Commentary

e Comes Another

omb, Hoorah!

[ER all the rumours about 7 rench plans to test nuclear ms in the South Pacific, it was irprise to learn in April that e had chosen several atolls in fuamoiu Archipelago as bases lis purpose. r was it a surprise that news ; plans should leak out casually the back door —with an an :ement by the Governor of i—while Ministers in France >sed to know nothing definite them. sident de Gaulle is so firmly on making France independent eryone else in defence that he no need to consult his allies hat he intends to do. is, Australia’s Minister for Ex- Affairs, Sir Garfield Barwick, pretty short shrift when the t certain assurances from the h Foreign Minister in Paris in The Foreign Minister claimed no decision had been made on and where the nuclear tests 1 be held—despite the fact that i’s Governor had already made nnouncement about the Tuamotu I what’s the use of complain- The French didn’t invent all secrecy about nuclear Pacific sions—the principle has been lished long since by the US Britain. e unfortunate Islanders who happen to inhabit this part e world will just have to manage iest way they can—as usual.

I How Does BOAC

ss the Pacific?

i new BOAC Comet service icross the Tasman, inaugurated >ril, is another new move in the c air battle. itself, the new service is merely of the London-Sydney C service, and is something the h airline has had on its agenda >ome time. But having got to land, the next step is obviously ose the gap between Auckland Honolulu so that BOAC can go 1 the world via the North Pacific :h it now does) and the South ic. >AC very much wants to carry

its own flag across the South Seas and not make any charter arrange ment with any other British airline.

How can this be done?

Qantas, TEAL and BOAC all now cross the Tasman and TEAL and BOAC both want to cross the South Pacific as well as Qantas. But these three airlines all have a working ar rangement and the difficulty is going to be in adjusting things so they can continue to work in harmony and yet still get what each wants.

And these problems are even more complicated by the desires and de mands of various governments, par ticularly French and American gov ernments, who have Pacific rights to bargain with.

A Hopeful New

Future for Norfolk?

REPORTS that Norfolk Island is likely to get the kind of Council powers that are acceptable to most of the islanders, and that there is a hopeful new future in tourism and fishing there, are good news.

They are even better news for having arrived at the one time, be cause a sound economy makes for smoother politics. While the Aus tralian taxpayer continues to help support the island, Norfolk could not, and should not, expect political freedom to the extent that some people there want.

As it is, experience with the new Council arrangements will probably prove to Norfolk Islanders soon enough that they have thrown off the local variety of bureaucracy for the Canberra kind, and that in fact —as anybody in the Northern Terri tory or Papua-New Guinea could tell them —there is no difference between the two.

Exactly what the new fishing enterprise involves has not yet been made public in detail, but apparently the company which has bought the whaling station and the old cable station has some advanced plans. It intends to put in a cannery at the whaling station (Japanese capital?) and turn the cable station into a tourist resort. Whether one or both these ventures are successful, Norfolk should benefit.

Tourism certainly seems to be the best hope for a sound Norfolk Island economy. Norfolk has done a lot to help itself in this direction in the

last year or two, and its work is beginning to pay dividends.

The latest report of the Norfolk Tourist Bureau shows that since 1959, when 659 tourists arrived at Norfolk, there has been a steady annual climb. There were 1,888 tourists in 1962 and the average length of stay was 11 days. In addition there was a great number

of “overnighters”; mostly airline

employees indulging in some cheap

shopping.

As the Bureau chairman points out, the present accommodation is adequate for the present air service, but it is in everybody’s interest to promote more tourists and more and better places for them to stay at so that air services can be increased.

In this matter of air services, Norfolk must be the envy of Lord Howe Island, which has the tourists but not the means of expanding its air services while it must rely on

flying boats.

Tragedy of West-

New Guinea

INDONESIA takes over West New Guinea on May 1. There are not many Australians, outside of the Government, who have a good word to say for this development, and not many Australians in the Government.

The Dutch should never have been forced out of New Guinea and the Indonesians should never have been allowed in. That they were, and they have been, is one of the political tragedies of our time.