GE/C names Chief Minister

From a Tarawa correspondent . Members of the GElC’s House of Assembly, meeting at Bairiki, Tarawa, n May 2 for the first time since the elections in April, chose 36-year-old fr Naboua Ratieta, member for Marakei, as the colony’s first Chief Minis r. He fills the post which under the old constitution was titled Leader of overnment Business, a position held by Mr Reuben K. Uatioa, who was eaten in the elections by trade union organiser Mr Abete Merang.

Mr Uatioa, easily the colony’s most experienced politician, was regarded ' favourite for the Chief Minister’s post and, later, as first Prime Minister, 'it, when his head rolled in April, Mr Ratieta was regarded as the front inner.

He has fought, and won three elections, and twice acted as Leader of overnment Business in the absence through illness of Mr Uatioa.

He served as Member for Communications, Works and Utilities in the st government.

There has been no inquest, either in the Atoll Pioneer or in the bars, ’ er the defeat of Mr Uatioa, the only executive member to lose his seat.

He was popular, well known and had encountered little opposition during s term of office, but he had been absent for some time undergoing a heart aeration in London. The operation was successful but, in the electors’ linion, his political future might have been a little uncertain because of his edical history. But what might have influenced the voters of Tarawa Urban e most was his opponent’s background. r As union organiser for the GEI Development Authority, Mr Abete \erang was very much in the public eye in February when he led the strike ’ainst the authority. No doubt the workers in Tarawa Urban swung the