of S. Pacific Commission

Ent Warning For

Governments

[?]eaddwood and Stupidity Threaten Usefulness of S. Pacific Commission

From a Special Correspondent The time has come for all the Governments concerned to look iely and critically at the South Pacific Commission. They must ide —and soon —which way the Commission is to go; whether its sent drift into unreality and bureaucracy is to continue, or whether s to be given new life to match the stirrings evident everywhere

mg South Pacific peoples.

S year’s South Pacific Confer ice made the urgency of the eed for re-examining the Com >n only too clear. The Con te has out-grown the Com m. ; Conference members spoke igly sometimes. They were ered, to begin with, by the liliar trappings of a formal tational conference, their feet were on the ground, knew what they wanted. They the things of significance to And so, shorn of the verbal »ings which were apparently lered necessary, the resolu got down to fundamentals: he need for better and safer ng; he need for technical train dapted to South Pacific re lents; he need for teachers who stand South Pacific conditions ow South Pacific children live link; he danger of upsetting village >o suddenly and too drastic he importance of custom and

craftsmanship in the lives of South Pacific peoples; • The moral and physical threats of alcohol.

All these things are of basic im portance, but all need hard think i n g, understanding, knowledge, imagination, experience, courage, and, in many cases, money, if they are to be translated into practical action.

THE Commissioners sat down to consider the Conference’s re commendations. It was not an edifying performance.

They really didn’t think they could do anything about shipping standards. Some resolutions were referred to Governments for con sideration. Others were to be dis cussed at the Commission’s next meeting. Others would be dealt with by the Commission’s Research Council.

Then, having passed the buck comfortably, the Commision dis cussed the Research Council and made an astonishing decision.

The research programme is co

<Continued on Page 142)

ordinated, guided and stimulated b the Deputy Chairman of the Re search Council. This post is ncn vacant: and the Commission de cided that the job should be give] for an indefinite period to th Secretary-General.

It was a revelation of the cynid attitude of the Commission toward the research side of its activitie and of the increasing power bein given to the Noumea bureaucracy This power has already lost th Commission some of its most vain able staff.

In particular, it has led to th resignation of Mr. H. E. Maude, th only senior staff member (excel Dr. E. Massal) with any first-han knowledge of the Commission tern tories, and a man who combinj sympathetic understanding with! firm grip of South Pacific realitie The valuable Social Developmej Section which Mr. Maude has bul up in Sydney has been largely d( stroyed, and a new officer with a impressive academic record but n practical knowledge of Soutj Pacific peoples is to be given th impossible task of building, in th ivory tower atmosphere of the Con mission’s Noumea headquarters cut off by infrequent and cost! communications from the rest I the South Pacific—a new organise tion to touch and influence the liv( of the peoples of Territories froi the Cooks to the Marshalls, froi the Solomon Islands to Tahiti, ] IN Suva, for the first time, th Commission met the peoples I the territories, represented ] members of the South Pacific Col ference, face to face.

The Conference Chairman, 3 Ronald Garvey whose practid knowledge of the South Pacific ca be matched by very few and who! knowledge is accompanied by undd standing and imagination—knew th possibilities.

He said, “Let battle begin.” Hon ever, this was not the day of battl but only of polite preliminaj skirmish. But, for those with ey< to see, the threat of future battl if the Commission continues on ii present course, was plain.

There was one interesting passaa A Conference delegate drew a( tention to the section of the Agrel ment creating the Commissiq which says that the Commissifl will draw as many of its staff i possible from the Territories them selves. Had this been done, 1 asked.

It was evident from the Secrt tary-General’s reply, or attempts reply, that he had never heard 8 the section concerned.

Well, he has heard now; and ne)

; the question is asked the imission will have to be pre ;d to say just what it has done it advertising vacancies and ing for staff in the South ific. lis was Just a straw in the wind; as an indication of direction, as significant. to the next South Pacific Conference are going to be much better prepared than r predecessors have been. This ’s Conference asked that the ida and preliminary papers ild be in delegates’ hands a in advance, and introductory ts within six months later, udy groups are to be set up delegates will come w r ell briefed, with their ideas well marshalled their questions well prepared, mmission members accustomed itaphorically—to dozing in their chairs, untouched by reality, staff members whose world re ;s around wordy minutes passed room to room in Noumea, are e to get a rude shock, t is that necessary? Are the srnments of Australia, New md, the United Kingdom, ce, the United States and the erlands so lacking in resource imagination and administrative that they cannot match with rile, realistic organisation the it stirrings of the South Pacific les, who are eager for help in ting themselves to the modern 1? e first need is for each metro m Government to examine dy and honestly its own atti towards the Commission. There )een a good deal of apathy and ism in the past. There is no for either, now. e Pacific, in contrast with so 7 other parts of the world, still up to its name; but this will necessarily continue, if the »cratic powers fail the peoples nds spread over this vast ocean, itical area for Australia and Zealand and the United States indeed, for all the democracies. 5 Governments concerned should approach the South Pacific Commission w ? ith imag m and generosity, sy should look critically at representatives on the SPC. ey should get rid of hide-bound als and ex-officials who live for files and regulations, and nothing of people and their as and ambitions, ere is no place in the Com 3io n, either, for academic ists or narrow-minded, pinch- V men without vision who are by fancied slights, e Commissioners who should ipt, and added to from among like, are those who have d themselves in the territories

and who have retained both energy and imagination. Such men have earned, and will continue to earn, the respect and affection of the South Pacific peoples.

When the list of Commissioners has been overhauled, the new Com mission should in turn look critic ally at the permanent staff. Any deadwood of careerism and window dressing should be cut away and new life thus infused into a now far from lively body.

A Commission and staff re-built on these lines would give the leader ship and the inspiration and guid ance which those who believed in the Commission in its early days hoped it might give, and which can help South Pacific peoples to grow

to nationhood in willing and friendly" partnership within the free world.