Strenuous Work

Behind New

Political Step

From a Special Correspondent in Honiara District Commissioners and Administrative staff in the BSIP

are working through strenuous

days and often well into the

evening organising the Protec

torate’s first Legislative Council

elections, to take place on April

rPHE new Council, which follows a A new Constitution effective since February, will have 11 officials and 10 non-officials. Eight of the non officials will be elected for the first time—seven of them by the electoral college method and one on adult franchise, who will represent Honiara.

The other two remaining unofficials will be nominated by the Govern ment.

The old Council was fully nomin ated. It was inaugurated in 1960.

The new arrangement, of course, leaves the Government firmly in con trol—and it is expected that the Gov ernment will still be in control after the next step, which will probably be full adult franchise for the election of all unofficial members. The electoral college system used for these elections is expected to give voters the experience needed for this step.

Representatives for the electoral colleges are being elected by Local Government Councils throughout the Colony, who have themselves been elected from a common roll by secret ballot. The councils have been meet ing for this purpose since January, and the work is expected to be com pleted by the end of March.

It has meant considerable organis ing, and in many cases regular Gov ernment duties have been postponed while shipping and other schedules have been rearranged to get councils and candidates together.

Electorates contain about 17,000 electors each, with the result that Malaita will get three members, the Central District will get two and the Western and Eastern Solomons will get one each.

Some people in the Western Solomons have not been particularly happy about this arrangement, be cause they point out that the West is a geographically scattered and ideologically varied group of islands

and that it really needs two members.

They also point out that commerci ally the West is important for the

Bsip.

It could happen that the High Commissioner will adjust this by nominating one of the two unofficial members from this district.

When the new Council has its first meetings its members will be invited to vote on their own remuneration — which, according to proposals already made by the Government in a White Paper, will be an allowance of £A36O a year, plus a travelling allow ance for unofficial members outside Honiara of £lOO a year and a sub sistence allowance during meetings.

There will be other minor allowances, such as free postage. The main allowance will be payable to officials and non-officials.

If a Government officer is elected he will be granted unpaid leave.

Term of office for the members is two years.

There has been increased interest in this important constitutional step in recent weeks, especially since the visit of Mr. Trafford Smith, adviser from the British Colonial Office.

The Colony’s future might well de pend on constitutional planning made in the next year or two by Britain, when it looks at the BSIP in relation to its other South Seas interests.

It is probable that Britain still feels that some kind of a Melanesian link up with Papua-New Guinea is feasible, so that an infant BSIP won’t have to stand on its own.

Unfortunately there does not appear to be any interest in such a link by the Australian Government, but this might come in time. ,

The British High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, Sir Robert Foster.