Give The Colonies A Go!

When Fiji joined the UN following independence last October she announced she would be spokesman for the South Pacific. In June, Fiji's Special Representative to the UN, Mr. Satia Nandan, gave a demonstration of this when addressing a panel of the Special Committee on Colonialism during a debate on conditions in Niue and the Tokelaus.

He praised New Zealand’s record as an administering power in the Pacific and said Fiji was confident that the problems of Niue and the Tokelau Islands would be solved to the satisfaction of their peoples.

He said: “While perpetual colonial status of these territories is in prin ciple unacceptable to my delegation, the Fiji delegation is nevertheless

firmly against the application of a blanket anti-colonial formula in these territories without first finding satisfactory solutions to the unique problems of size, remoteness, lack of resources and small populations.”

These were as much the problems of the territories as for the administrat ing powers, but they called for a com passionate approach by the latter.