Niue’S Liquor

May Be

Liberalised

From J. E. Brown, on Niue Because of the increase in the volume and variety of work being handled by the Niue Island Assembly, the idea of establish ing village councils has been

tentatively broached again.

Legislation for the formation of village councils was enacted in 1957 but plans fell by the way side due to two hurricanes.

It is thought these councils would reduce the burden of work on the Assembly and encourage the people of Niue to take an increasing share of responsibility in the control of village and district affairs.

The idea is based on the island councils which have been established in the Cook Islands for many years and are responsible there for such things as roadwork, water supplies, harbour works, planting for export and domestic consumption, etc.

How Affairs Are Handled On Niue, at present, village affairs are handled non-officially by the Assemblyman of the village, the constable, the pastor and the leading patus, or heads of families, with any matters over which there is dispute coming before the Resident Com missioner or the Assembly for de cision.

It is thought that the future coun cils should be elective with the Assemblyman as an ex-officio mem ber, and that they would be re sponsible for control, management and development of all inland and bush roads and for road cleaning, for the maintenance and supervision of village water supplies, for ensuring proper control of fishing grounds and for village cleanliness.

Liquor Situation

They would be encouraged to pro vide market facilities for the sale of produce and to build halls to serve as community meeting places and they could serve as a medium for marketing of agricultural produce overseas.

Meanwhile it seems likely that the conditions under which liquor is sold on the island of Niue may change in the near future.

Under legislation recently enacted, a Liquor Control Authority has been set up. This is under the chairmanship of Mr. Leslie Rex, currently Social Development Officer in the Administration, and all applications for liquor permits will go before the authority for consideration.

The sale of liquor is strictly controlled on Niue, and formerly the Administration of Niue controlled the issue of permits for the buying of liquor without reference to anybody.

Niue operates under a points system, with one point for a quart of beer, 12 points for a quart of spirits and everybody with a liquor permit has a stipulated number of points per month.

More and more beer is being drunk on the island these days because more permits have been issued, mainly be cause more people have the money to buy beer.

It is thought that in line with other Pacific territories the sale of beer at least may be liberalised. In the Cook Islands, for instance, beer may be purchased freely by anybody.

During December the authority decided that the current allocations for all permit holders would be in creased by 50 per cent, and at the same time the authority appealed to all permit holders to realise their re sponsibilities and to refrain from abusing their privileges. It said that the future policy of the authority

would be largely influenced by the behaviour of all concerned during the Christmas and New Year period.

Niue’s controversial land legislation is causing a furore in New Zealand.

Two special sittings of the Niue Legislative Assembly were held dur ing December, especially to hear the views of F. Lui, Sr., and Lagaua, who came to Niue as representatives of the recently established Niue Society in New Zealand.

They put forward the views of the Niuean people living there on the land legislation which will mean changes in ownership of land after a Niuean has been away from the island for 20 years.

The sittings caused great interest and a big crowd attended the sittings, which is a very unusual thing for Niue where the Assembly normally sits without an audience.