P-Ng Prepares

For Next Year's

Big Poll

Three bills that pave the way for the dissolution of the P-NG Legislative Council and the creation of the new P-NG House of Assembly provided the most important business before P NG’s Legco at a short meeting

in August.

THE bills provide for a common roll of all electors in the com bined Territory who, next March or April, will choose 54 members —44 from open electorates for which any one can stand; and 10 from reserved electorates for which only non-natives can stand. In addition, 10 official members will be appointed, making a House of 64 members from whom a Speaker must be chosen by the Members.

Except in a few cases, such as fix ing voting age at 21 instead of 18, the legislation follows the recommenda tions made by the Select Committee on Political Advancement which pre sented its first interim report late last year and its second at the last meet ing of the Council in March.

At the 1964 elections for the House of Assembly, all electors will vote for two members—one standing in an open electorate and one stand ing in a special electorate of which the open electorate forms a part.

Open Electorates

There is no reason why a non native could not be elected in an open electorate, but it is thought that under existing conditions in the Territory, this will be unlikely.

Although Commonwealth or P-NG public servants and others holding statutory offices are not qualified to stand as candidates, one of the bills introduced in August will enable public servants to resign to contest elections but to be re-appointed with out loss of status if they fail to be elected.

This provision will obviously be of more benefit to native politicians than to non-natives.

Nothing has been said about salaries for members of the new House and no European public servant, unless on the eve of retire ment, could live on the allowances he would probably get as a member.

There will probably be six months between the issue of a writ for election to the declaration of the poll, with polling alone taking five weeks.

Even native would-be members might, therefore, find this period in suspension a strain on their domestic resources.

In framing the proposed legislation, P-NG has drawn largely on the Australian electoral system—including the principle of preferential voting. However, for P-NG, certain modifications are to be allowed.

In Australian elections, numbers in order of preference must be put against the names of all candidates,

and no alterations are permitted on the ballot paper. The result is a high proportion of invalid votes, In P-NG it is proposed that if numbers are placed alongside a pro portion of the names (say four out of six), the four will be counted, As a huge proportion of the elec torate will be illiterate and symbols will have to be used for candidates’ names, and as the vote is supposed to be secret—although the voter may ask for help—five weeks for finding out the result of the roll may be a conservative estimate, In introducing the legislation, Mr.

W. F. Carter, Acting Assistant Ad

ministrator (Services), who is P-NG’s Director of Posts and Telegraphs, said the Australian Electoral Act had been chosen as a model because both the Australian electoral system and its legislation were regarded as “about the best in the world”.

PIM imagines that that is merely an Australian opinion.

Debate on the bills was adjourned until the September (Budget) session of the Legislative Council which will also be its last.

New Kind of Local Council Other legislation introduced at the August session included a new Com panies Act (see page 128), and a bill to pave me way for local government bodies with increased powers, includ ing that of levying rates.

At present, local government con sists of Native Local Government Councils charged with community development, such as road mainten ance, school-building, health and sanitation services, etc. They levy taxes tor financing these projects.

These Councils have jurisdiction over only the native people of their areas.

The only other local councils are advisory only—Town Advisory Coun cils and District Advisory Councils, members of which are drawn from all communities and races.

To date, non-native residents of the Territory have shied away from anything more practical in the way of local government, because to set up real local government would mean more taxes of some sort.

The new Local Government Coun cil Bill, 1963, repeals the Native Local Government Council Act of 1960 and makes it possible to pro claim councils as either multi-racial or mono-racial. It provides also for the appointment of a Local Govern ment Commissioner with far-reaching authority.

To date Native Local Government Councils have been under the con trol of the Department of Native Affairs and are, in fact, one of the few functions still left to that emasculated Department which, piece-by-piece is being deprived of all its former glory. • The United Synod of the Methodist Church in Fiji wants women police in Fiji. At its annual meeting recently, a resolution was approved urging the Fiji Government to form a division of policewomen who would be responsible for the guidance of women and teenage girls in urban areas.