Inside

• THE USA AND THE ISLANDS Nicky Holford reports from Washington, DC, on a recent seminar on Pacific Islands affairs held in the U.S. capital ... 10 • HAWAII Robert C. Kiste reflects on the pressures for, and the problems of, a more active regional role for Hawaii 11 • FRENCH POLYNESIA Marie-Therese and Bengt Danielsson describe the efforts serious and otherwise to raise funds for the reconstruction of the cyclone-ravaged territory, and the trial of two men guilty of the brutal murder of Olivier Breaud in Tahiti in 1980 12 • VANUATU Julie-Ann Ellis looks beyond the political strife in Port-Vila to describe what she calls the “culture clash” now unfolding on the island of Pentecost 19 • WESTERN SAMOA Sano Malifa reports on a recent event that has been widely welcomed in Western Samoa the appointment of the country’s first Samoan chief justice 31 • PAPUA NEW GUINEA PNG’s three Dash 7 aircraft have proved too expensive and the government is moving to terminate the agreement under which they were being leased 41 • YESTERDAY Joseph Theroux contributes the first article in a two-part series on Wilhelm Friedrich Solf, a remarkably able governor of German Samoa. 52

Cover picture: A young man and his bottle of palm toddy at Satawal, Caroline Islands. Bengt Danielsson picture.

Australia in the Pacific 39 Books 47 Cook Islands 27 Deaths 66 Fiji 25, 29, 36, 37, 43 French Polynesia 12, 36 Islands Press 57 Kiribati 29 Letters 7 Maoris 28 Micronesia 17, 39 Nauru 27 New Caledonia 15 Niue 27 Notes from the North 17 Noumea Notebook 15 Pacific Report 5

Papua New Guinea ... 23, 41, 43, 45, 47, 51 People 43 Political Currents 31 Postmark Papeete 12 Regional Pacific Affairs 10 Report from Vanuatu 19 Shipping timetables 62 Solomon Islands 33 The Month 11 Tonga 45 Tradewinds 36 Tropicalities 23 Vanuatu 19, 29 View from Honolulu 11 Western Samoa 31, 52 Yachts 58 Yesterday 52