ordinance row
p. 125 · Read in the full issue
More echoes from ordinance row
A committee chosen on Norfolk Island to propose a policy of self government on the island decided in September to ask the Norfolk Island Council to hold a referendum on 20 points of reference suggested by the committee.
The committee was established as a result of public uproar over the introduction of a new companies ordinance and five of the island’s eight elected councillors resigned over the ordinance. In late September there were by-elections which elected C. L. Evans, R. G. Westlake, J. H.
Ryves, Greg Quintal and G. E.
Anderson to the vacant positions.
Four of the five ex-councillors stood, one, Richard Bataille having since gone to Australia to live. Roy Smith, one of the resigning council lors, was not re-elected. Charlie Evans, another who resigned, headed the poll.
Meanwhile, unrest continues over the offending ordinance. A petition for its repeal has been signed by about three-quarters of the elector ate and sent to Governor-General Sir Paul Hasluck. It condemns the ordinance being promulgated against the vote of the advisory council.