People

Mr Remy Delaveuve arrived in the New Hebrides many years ago from France to take up a temporary job for a year with the Joint Court. He’s still there. He’s now the first Mayor of the new municipality of Vila and holder of the MBE awarded to him in the last Queen’s Birthday Honours hand out, the first Frenchman in the South Pacific to get the honour. He was invested with the order in October by the British High Commissioner in the South Pacific, Mr Larmour, who stopped off in the condominium while on his way to the South Pacific Conference in Noumea. A member of the UCNH “but if you want to talk politics we move out of the town hall’’

Mr Delaveuve and his colleagues on the Vila Municipal Council have agreed to bar politics in the council.

And it looks as if it works well. Paved footpaths are appearing in the town, something the condominium administration never got round to in 70 years. He expects to hold the job for three years and “then I’m going fishing”. A keen angler, he caught the first marlin under IGFA standards in New Hebridean waters. And the prize? A year’s subscription to PIM.

Nauru’s President, Mr Hammer Deßoburt, hosted a reception at Suva's Grand Pacific Hotel on October 15, to mark the official opening of Nauru's new consulate in

Ratu Sukuna House, Suva. Nauru’s honorary consul in Fiji is Ratu Esira Rabuno, 36, who formerly was with the Fiji Civil Service.

Mrs Maureen Wright, the first woman mayor of a city or town in Fi ji, is now Mrs Ted Rouse. Mr Rouse is chief engineer of the Fiji Electricity Authority at Lautoka. Mrs Wright’s first husband, Edgar Wright, died some years ago while she was Mayor of Lautoka. He was a member of a well-known Fiji family, the son of the late Mr Matey Wright and a nephew of former Fiji government public relations photographer, the late Mr Rob Wright. Mrs Rouse is a daughter of the late Mr Dan Costello, who had business interests at Suva, Lautoka and Tavua, and who was one of five brothers from Maryborough, Queensland, who settled in Fiji. She has two brothers, Mr Dan Costello, a Lautoka businessman, who has in terests in the tourist industry, and the Rev Father Emmet Costello, SJ, of the Sydney parish of Lavender Bay.

Her mother lives in Sydney. One of her uncles, Mr Vince Costello, is a well-known Suva hotelier.

The Papua New Guinea Police Commissioner, Mr Pious Kerepia, whose term of appointment expired in October, has been reconfirmed by Cabinet for another 12-month term.

Mr Kerepia was the first Papua New Guinean to become Police Com missioner after the succession of Australians who held the post before PNG independence. But there have been tensions between Mr Kerepia

and two police ministers the pre sent Minister, Mr Poe, and the previous one, Mr Lus. Mr Poe set up a committee of public servants to in vestigate the commissioner’s leadership and personal qualities before taking any steps for his reap pointment.

Father Cherubim Dambui, 28, a Catholic priest, is the interim premier of East Sepik Interim Provincial Government, in Papua New Guinea, having been elected unopposed by other members of the government.

Father Dambui is from Timbuke village in the Angoram area. The deputy premier is Mr Lawrence Yakanduo, a local government coun cillor. Father Dambui’s election was criticised in some quarters by those who considered the functions of Church and State should be kept separate. But Mr Moses Murray, principal private secretary to the Minister for Education, said PNG had to do away with such a western concept.

Mr Gala Oala-Rarua, formerly a prominent Papua New Guinea politi cian, and first PNG High Com missioner to Australia, has resigned from the civil service. There was no early indication about his intentions, but there was a strong local tip that he planned to re-enter politics. With an election due in 1977, the tipsters could be close to the mark. Men of Mr Oala-Rarua’s calibre are needed in the PNG Parliament and in Cabinet.

Dr Rene Grandperrin has been ap pointed fisheries adviser to the South Pacific Commission, succeeding Mr R. H. Baird, who died earlier this year. Apart from wide experience in many phases of fisheries research, Dr Grandperrin also has the practical knowledge required for such work. He and Mr Baird, in 1973, set up an ex pert committee on tropical skipjack.

He has attended many international conferences on fisheries, and is the author and co-author of many publications covering fisheries.

Police Commissioner Kerepia.