Pacific Report
pp. 11-12 · Read in the full issue
: Our Cabinet Seats For Vanuaaku?
ranee’s new Minister of Overseas Departments and Territories, flr Paul Dijoud, was in the New Hebrides from August 11-15. ks foreshadowed in PlM’s report (see Political Currents) he sug lested that the Vanuaaku Party should have four places in the resent cabinet instead of three as previously offered. This /ould give the VP half the places in the eight-member cabinet.
Wien Mr Dijoud left the country neither the Kalsakau govern lent nor the VP had commented officially on his proposal.
Remier Davis On Sir Albert
he Premier of the Cook Islands, Dr Tom Davis, sees no political iture for his deposed predecessor, Sir Albert Henry. ‘His future 3S with the police and the courts,’ he told New Zealand journal t William Gasson who interviewed him for PIM (p 23).
Ikinians Leave Island Again
kini residents in August were removed from their atoll for the jeond time because of unsafe radiation levels stemming from B nuclear testing in the mid-fifties. They went to Kili Atoll.
Omare Plays Rift Talk Cool
apua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Michael Somare refused be flapped by revelations that his deputy, Julius Chan, had aen in private talks with the parliamentary opposition on his avernment’s future (Political Currents).
Ore Refugees Cross To Png
apua New Guinea was caring for about 1400 Irianese refugees (lowing a mass border crossing by about 700 men, women id children in August (Afterthoughts p 17).
&Cific ‘First’ For Western Samoa
estern Samoa has stolen a march on Australia and every )dy else by issuing a set of commemorative coins in honour the first trans-Pacific flight by Australian airmen Kingsford nith and Ulm in June, 1928. The three-coin set was a sell-out. ) rub salt into the wounds, Western Samoa hired the Royal jstralian Mint to strike the coins.
:S, They Too Have Bananas
ipua New Guinea will not attempt to develop a banana export Justry, according to Minister for Primary Industry Julius Chan, jeensland and South Pacific countries could not be looked as markets as they had their own banana industries, he id.
31 At Work In Samoa
II men from Honolulu have been in American Samoa instruct -3 local cops. The Feds schooled the Samoans in interview :hniques, collection and preservation of evidence, and crimi- I law and procedure.
Ontinental Plan May Launching
intinental Airlines is planning services from San Francisco to
the South Pacific from May 1979. Plans are for three services a week, via Honolulu and American Samoa to Auckland, and four a week from San Francisco to Sydney two via Honolulu and Nadi, and two via Honolulu and Pago Pago.
Bougainville Link With Ex-Cia Man
Bechtel Corporation, construction contractor for Papua New Guinea’s Bougainville copper mine, in August appointed Richard Helms, former director of the US Central Intelligence Agency, as a consultant. The appointment coincided with publi cation in the US of a magazine story alleging extensive cross hiring between Bechtel and the CIA, the use of Bechtel operations as cover for the CIA in countries like Libya, and con tinuing close relations ‘at the top’ between company and agency.
Cannibalism Charge: Gaol For Two
Three young Papua New Guinean men who ate part of a dead man were sentenced to 15 months’ gaol in August. They pleaded not guilty to the charge that they ‘jointly and without justification interfered improperly or indecently with the dead body of a man’.
Sentencing the men at Daru in Western Province, Australian born Judge Wilson said: ‘I can think of nothing more flavoured with impropriety than the interference with a dead body by cut ting it with a knife with the intention of eating it.’
Wl Rebels Free Last Of Hostages
September saw the release of the last four Indonesian hostages held by rebel forces in Irian Jaya. The hostages were reported in good health, and said they had been well treated.
Papeete Plans Coconut Drive
French Polynesia could soon have a flourishing export trade in whole coconuts. Prominent Papeete personality Louis Tama is investigating possibilities of airfreighting coconuts at the rate of 300 000 a month to the USA, Japan and Canada. Prices on these markets could be highly attractive.
Oil Evidence In North Fiji
Exploration in the Bligh Water area, north of Viti Levu, Fiji, showed geological features similar to a rich oil field in Indonesia, the Minister for Lands and Mineral Resources, Livai Nasilivata, has told the Fiji Parliament. ‘lndications are that this country may be witnessing the beginning of an oil era,’ said he.
Capital Move For Tahiti Airline
A leading US West Coast entrepreneur, Virachal Vannukul, an American of Thai extraction, is planning to put up capital for French Polynesia’s long-discussed international airline (PIM July).
AIR NIUGINI’S SUB ‘A FARCE’ - MINISTER Air Niugini’s proposed purchase of a submarine for tourist pur poses (PIM September) has been branded ‘a farce’ by Papua
New Guinea’s Transport Minister Bruce Jephcott. Claiming the idea came from ‘two people talking in a pub over a glass of beer’, Mr Jephcott said the government would never be pre pared to fund such a scheme. Cost of the submarine was esti mated at K 2.5 million.
Gaol On Marihuana Count In Tonga
American Merle Anders, 32, has been sentenced to six months gaol in Tonga for possession of marihuana, and fined $lOO for growing it. Anders, who has appealed, is manager of a fish farm on Tongatapu.
Cavers Escape Drowning In Png
Four members of the caving party exploring the Atea Kanada cave system in Papua New Guinea narrowly escaped death in August when the cave chamber they were in filled rapidly with water.
Dengue Bearers Reach Tokelau
A variety of mosquito known as a bearer of dengue fever has been identified for the first time in Tokelau by a US Peace Corps volunteer who has been studying the atolls’ mosquitoes.
Trust Territory Chief In Air Crash
Adrian P. Winkel, High Commissioner of the US Trust Territory, escaped injury when a US Navy aircraft crashed in the sea off Guam in August.
Fiji Police Out For Blood
Offending Fiji motorists may soon be obliged to provide blood samples to police. Lack of police powers to secure blood samples was regretted by Chief Justice Sir Clifford Grant in re cent remarks on what he called the ‘deplorable’ standard of driv ing in Fiji.
Fiji Parliamentarians Go Without
Fiji MPs could make the Guinness Book of Records. They have refused a pay rise ranging from about 4% to 16% in order to set an example of restraint to the community. The rises were recommended by an independent committee.
Rum Deal Upsets Methodist
‘Another death trap for the people of Fiji,’ said the Rev Daniel Mustapha, president of the Methodist Church, condemning a proposal by the Fiji Sugar Corporation to set up a rum distillery at Lautoka.
Massacre Claim By Wl Refugee
A refugee from West Irian, according to sources sympathetic to the Free Papua rebel movement, claimed that an Indonesian helicopter had attacked Wambis, 50 km inside West Irian from the PNG border, killing more than 100 villagers.
‘No Confidence’ Charge Dropped
A motion of no confidence, moved by John Talasala, in Solomon Islands Prime Minister Peter Kenilorea, was withdrawn. Mr Talasala had claimed that the prime minister had re-hired his personal secretary, Francis Saemala just released from gaol after a two-month sentence for disorderly behaviour against his cabinet’s wishes.
A Winjeel To Learn On
Australia has given a Winjeel aircraft to the Port Moresby Tech nical College for use in training apprentices in aeronautical en gineering. The aircraft was flown to Port Moresby by Royal Australian Air Force pilots. When it landed at Jackson’s Airport, the wings were removed and it was then taken to the college by road.
Amnesty At Work In Png
A branch of Amnesty International has been established in Papua New Guinea.
Move For Better Bureaucrats
American Territories in the Pacific have launched a project aimed at lifting the standard of the bureaucracy. Representatives from the Nothern Marianas, Guam and American Samoa attended a meeting in Hawaii, at which the Governor of Hawaii, George R. Ariyoshi, announced formation of the Pacific Basin Personnel Council. The council will provide a forum in which the experiences and expertise of all members may be shared to improve the personnel systems of each member govern ment.
Japan-Solomons Fishing Deal
Agreement was reached last month in Honiara with Japanese fishing associations for fishing rights within Solomon Islands 200-mile zone.
Nz Firms’ Island Subsidiaries
The New Zealand Government has given approval to a number of companies to set up subsidiary operations in the Pacific Islands. The companies will operate in Tonga, Western Samoa, the Cook Islands and Fiji.
New Png Tax On Miners
Papua New Guinea announced an ‘additional profits tax’ on mining ventures that earn more than 20% after tax on total funds employed. The tax became law with the passing in August of the Income Tax (Mining and Petroleum) Bill.
Fiji Plans Trade Trip To China
A Fiji trade mission will soon go to China to see what can be sold there, according to Governor-General Ratu Sir George Cakobau, who was opening a Chinese trade fair in Suva.
Nuclear Waste Dump For Micronesia?
Dr Ted Greenwood, a senior White House scientific adviser, has said that the US Government is considering establishing a dump for the world’s nuclear waste somewhere in the US Trust Terri tory of the Pacific Islands. (PIM August).
Us Policy Rounding Cape ‘Horne ?
The current goodwill visits to Pacific Island countries of the USS Horne are only a small part of an all-round revamping of US policy in the region. (See Tropicalities).
Australian Fishing: 40 Want Access
Japan, Russia, Poland, South Korea and Taiwan were among countries which applied to Australia for access to its 200nautical mile fishing zone.
An Old ‘Colon’ Loses Faith
After 47 years, prominent French settler Rene Thevenin left the New Hebrides for France in August, firing a broadside at Aus tralian Presbyterian missions on his way out (p 18).
Hostility’ Drives Brych Out
Speaking in Los Angeles, controversial cancer therapist Milan Brych, formerly of the Cook Islands, said he had left the Cooks because ‘the hostility of the new government and particularly the Premier, Dr Tom Davis, towards the clinic and me personally, left me with no alternative’. All Mr Brych’s patients have now left the Cook Islands, most for their homes in Australia. A cancer seminar in October in Honolulu, at which Mr Byrch planned to present details of his treatment, has been cancelled.