This Month

• WESTERN SAMOA TO THE POLLS Apia journalist Felise Va’a previews the February 27 general elections in his country and, while making no predictions, suggests he would not be greatly surprised to see a change of government 11 • FRENCH POLYNESIA Marie-Therdse and Bengt Danielsson see some remarkable similarities and differences between the 1973 and 1981 visits of the anti-nuclear protest vessel Greenpeace 111 14 • LANGUAGE AND SOCIETY IN VANUATU Dr Donald M Topping reviews an important conference in Port-Vila which examined the unique linguistic problems inherited from the past by this new nation. The conference suggested and Dr Topping agrees that Bislama, the local form of Melanesian pidgin, could be a big part of the solution 19 • NEW CALEDONIA Paris will rule this Pacific territory by decree for the next 12 months, and final decisions will be taken in March by the National Assembly on the ‘bold and deep’ reforms to be instituted there 29 • IRIAN JAYA A special correspondent reports that the Irian Jaya freedom movement OPM estimates 1981 as ‘a year of setbacks’, but that it is not out of business yet 31 • VANUATU Two ministers are sacked, and more prisoners serving sentences following the 1980 attempted secession on Santo are released 33 • CHANGES FOR POLYNESIAN AIRLINES From February 1, Western Samoa’s flag-carrier came under new management that of Ansett Airlines of Australia, which already has a 40 percent share of Air Vanuatu 51

Books 39 Deaths 65 Fiji 39, 41, 51, 54 French Polynesia 10, 14, 24, 53 Guam 23 Hawaii 43, 44 Irian Jaya 27, 31 Islands Press 17 Japan in the Pacific 53, 54 Letters 7 Marshall Islands 53 New Caledonia 18, 29 New Zealand in the Pacific 10, 53 Noumea Notebook 18 Pacific Report 5

Papua New Guinea 7, 51 People 35 Political Currents 29 Postmark Papeete 14 Shipping Services 60 Tokelau 27 Tonga 7, 23, 25 Tourism 25 Tradewinds 51 Tropicalities 23 Tuvalu 33, 54 Vanuatu 19, 33, 51 Western Samoa 11, 45, 51 Yachts 55 Yesterday 45