Solomons' Land Control Problem

More Homework Needed To Solve

By Ted Marriott

“Our land and our women are our most precious possessions,” said Sam Kuku at the last public meeting of the Solomons’ Governing Council.

Sam is the elected member for New Georgia and is also secretary of the Christian Fellowship Church.

He wasn’t defying the Women’s Lib movement, but was opposing the Land Development Control Bill shortly before it was tossed out, to everyone’s surprise, by the back benchers of the council.

Designed to protect the interests of Solomon Islanders from the ravages of “hungry expatriate wolves” in land development exploitation of Pacific Islands, such as the New Hebrides, the bill had seemed certain of strong support from the elected members.

But as indicated by Sam, land is a very emotive word in the Solomons, and development means subsidies and grants under British aid; any legisla tion on this subject was therefore bound to be suspect.

Fear was plainly at the heart of the objections raised by the back benchers, who dominated the debate.

They would not accept any inter ference with the absolute rights of ownership in native or customary held land, even when the legislation was intended to give them and their children legal protection.

“Let this apply only to the alienated land and not to customary land,”

they all said. And that was the nub of their objection.

Under the bill, which was intro duced by David Kausimae, chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, a board would be set up to control land development in such areas as would from time to time be specified.

In this way exploitation (by anybody and particularly by outside com panies) could be checked and con servation heeded. The Solomons have no other legislation under which these measures can be taken.

An unfortunate legacy of the past, dating from the days of the first Resident Commissioner, Woodford, who honestly believed that the Mela nesians were a dying race and that the only hope of developing the vast tracts of apparently waste and vacant land lay in purchase by expatriate planters, is that 10 per cent, of the land is alienated. Furthermore, this alienated land is, of course, generally among the best land in the country; and, to rub salt into the wound, much of it has still not been developed.

A constant source of complaint in the council is that the government is always wanting to acquire yet more of the customary land for forestry, mining or other purposes, and does nothing about the alienated land.

It is also unfortunate that admini stratively the most convenient way for the government to acquire land is through compulsory acquisition.

Great trouble is gone to in explaining the need for the land and the benefits that will come to the whole country —and indeed to the individual land owners, because compensation pay ments are generous to a fault—but the “compulsory” part, plainly stated on the forms that have to be filled in, sticks in the gullet.

Thus, despite the fact that the land is unregistered, unsurveyed, subject to endless boundary disputes and indeed held only under a form of trust by an elder on behalf of his line, there can be demands by the Rennellese that they should have the right to negotiate directly with Mitsui over the proposed mining of bauxite on their island.

It can be seen how passionately the Solomon Islanders regard their heritage of land, but when Alfred

Maeke made his case against the Land Development Control Bill, one might well have thought he was describing the dire results of having no control over land development.

“We will be reduced to penury,” he said, “families will be begging for money at the roadside, children will be scratching in the rubbish bins for food, and our women will be selling their bodies to foreigners.”

This was his prediction of what would happen if landowners had first to apply to the board for permission to develop their own land.

Peter Thompson sensibly pointed out that the Governing Council was still the ultimate authority and that areas of the country to come under the board’s control would first be put to the council for approval. But no one was prepared to listen to him.

They turned instead to Solomon Mamaloni, who put on a display of oratory and flatly stated, “I don’t trust boards”!

“There is too much indecision here,” he continued. “Are you for this bill or against it?” There was an involuntary gasp of “noes” around the chamber. He had them eating out of his hand.

Gordon Siama, one of the com mittee chairman, supported the bill, pointing out that at that very moment

Gordon Siama.

David Kausimae.

there was an American with his eyes on an island close to Goldie College in the Western District, which he wished to turn into a tourist resort. This might turn out all right, he said, but if it developed in a way the surrounding people did not like, there was nothing that they or the government could do about it. Nevertheless, he saw no reason why the bill should not be amended to exempt customary land from con trol.

No offer was made, however, to accept such an amendment. For one thing, there is customary land on the outskirts of Honiara and it is only a matter of time before a local landowner conceives the idea of putting up his own low-cost housing to relieve the shortage of workers’ accommodation in the capital. Con trol of such development would, of course, be equally desirable.

The bill was not pushed to the limit, because although the voting would have been interesting, it would not have reflected the consensus that Govco likes to achieve. No other committee chairmen spoke, and Kausimae, winding up, said he could understand the opposition that had been expressed to the bill. Never theless, he still believed in the necessity for it and was prepared to wait for something to happen— which would not perhaps be long— before re-introducing it to the House.

In fact, it was only the next day that the Commissioner for Lands, taking note that the Governing Council had no wish to control land development, gave his approval for the subdivision of an estate on the beachfront at Tenaru.

No one sees any harm in this move, but a precedent has been set and one wonders what will turn up next. There is, for example, the American company that now owns the old plantation at Berande on the north coast of Guadalcanal: is it really there to grow coconuts and make copra?

Perhaps the members of Governing Council only need a little more time to do their homework and to realise what exactly is meant by land development.

One thing is sure, and that is that it will be a long, long time before Solomon Islanders accept whole heartedly any western-style land laws.

It is as though they believed in the fundamental right of each family to determine for itself its ownership of land, together with primary and secondary rights. This complicates the issue beyond the patience of most outsiders.