Nutshell

The

News

In A

Nutshell

Muldoon On Niue

The special relationship between Niue and New Zealand was affirmed in glow ing promises of friendship by the leaders of the two countries at Niue’s third Con stitution Day celebrations on October 19, representing the attainment of its self-governing status.

The Prime Minister of New Zealand, Mr Robert Muldoon, made a flying visit to the island, with a member of the Op position Labour party, Mr Matui Rata, during the celebrations to unveil a pla que on the assembly building, New Zea land’s gift to Niue.

In talks with the Niue Premier, Mr Robert Rex, Mr Muldoon also assured Niue of continuing air and sea services.

Legal Expert In Vila

Professor Yash Ghai, adviser on con stitutional matters relating to indepen dence in Papua New Guinea and the Solomons, recently visited the New Hebrides. Professor Ghai holds the chair of constitutional law at Uppsala Univer sity, Sweden, and is soon to become Pro fessor of Law at Warwick University, UK. Born in Sri Lanka and a citizen of Kenya, the professor met members of the Provisional Council during his stay in the New Hebrides.

Political Missionaries?

A seven-man committee is to in vestigate the activities of missionaries in New Ireland, the most northern major is land in Papua New Guinea. The mission aries are accused of “political involve ment”.

The committee, established by the ex ecutive of the provincial government on New Ireland, had before it charges of straight-out anti-government activities on the part of some missionaries.

Three major missionary groups op

erate in New Ireland, the Catholic Church, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and the United Church. The lat ter is an autonomous PNG group which emerged from the early missionary work of the London Missionary Society and the Australian and New Zealand Methodist Churches.

Tribesmen's Goroka Claim

Tribesmen from five mountain villages in central Papua New Guinea are demanding compensation for part of the land on which the town of Goroka stands. They say their clans have tradi tional rights over the land, and were never properly compensated when the Australian administration in Papua New Guinea established Goroka, which is PNG’s biggest inland town.

The land now being claimed by five village groups includes a developed area on the edge of the town and the Goroka

airstrip.

Uranium Hunt On Niue

Drilling for uranium on Niue (PIM, Sept, p 24) is expected to begin this month, according to an October announ cement by the secretary for government, Mr Terry Chapman.

The test drills, for which the Australian exploration company Avian Equipment is providing equipment and skilled manpower, should take about three months.

Mr Chapman said the Niue Govern ment had decided to contribute up to SlOO 000 in the form of services. He said it would take about 12 months before a decision whether uranium, if found, would be exploited.

Soviet "Nyet” To Tonga?

Russia has not followed up its offer to give Tonga a better airport in exchange for a fishing base.

Said Tongan Prime Minister, Prince Tu’ipelehake, during an October visit to New Zealand; “They don’t seem to be in terested.”

Prince Tu’ipelehake indicated that Tonga’s hopes for airport extensions now lie with the West Germans.

Pacific's Top Cops Huddle

Terrorism, hijacking and narcotics topped the agenda at an October con ference in Auckland of police chiefs from the South Pacific region.

Police heads from Fiji, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Western Samoa, the New Hebrides, and the Cook, Gilbert and Solomon Islands were present. New Zealand, Australia and Hong Kong had observer status.

Big Png Search For Plane

Late October and early November saw an intensive air and sea search in Papua New Guinea for a light aircraft which was believed to have plunged into the Solomon Sea on a 220-km flight from the mainland to the Trobriand Islands.

The plane, a Beechcraft Baron op

crated by Talair, was carrying the pilot and five passengers on a charter flight for the PNG Department of Health.

Among those on board were an As sistant Secretary for Health, Dr Kila Wari, and a provincial health officer, Dr Tom Gaunedi.

But for a last-minute change of plans the Health Minister, Mr Wiwi Korewi, and the Director of Health, Mr R.

Safltoa, would have been on the flight.

The pilot was Mr John Fox, married, and in his early 30s, a member of a pioneer settler family in the Mt Hagen area of the PNG highlands. (See also PIM, Deaths of Islands People.)

Sigwu's Appeal

The Solomon Islands General Workers’ Union has launched an appeal against the suspension order issued against it by the registrar of trade unions (PIM, Nov, p 31).

Grounds for the suspension were that the union could not provide evidence on paper to show how it had spent $7 496.

A call for a protest strike by SIGWU leaders against the suspension was not widely followed, but there were some stoppages in the bread, tobacco and building trades. There were also stop pages on some plantations.

Starters For Sydney-Suva

The next Sydney-Suva yacht race will start on June 4, 1978. The inaugural race, held in 1976, attracted eight star ters. The organisers said in October that with eight months still to go, at least 20 yachtsmen had already shown interest in entering next year.

Hebridean Poll Doubt

The elections set for late November in the New Hebrides faced the possibility of a total boycott in view of the setting of

preconditions to participation by some

of the smaller parties. Their action followed the decision of the Vanuaaku Party not to take part in the poll. The VP had set five conditions (PIM, Nov, p 32) which were later rejected by the British and French administrations.

The French-speaking Tan Union has called for a full census and a civil register of all New Hebrideans to be es tablished, and the Federation of Inde pendents has demanded that elections be held for autonomous regional assemblies at the same time as the national elec tions.

Poll Godsend For Norfolk?

Norfolk Islanders could well see the October decision of the Australian Government to hold elections on December 10 as a godsend for their cause.

The overriding fear of the delegation from Norfolk Island Council which visited Canberra in October was that decisions would be made about the is land’s future without full prior consulta tion with them (PIM, Nov, p 5).

Now that Australia is once again on the election trail, any question of a deci sion about Norfolk’s future is shelved.

Bid To Sack Somare Fails

An Opposition politician in Papua

New Guinea failed in October in a Supreme Court legal action to unseat the PNG Prime Minister, Mr Michael Somare.

The politician, Mr James Mopio, claimed that Mr Somare was wrongfully holding office because parliament had not followed strict constitutional pro cedures when it elected him.

But three judges, presided over by the Chief Justice, Sir Sydney Frost, ruled that no court in the land could interfere with what was a deliberation of the Na tional Parliament.

Png Police Changes

The PNG Minister of Police, Mr Pat terson Lowa, and the Commissioner of Police, Mr Pious Kerepia, have lost their jobs. Mr Lowa, a former deputy com mander of the PNG Defence Force, has been unseated by the National Court, which declared his election void after another candidate petitioned the court on the grounds that Mr Lowa did not

satisfy residential requirements. Cabinet

has decided not to reappoint Mr Kerepia when his term of office expires, but to give the job to Chief Inspector William Tiden, who is provincial commander for New Ireland.

"Update Radio —Or Else"

Nearly half the coastal ships operating in Papua New Guinea could be tied up by January unless their owners speed up the conversion of radio equip ment to new international standards.

The ban will apply to the government owned fleet as well as to privately-own ed commercial ships.