Letters
pp. 5-7 · Read in the full issue
And then there
was none?
After reading Manuka Mita Puku’s article (PIM March), we . can only hope that as the econ omy of New Zealand becomes more and more shaky, he and his Maori brothers are not forced to paddle their way back to Havaiiki, their true ‘home’.
Kainantu EHP R. & S. EDWARDS Papua New Guinea (New Zealanders)
Mahe: no political
union intended
In your otherwise accurate article on SPEC (South Pacific Bureau for Economic Co operation) in which you drew on my 1977-78 annual report (PIM March), you offered the interpolation that ‘Mahe does not venture a time scale on his dream of a unified non colonial Pacific’. In doing so, I fear that you may have given the impression that I advocated some kind of political union of Pacific countries.
On the contrary, I was stress ing the importance of a co
ordinated approach to the
economic development of
independent South Pacific countries and how the strength
of regional arrangements such
as SPEC lies in the fact that partners are free to decide for themselves the course of their development. ASEAN and CARICOM have shown that
this goal could be achieved just
as effectively without political
merger of the kind you attribu ted to me.
Spec
Suva
Fiji
M. U. Tupouniua
Director
Australia in the Pacific fhe article by Malcolm Salmon ‘Australia and the South Pacific’ (PIM March) vas quite interesting. In par ticular, the appraisals made by Vl r Forsyth and Mr Mac lonald of the Senate com nittee’s report are certainly in
line with what many Islanders themselves have been reiterat
ing.
It seems to me that if Aus tralia wishes to change its image in the South Pacific and honestly cares about the ‘lslanders’ interests and not its own, then there should have been more input by the Islanders themselves, whether
by visiting and listening to the
people in the various areas of the Pacific, interviewing Islanders at universities within the country (as done with Baba and Tupouniua), or by review
ing conference proceedings
where Islanders have given tes
timony.
As pointed out in the article, one of the criticisms of the Sen ate committee’s report was the lack of Islander input, which is definitely a valid one. PIM seemed to follow a similar path by the writer also overlooking the incorporation of Islander testimony. If, as stated on the first page of the article, that at least two Islanders gave evi dence and that Mr Baba’s appeared in the February issue, then what of Tupouniua’s evi dence? His name is mentioned and his picture even shown, but what of his testimony?
Hawaiian Studies
Sarah Quick
Kamehameha Schools Instructor Hawaii The point should have been made, but Sione Tupouniua's evidence was apparently given in camera it does not appear in the official transcript of the committee's proceedings and PIM, therefore, was not in a position to quote from it.
Not even PIM
can be perfect
PIM is developing at an im pressive rate as the premier journal of a lively and import ant region, and you are to be congratulated on the continu
ing improvement in depth and
breadth of coverage in your editorial matter.
One suggestion, though. I
still seem to hit up against four or five statements per issue that aren’t quite right, and this tends to sap my confidence in the precision of other state ments about matters I don’t know anything about. To give a couple of examples, gathered in about three minutes of leaf
ing through the April 1979
issue; pl 4 - Dr Tom Davis as medical monitor of the US Pro ject Mercury moon shots. The
Project Mercury flights were
the first manned US orbital and suborbital earth shots and by no stretch of the imagin ation could they be called moon shots (you could as well credit the Wright Brothers with
inventing the jumbo jet); pl 9
the ‘US marines’ in the photo graphs are neither marines nor Americans there isn’t even a family resemblance in the uni forms; I suspect they are French sailors, but you should know you’ve no doubt spent more time in Pacific ports than I have.
The remedy, obviously, is a tough and fastidious editorial desk. I assure you that the effort will pay off in the per ceived stature of your maga zine. Best wishes.
John G. Rhoads (Dr)
Yale University Assistant Professor New Haven of Anthropology Conn USA Thanks. We'll try harder.
W. Pacific Archives
I add my support to Bruce Bume’s letter (PIM March). I also support the thinking of C.
Guy Powles (PIM September
1978) although he was not cor rect in detail.
The Gilbert Islands has established its own National Library and Archives, and as a consequence of the closure of the Western Pacific Archives (WPA) we received 61 cases of records in October 1978. These
comprise mainly resident com
missioners’ records, secretariat and district office records. As Bruce Bume correctly states, many valuable records were lost at Banaba (Ocean Island), the former administrative
headquarters, during World
War 11.
The Western Pacific High Commission (WPHC) records are of infinite value and im portance where the recent his tory of the Gilbert Islands is concerned and would greatly assist in filling the gaps in our sequence of records. These re cords were available to us, and to other former WPHC terri tories while housed in Suva but sadly are no longer available to anyone in this region where the
interest is, and always will, be far greater than in London.
There is also, of course, the last point Bruce Burne raised that the WPA was never sup ported or encouraged in any way, least of all financially by London. That the WPA achieved so much is entirely to the credit of the member coun tries who gave financial sup port, and the credit of archivists lan Diamond, Bruce Burne, and P.D. Macdonald who had the sad task of finally winding up the operations of the
Wpa.
Tarawa
R. Overy
Gilbert Islands Librarian/Archivist As I fear that some erroneous conclusions may be drawn from the letter of Mr Burne concerning the Western Pacific Archives, I feel I should make certain comments, especially as I took over from him as archi vist late in February 1978 and remained in charge until the closing down of those archives on November 20.
It might reasonably be in ferred from what he has written that the records of the New Hebrides and of the agent and consul in Tonga have been per
manently despatched to the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office. That is not the case.
They have only been tem porarily transferred since, with the closure of the archives, there was no suitable air conditioned accommodation for them either in Suva or in the territory concerned.
To state, as Mr Burne does, that ‘less than 40% of the hold ings of the Western Pacific Ar chives have been transferred to “their countries of origin”,’ may also be misleading unless the circumstances are fully ap preciated. In making that state ment, he clearly has not taken into account the New Hebrides and Tonga records which filled 75 large cases, and it may reasonably be assumed that they will be sent to those coun tries in due course.
Further, it must be remem bered that by far the greater part, if not all, of the head quarters records of the then British Solomon Islands Pro tectorate and the then Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony were
presumably destroyed when
those territories were invaded in 1941-42. It was only after the war that the governments of those two territories, when relocated in their headquarters at Honiara and Tarawa, trans ferred their records over the years to the Western Pacific Archives in Suva. That process continued until about the early seventies and all such records,
roughly covering the period
1946-71, have been returned to them.
In view of the foregoing, and whilst not wishing to be dog matic, I should assess the figure at about 50% or 55% rather than 40%. But the important point is that they have there fore received all the records to which they are ‘entitled’. If it were not for the loss of their pre-war records, the percent age would clearly have been very much higher. However, I revert to this question of ‘entitlement’ later.
The statement that ‘the WPHC records include Solomons Secretariat material and make up for much of the administrative documentation of the Solomon and Gilberts lost during World War IF could also be misleading and is not strictly correct.
The WPHC records com prise, inter alia, the originals of all correspondence addressed to the high commissioner in Suva by the resident com missioners of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate and the Gilbert and Ellice Islands (as well as originals of all the secretary of state’s cor respondence to the high com missioner and the latter’s reply to him). Whilst, therefore, much of the correspondence of the WPHC records certainly relates to the affairs of the two territories concerned, they can not correctly be held to be the records of those territories alone which were unfortu
nately destroyed but are
those of the high commissioner for the Western Pacific, or the British Government. The first part of the quotation is there fore incorrect and the impli cation in the second part misleading. Both governments have received in full all the ar chival records to which they were ‘entitled’.
The further statement by Mr
Bume that, ‘when planned in 1974 the new archives building in Honiara, which he (Sydney Hockey, PIM December 1978) mentions, was designed to take WPHC records as the then chief secretary proposed the transfer of the holdings of the WPA from Suva to Honiara’, needs considerable clarifi cation. It may well be true that the then chief secretary did ‘propose’ the transfer as men tioned (though I have it on good authority that he knew that archival records other than those of the Solomon Islands would certainly not be sent to Honiara).
In fact, the source of this ‘proposal’ is in some doubt.
But, in any case, the inescap able fact is that he had no auth ority whatsoever to give the
impression that his ‘proposal’
could be in any way authoritat ive, binding or final. The auth ority for any such transfer of the WPHC records at least was the UK Government and all concerned in the ‘proposal’ must have known this. The fact that it was thus decided was made very clear to me after I sought directions in this respect almost as soon as I assumed duty. Now I am advised that the auditor-general of the Solomon Islands Government has commented that the new archives building in Honiara is many times larger than the space formerly available for all the Western Pacific Archives in Suva and has questioned how this came to be authorised.
Lastly, it will be noted that the phrase ‘holdings of the WPA’ is used in the last quo tation. But the ‘proposal’ borders on the ridiculous since it is quite unbelievable that other governments participat ing in the Western Pacific Ar chives, (the Gilbert Islands, the New Hebrides and Tuvalu), would have agreed to their re cords being transferred to, and housed in, Honiara.
Finally, as to the microfilms of the WPHC records, whilst it is true that such work was undertaken through the extreme generosity of the Aus tralian Government, no useful purpose is served by attempt ing to discredit the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in this respect, especially since, as far
as can be ascertained, it never seems to have been asked to provide funds for a microfilm ing programme. But in any case I find it quite incomprehen sible that neither the govern ment of the Gilbert Islands nor that of the Solomon Islands should have made any attempt
to acquire positive copies of
such microfilms, which cover the years 1874-1927, and which would have made good much of their lost pre-war records.
I can only assume that they were unaware, or uninformed, of the progress of the microfilming programme and
the possibility of acquiring
copies of such microfilms.
However, it seems to me that the actual location of the original WPHC records is not a matter in which opinions should differ, as envisaged by Mr Powles (PIM September 1978) since the completion of the microfilming programme
surely provides the obvious
solution.
P. D. Macdonald
Suva, Fiji.
lately archivist, Western Pacific Archivest
From Cell 4, French
Prison, Vila
A thick aroma of international intrigue surrounds a letter received by PIM from Paris born Polynesian Pierre- Francois Tarii. Writing from Cell No 4 in Vila's French prison, the 29-year-old Mr Tarii tells a tale which will cause ears to prick up throughout the South Pacific and South-east Asia, especially in aviation circles and among that shadowy brotherhood known as the
‘intelligence community'.
According to the official
French/Bislama weekly
Nabanga Mr Tarii was gaoled by the French court in Vila on March 22 for passing 10 dud
cheques with a face value of
NHFI million (SAI2 987). He was sentenced to six months
imprisonment, exclusion for five
years from the New Hebrides and New Caledonia, and five years' deprivation of the right to operate a bank account in those
places.
Mr Tarii's story is,
understandably perhaps, dif
ferent. He claims that he was framed' by the French authori ties for political and commercial
reasons. He writes: In the middle of 1978 I went to the New Hebrides after a long period in various South-east Asian countries. As a journalist I was interested in starting two magazines in this country as it moves towards independence.
One was to be called Orients Melanesia, a political-social magazine, and the other Melanesia South Pacific, oriented to the tourist trade.
The first issue of Orients Melanesia appeared on the bookstands in November 1978, and the public response was very good. Meanwhile the
French residency, the ‘Big
Masta Long New Hebrides’ and Nabanga ignored this new publication, the first issue of which was soon sold out. But after the fall of chief minister George Kalsakau, who was featured on the cover of the first issue of the magazine, Nabanga felt free to publish some disparaging comments about it.
Despite the pressure, I car ried on with my job and even asked a colleague from Malaysia to come over to help me as I was planning to start a daily newspaper in
February.
Now it happened that while I was away between November 1978 and January 1979 the French police visited all the advertisers they could, and tried to persuade them not to advertise in my magazine.
They also broke into my office and photocopied con fidential letters addressed to local ministers pertaining to
the purchase of hydro-electric
generators from Indonesia, which cost about a tenth of
their French equivalents ...
The French police even man ged to get hold of confidential telexes which demonstrated my outstanding connections in the
Asia-Pacific regions, including
one which made clear the readiness of the Indonesian air line Garuda to establish an air charter company in the New Hebrides which would use Fokker F2B jets to link Vila with Honiara and Port Moresby, from which passen gers could travel to the coun tries of the European Economic Community on Garuda flights.
I was in charge of the air charter company negotiations, * in the course of which I had pointed out that while the French airline UTA has land ing rights in Jakarta, Garuda does not enjoy reciprocal rights. Garuda planned to offer a return fare Vila-EEC of SA6OO, $250 cheaper than UTA’s student-offpeak season fare.
That was too much for the colonial power. They decided to strike. With the complicity of some other French nationals they framed me on a charge of passing dud cheques. (Mr Tarii here gives his account of the banking problems which led to his arrest, claiming that the only cheque involved was for the sum of $83.) That’s what happens when somebody dares to oppose French aviation interests .. , and on top of that dares to try and establish a free press.
Meanwhile, my Malaysian friend Mr Das was asked by the police to leave the country within 24 hours, although he held a valid 30-day visa, a return air ticket, and sufficient funds to stay. Only after the in tervention of a government minister was he allowed to re main in the New Hebrides.
PIM publishes extracts from Mr Tarii’s letter not because it accepts his claims but because of their interest to readers in the
Pacific.
‘Quebec’ in an
‘English’ Pacific
I read your monthly publi cation regularly, and with keen interest. It provides some reflections of life in the Pacific Islands which are usually com
pletely ignored by the bulk of
the Australian press.
I wish however to make a few remarks about your stand
point concerning the French
speaking islands, with their population of some 320 000
people.
Your approach to life in New Caledonia and French Polynesia is incorrect. It re flects only trends of opinion that are hostile to the French presence and not those of the
majority of these populations
who have always declared
themselves against indepen
dence. If independence should
come one day it will come from France itself, within the frame work of a new orientation of French policy. This policy at present is determined by the fact that the majority of the population of these territories is not in favour of indepen dence.
Compared with the English
speaking countries which have now become independent, standards of living and social progress are infinitely higher in the French territories. France each year spends about SA3OO million in civil expenditures in these territories, whereas Aus tralia and New Zealand spend less than $3O million on 1 200 000 people (Papua New Guinea excluded). Moreover, the fact that inhabitants of French territories are French citizens entails numerous advantages for them.
There are no racial con straints or violence in these ter ritories apart from such events, described at length in your columns by Mr Danielsson (PIM April), as those in French
Polynesia involving individ
uals convicted of murder and of dynamiting a public build
ing where the only people
employed were Tahitians. The Tahitians by the way took no demonstrative action against the trial of this new martyr,
Charlie Ching.
Mr Danielsson takes advan tage of your columns to express his hatred for France. I was once director of the daily Les Nouvelles de Tahiti and I know the case of Mr Danielsson (for mer Swedish consul) well. Mr Danielsson applied for the post of director of the Museum of French Polynesia. He failed to get the job and today he is able to express his violent resent ment through your pages.
I repeat that your approach to the problem of the French territories does not conform with the real situation and with the aspirations of the majority of their populations.
Your lack of knowledge of the French language is prob ably the main reason.
Quebec is here in the English Pacific we are witnesses to it.
You are acting towards us with the same lack of understanding as the Ottawa politicians in Canada display towards the
French Canadians of Quebec.
Daniel A. Tardieu
Sydney Australia
Islanders the
ocean pioneers?
There has been considerable talk about the gains that are
possible through an extension
of the ocean economic zones to 200 miles. While I would quite agree that talk must of necess ity prelude action, it seems to me that this particular talk has missed the real issue: this 200-mile ocean zone is an area of natural resource develop ment, too long overlooked, which could be of tremendous economic and social sig nificance to the Islands.
It is a resource which might just tip the economic scales toward self-sufficiency for the Islanders.
I am talking, of course, about marine resource development, an area which challenges space as the world’s new frontier, with all the rewards and fewer risks in the state of our present technology associ ated with new frontiers. In ad dition to its most obvious facets such as fisheries, marine bio logical research, offshore data gathering, and beach and water contamination control a program of marine resource development should also in clude artificial reef develop ments, open sea and embayment mariculture oper ations, the exploitation of under-utilised species, the development of new marine related products and indus tries, and training and exploration programmes for the youth of the Islands.
From the socio-economic viewpoint, such a programme must be an integrated oper ation, which can reach directly from the highest echelons of government, down to the fisherman in his rowboat, bypassing along the way the
labyrinth of splintered bureau
cratic agencies where small ideas are lost and large con cepts are diluted by self interest into expensive but ineffectual programmes. Con sidering the wide range of
capabilities of the populations,
a marine resource develop ment programme must be
sophisticated enough on the
one hand to create university level research projects; and, on the other, initiate labour intensive operations with the
seashore villagers.
If concerted and intensive effort were put into such a pro gramme, it would do much for the Islands. For example, care ful, large-scale co-ordinated placement of artificial reefs could multiply sport and com mercial fisheries, and provide mariculture sites for new
species development, which
could lead to the export of pro tein to the less developed coun tries of Asia. Offshore mariculture of algae and shell fish are labour-intensive pro jects which could relieve the unemployment problem and lead to the creation of other local industries.
As pragmatic as such a pro gramme may appear, its most
important and long-reaching
benefits will surely be socio psychological rather than
simply economic. Along with
the development of an ocean resource programme, there will be an attendant need for edu cation and training, as well as the creation of new occu pational fields in diving, boat
ing, underwater exploration
and construction.
The cadre of leaders that could evolve out of these occu pations would be unique in the world; they would be the ocean
pioneers, capable of
spearheading a movement to excite the imagination of the Island youth and develop in the
population a pride and esprit
de corps that would be truly a Pacific Islands accomplish ment.
When in history have a people who have staked out a claim or wrested a living from the virgin wilderness feared the future or become an indolent
or dependent people? The
answer is never. It is only when there are no frontiers to cross that initiative and the cour age to face real choices vanishes.
The line of demarcation be tween the Pacific Islanders and their frontier is at their shore lines. Can they be helped to cross that line?
New York United States