Two votes less

The next time the SPC’s mem ber countries have occasion to use their votes, it is likely that Australia will announce that she has discarded two of her five plurality votes —those she held for Nauru and Norfolk Island.

Her possession of them, especi ally in the voting for a new secretary-general, which ended in Canberra in a deadlock over the claims of Oala Oala-Rarua, of PNG, and Fred Betham, of West ern Samoa, was resented by most of the conference members. They argued that, as Nauru had be come independent and had her own vote, Australia should relin quish that one—as Britain had done in the case of Fiji—and that Norfolk Island didn’t really qualify for a vote. On the other hand, Australia makes the biggest contribution to the budget.