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s an obligation upon Britain d Australia to take every rea lable step to develop the reof the South Pacific Islands Delagoes. Thus they will » better conditions for the in dus peoples growing to ihood, and greater protection ill these isolated European unities, lying in the Pacific lose to overcrowded Asia. ire is no quicker and more nt way of doing this than raging investors to go into Islands, and build up more bigger plantations, farms, -stations, industrial establish ;, mines. re is no better and quicker f introducing new capital than eping it clear of income tax. lorable things have happened 3 field of Islands income tax and Solomons). Worse things hreatened (Papua and New a). The responsible bureau seem to have lost vision, pers e and a sense of what is fair. re was no income tax in Fiji, y of note, until World War II nded “emergency measures”, latter should have been re because much overseas capi ,d gone into the Colony in the that, thus avoiding taxation, ild gain additional rewards, the “emergency measures”

I; and now the Colony’s non entative Government is ning the screws. New powers 3ing sought for a set of tax ers trained in the merciless ition methods of Australia. ;his in spite of a promise by overnment, not long ago, that ing capital need fear no ;r imposts.

Income Tax Bill which the :axation authorities tried to through the last Legislative ;il in 1957 (and which is now hands of a Select Committee) very bad taste in the mouth, arries a clear threat to luce double tax, and undistri profits tax —than which there ihing more iniquitous in Aus s iniquitous tax machinery.

Papua and New Guinea, there is ;ome tax. Despite the hostility e present regime to the in lalist, investment funds have 1 in there for years in an in ng stream, and developmental h has been phenomenal. the hungry bureaucrat can eave well alone. Already, he

has Governmental approval of taxation of income—implementation being held up only because the un happy wretches cannot find a way of taxing the income of private en terprise, while leaving the incomes of the swollen public services un taxed.

But it will come—and right on top of import duties which we were told, not long ago, were more than equal to the imposition of income tax!

If ever there was a pitiful example of bureaucracy’s inability to plan a developmental policy it is in the British Solomons.

The big, potentially-rich archi pelago, undeveloped to the point of misery, had —of all things—a ferocious income tax fastened upon it by the Colonial Office bureaucrats soon after World War 11. Conse quently, there has been no new en terprise and no introduction of capi tal for several years. It is right alongside Australia, which has both money and enterprise.

It is rumoured that the Lever in terests there plan considerable ex tension of coconut planting. If that is so, it can be taken as certain that some guarantee about future taxa tion has been given Levers by the Colonial Office.

Observing these things, one can only assume that development of Islands industries is a matter of in difference to the bureaucrats. Their future is not in the Islands. They have a job to do, requiring money.

Therefore, tax the people who are making a living out of the country.

For them, it is as simple as that.

In the case of New Guinea, where many civilians have gathered huge rewards from planting and trading, one sometimes suspects that the judgment of petty officials with too much power is coloured by jealousy.

There is no future for these Islands countries if incomes are to be taxed. But let them all be freed from income taxation, as de liberate policy, and capital will go galloping in, away from the op pressive measures imposed on enter prise in Australia and New Zealand —and that in turn would mean de velopment and progress.

These things are fixed by immut able laws of economics. Punitive taxation of income inevitably means, sooner or later, paralysis of enterprise and industry.

If there is no other way of escap ing the taxation plans of power drunk bureaucrats in Australia and Britain, then these South Pacific countries should begin soon to seek more independence, and some rep resentation in their own govern ment.

How Does Uncle

Sam Do It?

THE 160 million people in United States carry, in the defence of the free world, a financial load that is almost beyond computation.

The Communist world maintains enormous forces, equipped and poised for domination of the non- Communist world, when the chance comes. The only factor which keeps them off our throat is the powerful forces maintained throughout the world by United States.

In addition, USA gives free military aid —and a lot more mil itary aid disguised as economic aid —to most of the anti-Red nations.

The total is staggering.

Take, as one single instance, Korea. A large North Korean army and air force has been maintained in North Korea ever since the

san armistice, years ago. The military force numbers 750,0000, )yed in a great arc north of 38. Behind that is a huge Soviet orce, including thousands of jet ss. To counter it all, President man Rhee maintains large s in South Korea, chiefly with :ican money. Actually, the de s support being given to South a by USA costs USA more than fc donates to the defence of pe, Near East, Africa and Latin ica, combined. That is because man Rhee is now very old. It nsidered likely that when he s on, the Reds will try fin itely to occupy South Korea; brces are maintained in South i against that day. ;le wonder that American tax s are beginning to grumble!

ieration”: They Run

y From It

1 the so-called expert com nentators on Pacific affairs simply turn their backs and vhen asked to say something he suggested South Pacific ation. ; Federation, in its simplest would be a political re-align of the British-governed Terri of the South Pacific. In more ex form, it might • include h, Dutch and American Terri sither form, it would simplify Pacific Islands administra provide a solution for several domestic problems, more ally those connected with implantations in some of the Territories; and might finally e the reproaches inherent in several “trusteeships” New a, West Samoa and Nauru — n the Condominium of New ies. sntly, in the House of Com someone asked the Colonial ary (Mr. Lennox Boyd), er the South Pacific Commis ;ould be requested to report le question of forming a 3 Territories Federation; and was the typical Ministerial r: 2 purpose of the inter-Gov ntal conference was to review irk of the South Pacific Com n, not to consider the political of the South Pacific Terfi -2 South Pacific Commission is sultative and advisory body ned with the economic and development of the non-self ling South Pacific Territories, xmld not be an appropriate o initiate talks on Federation.” ch, of course, carries the m precisely nowhere. •yone knows that the Com n has a set and limited field ich to work, and that it has

accomplished a limited amount within that limited field.

But everyone knows—or should know —that this is the appropriate body to initiate talks on Federation.

But before that, a few responsible Ministers must see the pathetic political confusion represented by the 16 separate Administrations in the South Pacific Islands, and must develop enough initiative to give the necessary instructions to the South Pacific Commission.

Home Fights Bitterly

For Church Authority

r[ERE is nothing of greater significance in world affairs today than this fight between the highest authority of the Roman Catholic Church and the civil power in Italy.

An Italian couple, baptised Catholics, were married by civil process, and did not seek a religious service. The Church condemned them, and said openly they were living in sin. They thereupon charged a Bishop with libel; and an Italian civil court found the libel proved, and penalised the Church accordingly. The reaction of the Church has been extraordin arily bitter, and the Vatician has adopted extreme measures.

The incident does more than highlight the contest between Church and State that has been developing in Italy. It reminds us that this struggle is going on all over the world. It represents a new phase in the evolution of human society.

Once the Church, supported by the State, had supreme power over all the people in matters affecting religious observances, and social customs connected with birth, marriage and death. It could arrest and punish. Century by century, that power was reduced and in many cases withdrawn altogether.

Even without the State’s auth ority, however, Rome has re tained great moral power over its people—usually because of child hood training. Although they argue and plead, and urge the hopeless ness of the human outlook without religion, most Christian Churches (except the Roman) have steadily lost ground. An agnostic*, rather than an atheist outlook, is taking the place of simple faith.

But Rome carried on, powerful and proud—until it collided, head on, with this world-wide Marxist revolution. The Muscovite creed, increasingly thrust upon us since World War n, from behind the Iron Curtain, is frankly atheist.

Control over the people through re ligious teaching, implanted from childhood, is completely against the totalitarian plan, where the indi vidual is sacrificed to the State.

Now the war is on. Rome, fight ing generally for individualism, but

especially for the Church as an in stitution, will accept no com promise. If Communism conquers the world, it may be over the dead body of the ancient Church.

So the spotlight is upon Italy, already nearly half Communist.

But a similar struggle is going on in every so-called Christian country.

Rome is not fighting Communism so much as materialism, and the rejection of Church control.

The non-Roman Churches talk much about this ideological struggle —and their utterances range from clamorous hope, through sugges tions of compromise with the Reds, to sheer despair. There is no sug gestion of compromise or despair in the attitude of the Roman Church —it seems to be all for fight. It has survived some great socio-political storms in the past thousand years—but nothing so ugly as this Moscow-directed cam paign for the enslavement of the world. * An agnostic acknowledges a su preme spiritual power (God), but says he is unable to comprehend it, and so rejects creed and dogma. An atheist positively rejects all belief in spiritual power.

The Future Of

Collapsing Indonesia

FUTURE events in Indonesia are hard to foresee. Yet, whatever their shape, they must affect New Guinea and the South Pacific.

Both Soekarno and his empire are in process of disintegration.

Fighting is beginning; and—unless a coup d’etat in Jakarta removes Soekarno and his Communist dominated Government —it must get worse.

Part of Sumatra, part of the Celebes, some of West Java are under the control of rebels. The economic life of the archipelagoes is semi-paralysed. If no other country intervenes, Indonesia must collapse.

There is not a sign of interven tion. If a Western Power, or UNO, makes a move, Soekarno will appeal to the Nasser bloc, who probably would bring in the Soviet. If the latter make a move, the West and UNO surely will counter-move.

Indications are that all inter ested parties (the Westerners, with which Australia is associated; the neutralists, like Nehru; the Com munists, who now are strongly represented in Djakarta) will simply sit by and let nature take its course.

That will mean a period of con siderable political turmoil, and much playing at soldiers—perhaps a bit of real fighting. The East Indies then may settle down as a series of related but disunited In donesian administrations.

Someone then will move to create a Federation of some kind. There upon the real struggle will corn

mence, between the more re sonsible sections grouping them selves under the Moslems (Masjuma party) and the irresponsible fac tions—especially certain followers of Soekarno—who probably will look to the Communists for leader ship.

Each side is trying to get the support of Dr. Hatta, the respected leader of the Rightist or Moslem sections. But the wary Dr. Hatta Is keeping aloof from them all.