This Month’s Features

• VANUATU: THE GOVERNMENT, THE OPPOSITION AND THE ECONOMY Malcolm Salmon, PlM’s Associate Editor, revisits Vanuatu anchtalks to Prime Minister Walter Uni and Opposition Leader Vincent Boulekone 13 • NEW CALEDONIA: A WAR OF WORDS For the first time in the English language PIM publishes the translation of a controversy over the extent to which France was involved in the events which led to rebellion last year on the Vanuatu island of Espiritu Santo 17 • PINE POLITICS IN FIJI Will the Fiji government develop its big pine forest scheme by accepting a partner it doesn’t want or by accepting a partner the electors don’t want? Christy Sills, writing from Suva, tells how either course of action could mean trouble 33 • IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF ALBERT HENRY The Cook Islands Party announces that its new leader will be Geoffrey Henry, cousin of the man who gave the Cooks its modern national identity 35 • TRAVEL Joseph Theroux provides a delightful guide on how to understand the subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) messages contained in Polynesian body language • IN DEFENCE OF THE FORUM LINE New Zealand concedes that ‘some changes’ may be needed in the operation of the ailing Pacific Forum shipping line, but defends its financial commitment to the line in the interests of Island communities 67

Australia in the Pacific 59 Books 47 Cook Islands 35 Deaths 81 Fiji 5,6, 33 French Polynesia 22 Guam 37 Hawaii 5, 7 Islands Press 57 Kiribati 26 Letters 7 New Caledonia 17, 21 New Zealand in the Pacific 37, 67 Noumea Notebook 21 Pacific Report 5

Papua New Guinea 5, 26, 35, 59, 71 People 39 Political Currents 33 Postmark Papeete 22 Shipping Schedules 79 Ships 67 Stamps 53 Tonga 37, 67 Tradewinds 59 Tradewinds Intelligence 65 Travel 51 Tropicalities 26 Vanuatu 13, 59, 71 Western Samoa 26 Yachts 73