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South Sea Islanders
Papua-New Guinea Missions would like to see P-NG Immigration laws relaxed so that other South Sea Islanders can enter Papua-New Guinea.
They decided this at a Missions con ference in Port Moresby in November.
The missionaries asked particularly that restrictions be relaxed so that Solomon Islanders could enter the Territory. They said that the border line between the BSIP (administered by Britain) and Bougainville (Aus tralian Trust Territory) was an arti ficial and inconvenient barrier for peoples of a common stock.
The Methodist Mission proposed the new legislation so that it might draw upon missionary and teaching personnel in its Solomon Islands Mission. But the conference decided also to request favourable consideration for missions wanting to bring into the Territory more Fijians, Tongans and Samoans.
At present limited numbers of these groups are working for missions in P NG, and present laws enable them to be replaced, but their numbers may not be increased.
The missionaries pointed out, quite rightly, that from tthe advent of Christianity in the Pacific, workers from other advanced islands had made valuable contributions to P-NG life.