference, said the diet of Islands ople would be improved only if e women were taught in their imes.

“It is no use asking the women grow better food if we do not ich them how to cook it in better d cleaner ways,” Miss Sisa said.

Ced For Health

Hjcation

[EALTH education was con sidered, on a paper presented by the Netherlands New Guinea legation, which urged, as a great Bd, education and propaganda it would persuade the people to n with administrators, village cials and chiefs, medical officers 1 teachers in furthering measures the prevention of disease.

Delegates from Papua-New linea developed this theme by png the greatest use of visual s in health education.

We need educational aids that 1 both amuse and instruct,” one w Guinea delegate said. “Colour i humour are part of the peoples’ ;s, and should be used to the full health education.” .n indication of the practical help ,t is being given by one Pacific ritory to another was contained facts given about medical and •sing services in Papua and New inea. Since the war, five New inea students have been receiv training at the Central Medical tool in Fiji. Three have qualified Assistant Medical Assistants so , and are now working in the •ritories.

'ifty students from the United tes Trust Territory are being Ined in medicine, dentistry and Ration at the Fiji Medical tool. he use of modern health educa

i techniques—books, pamphlets,

ters, films and other visual aids as generally applauded; but a sgate from American Samoa sug

;ed that locally-developed educa

ial material would be more ctive than anything imported n outside the region, he Conference affirmed the im tance of health education and ed that territorial administra is be asked to intensify that k. The Commission was asked luggest to them the inclusion of rses on the subject in any in ction programmes for the train

ing of health and education per sonnel.

It was also recommended that the best possible use should be made of territorial broadcasting services for the purposes of health education, and that a series of simple illustrated booklets should be issued on the basic aspects of sanitation and hygiene. The series should be devised to meet the needs

of a particular territory or groups of territories.

Women’S Place In

Community

THE three women delegates were applauded for their contribu tions to the debate on the place of women and women’s organisa tions in the community. Miss Tani Sisa (Papua), who presented a

aper on the subject, expressed the ope that more women delegates ould attend future Conferences, id suggested that a South Pacific omen’s conference should be held.

Applause greeted the response of Western Samoa delegate that they ould be represented at the next onference not by four men, but y “two couples.”

Mariota Tuiasosopa (American amoa) suggested to Miss Sisa that te mother birds were more import it in the nests looking after mngsters, and allowing the males i get out to the ocean and catch 5h for them. It would be wrong start an inter-territorial women’s ganisation which might destroy ie village organisation.

Mrs. Tapaeru Terito Taite Ariki Rarotonga) said there was absolute uality of the sexes in the Cook lands group. In one district over of the 40 Arikis were women. l the villages, women’s commit es inspected homes and lands, id each month decided the crops at should be planted by the men r family use. Any man who did it carry out these orders was iblicly reprimanded.

Mme. Terorotua Moua (French ;eania) said Tahitian women now ,d equal opportunities with men. lere were more women teachers an men, more women were becom ? medical students. The Red oss was directed by women, and ey were playing an important rt in industry and commerce.

Langing Ways Of Life

IHE last paper before the Con ference was on the subject of child education. It was pre ited by the Cook Island delega n which said that a child should educated to select the best out his traditional way of life and discard the things that were not aptable to the new life. 3 aulus Arek (Papua) said that ;n in the remotest parts of his intry, villagers were becoming are that theirs was not the only y of life. To meet the challenge, i need was felt for knowledge of i basic skills of civilisation.

We have to consider,” he said, dw we can take the best from r own way of life, and that of i West, and make a new mixture. 5 feel that, like a new cook with i a recipe, we are likely to mix ! wrong ingredients if we are not en guidance.”

Pects Of Education

QUAL education opportunities was regarded as one means of recognising the necessity for 1 and continuous co-operation ween men and women in the de opment of indigenous commun

is. Territorial administrations,

e Conference recommended, •uld promote this by legislative 1 other measures.

"he provision of more schools for

girls was urged, with facilities for domestic training, hygiene and elementary civics. Opportunities for co-education activities, and the encouragement of further education for women, including the organ isation of women’s clubs and com mittees were also recommended.

The establishment of a central technical school, with facilities for training ships’ masters and marine engineers, was supported, and the Commission was requested to en quire into the possibility of provid ing more technical and professional education on a regional basis.

Another recommendation urged the Commission to take steps to ensure that what remains of the traditional social organisation of

the Islanders be preserved in written form “so that our descendants may not live in ignorance of their herit age."

International Courtesies

/'AN Anzac Day (April 25) the conference stood in silence for two minutes in commemoration of the part played by Australian and New Zealand Forces in two World Wars.

Also, on that day, High Talking chief Tuiasosopo (American Samoa) was responsible for the Conference unanimously adopting a message of congratulation to Queen Elizabeth on the occasion of her coronation, wishing her a long and prosperous reign, and expressing thanks and

appreciation of the work of Great Britain for the welfare and progress of the South Pacific peoples.

The Next Conference

DELEGATES agreed, by 22 votes to 11, to recommend that the third Conference be held two years hence.

The agreement establishing the Commission provides that the Con ference shall meet at intervals not exceeding three years. The Con ference at Suva, in 1950, left a de cision on the date of the Second Conference to the Commission.

Mr. C. G. R. McKay, Senior Com missioner for New Zealand, ex plained that the Commission had felt that an interval of two years was not sufficient to allow of effective work being done on re commendations from the first Con ference. It had decided, therefore, that three years should be the in terval between the holding of the first and the second Conferences.

Three sites were suggested for the third Conference —Lae (Aus tralian New Guinea), American Samoa, and West Samoa. These recommendations will be considered by the Commission, which will de cide both the date and the site for the third Conference.

Delegates suggested to the Com mission that subjects for discussion

at the third Conference should in clude the establishment of a South Pacific university, a survey of new indigenous industries, education in economics, modernisation of in dustry, the encouragement of native arts, and labour and working con ditions in the South Pacific.

In his closing address, the Chair-1 man congratulated delegates on the! success of the Conference. The solidarity of the South Pacificf peoples was being forged little by little, he said. At Suva, three dayd ago, there were some hesitations and doubts about the Conference!

ow they were sure of its value, id of the value of the Commission. was a satisfaction that the Elaboration between the Islanders id the Commission, that was lown at the Conference, would be mtinued after the delegates re irned to their homes.