N.Z. Chars Way
p. 39 · Read in the full issue
For Albert Henry
To Take Over
Four important amendments to legislation, setting out the con stitution for the Cook Islands under self-government, were rushed through the New Zealand Parliament early in June.
THE amendments will enable the era of self-government to get under way soon, almost certainly with Albert Henry as first Premier.
The amendments were passed at the request of the recently-elected Cook Islands Legislative Assembly, which, at its first meeting in May, refused to adopt the constitution for the Cook Islands, as approved by the NZ Parliament last October ( PIM, Nov., 1964, p. 21).
Fourteen of the 22 members of the Assembly are members of Mr.
Henry’s Cook Islands Party, but Mr.
Henry was debarred from standing at the last election by a residential regulation.
Amendments
The amendments to the legislation on the constitution provide that: • Functions which were to have been performed by a Council of State comprising the New Zealand High Commissioner and two arikis (high chiefs) will now be performed solely by the High Commissioner. • A House of Arikis, whose members will be appointed to repre sent the various islands, will be established. This will be an advisory, not a legislative body. It will be con sulted by the Legislative Assembly mainly on such matters as custom and land tenure. • The number of Ministers other than the Premier will be a mini mum of three and a maximum of five so that the Cabinet will have flexibility. (Previously, the number of Ministers was fixed at four). © Electors in Legislative As sembly elections must have been “ordinarily resident in the Cook Islands for the three months prior to registration;” and election can didates must have resided in the Cooks for at least 12 months—at any time—before the elections.
A meeting of the Cook Islands Legislative Assembly is expected to be held in mid-July to adopt the constitution, as amended. Mr.
Henry’s sister, Mrs. Marguerite Storey, will then stand down from her recently-won Assembly seat to allow Mr. Henry to contest a by election.
Assuming he is elected, Mr. Henry will almost certainly be appointed Premier, and self-government in the Cook Islands will get under way.
Celebrations to mark the start of the new era will probably be held about mid-September, after NZ’s Governor-General, Sir Bernard Fer gusson, returns from a vacation in England.