Assembly meets
p. 18 · Read in the full issue
New Hebrides Assembly meets
Seven months after the first general elections in the New Hebrides, which gave the National Party a majority, the
Representative Assembly opened its first
meeting on June 29 and managed to agree on one bitter bone of contention, that the number of chiefs represented in the assembly should remain at four.
The assembly postponed a decision on the formation of a Custom Council or a Council of Chiefs in which would repose traditional authority. Then, members got bogged down in a debate on the exact definition of a chief and the method of election of chiefs.
The National Party had opposed debate on the subject, arguing that the assembly was not competent to discuss or decide on traditions which differed in every island of the group.
The resident commissioners in an open ing statement described the meeting as a “milestone in the history of the New Hebrides”, and called for an “orderly and democratic evolution of the New Hebrides in accordance with the basic principles of self-determination.”
The reply, from the National Party through Mr Donald Kalpokas, was an un resolved motion of no confidence in the two administrations. Mr Kalpokas said the two administrations had demonstrated their incompetence in working to promote peace, unity, justice and prosperity.