Abel confident

on home rule

By a staff writer

Mr. Cecil Abel, the man behind moves for home rule in Papua-New Guinea, thinks the House of Assembly may accept his scheme —but in a watered-down version.

SPEAKING in Sydney in April, Mr.

Abel said that if the scheme is altered he will carry on, “trying to get everything in the proposal ac cepted”.

The home rule proposal was sub mitted to the House of Assembly select committee on constitutional de velopment in March. It was first introduced, in a somewhat different form, the previous August but the March version was submitted by Mr.

Abel and 12 New Guineans.

The submission asks for a Cabinet, elected by the House and responsible to the House, to be set up in 1968 with full executive authority. It would comprise eight ministers to replace departmental heads ( PIM, April, p. 39).

Mr. Abel said that he and two Papuans drafted the original proposal.

He denied that either plan was en tirely his own work, and said it was the result of the feelings of several people. He said he “would rather not” name the two Papuans who had helped draft the original proposal.

Mr. Abel said that most Aus tralians in the territory felt the home rule scheme was premature, but dis agreement was over “just how far we should go now. not over whether something should be done”. He was pleased the scheme had promoted dis cussion.

Mr. Abel said proposals for a presidential system for New Guinea (PIM, April, p. 39) which had been put forward by two MHA’s, Mr. Toni Voutas and Mr. Barry Holloway, had less chance than the home rule scheme, because the plan was a com plete departure from the Westminster system of government. It concen trated power in the hands of one figure, and he did not think there was a suitable man in New Guinea at present.

Mr. Abel is a research fellow at the University of Papua-New Guinea. He was visiting Sydney to search early records on the Kwato Mission, Papua.

He is writing a history of the mission for the university, probably covering the period from about 1900 to 1920.