This Month

• Political trial in Tahiti Six men gaoled, but de fence lawyers from Paris turn the case into something the like of which Papeete has never seen before . 9 • Art Artist Bobby Holcomb tells what he tries to do in his paintings, and why he chooses to live in French Polynesia rather than his native Hawaii .. 12 • Cook Islands More excerpts from a new book tell ing the colourful tale of the reign of the now fallen House of Henry 14 • US and the Pacific A US Senate committee hear ing shows that Uncle Sam hasn’t yet got his act together on future relations with Pacific Island coun tries 17 • Banaba —Banabans ‘invade’ their homeland, Ocean Island, and argue their case for ownership with petrol bombs 22 • New Hebrides Despite deep misgivings on the ‘moderate’ side of politics, the new government of national unity holds together and the painful progress to independence goes on 27 • New Caledonia A thesis by an Australian history student on an episode in New Caledonian history sparks controversy in Noumea 35 • Fiji Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara is characteristically outspoken on the high salaries paid to United Nations experts in his country, and puts a possible solution to visiting UN tall poppy Bradford Morse 39 • Aviation A close look at the dilemma facing Pacific regional airlines in the wake of the low fare revolution 49 • PNG investment Foreign investors are welcome in Papua New Guinea, but not if they’re only after ‘a fast buck or kina’ 55

Afterthoughts 29

American Samoa 42, 57 Art 12 Australia 24, 25 Aviation 49 Books 45 Banaba 22 Colonialism 9 Cook Islands 14, 25 Deaths 67 Fill 39 Hawaii 48 Indonesia 25 Islands Press 21 Letters 4 New Caledonia 35

New Hebrides 27 New Zealand 24, 25, 39 Pacific Report 7 Papua New Guinea 25, 29, 41, 45, 46, 55 People 32 Philately 63 Shipping 69 Solomon Islands 22 Tahiti 9, 12, 39 The Region 17, 24, 49 Tourism 49 Tradewlnds 49 United States 17, 24, 25 Western Samoa 25, 41, 42 Yachts 65 Yesterday 35

Bobby Holcomb... Neo- Polynesian art in Tahiti

John Kaputin... guide lines for investors in PNG.