Inside

• THE FAILED DRAMA OF KOINDE VILLAGE Helen Fraser reports on an abortive attempt in July to re-enact the drama of January 10 at the New Caledonian village of Koinde, in which two French gendarmes were killed. 13 • EASTER ISLAND POLITICS, GEOLOGY The 1200 Polynesian inhabit ants of Easter Island have addressed a petition to the United Nations Committee on Decolonisation seeking its support for a referendum on their independence from Chile; and Dr Jim Boutilier reports on the whys and wherefores of a sophisticated NASA project on the island which shows it to be moving at an annual rate of about three inches. (7.6 cm) eastward towards the South American mainland 17, 47 • MARSHALL ISLANDS Floyd K. Takeuchi takes a look at the upcoming September 7 plebiscite on the islands’ political future, and sticks his neck out with a prediction of a 55 to 60 per cent favorable vote on the Compact of Free Association 19 • PITCAIRN: A SUGGESTION FOR THE FUTURE AND A DOZER IS DROPPED Marie-Therese and Bengt Danielsson present a moving letter from a Pitcairn Islander and a radical suggestion for a way out of the island’s problems; and, to the general excitement of Pitcairn’s inhabitants, the Royal New Zealand Air Force drops a bulldozer on the island 21, 49 • WESTERN SAMOA AND THE SOUTH PACIFIC GAMES Sano Malifa writes on the problems faced by Prime Minister Tofilau Eti of Western Samoa, and speculates that his political salvation could well lie in the successful holding of this month’s 7th South Pacific Games in Apia 33

Books 43 Church unity 18 Copra marketing 55 Deaths 65 Easter Island 17,47 Fiji 57, 58 French Polynesia 50, 59 Hawaii 25, 45 Howland Island 61 Islands Press 15 Joyita mystery 9 Letters 7 Marshall Islands 19 New Caledonia 13, 37 Notes from the North 19 Noumea Notebook 37 Nuclear issues 29, 48 Pacific guidebooks 43 Pacific Peacemaker 48

Pacific Report 5 Papua New Guinea 9, 53, 55, 58 People 39 Pitcairn Island 21, 49 Political Currents 51 Postmark Papeete 21 Report from Vanuatu 29 Samoa Report 33 Shipping movements 63 Solomon Islands 58 Tahiti 39 The Month 19 Tonga 11 Tradewinds 55 Tropicalities 47 Vanuatu 7, 51, 57 View from Honolulu 25 Western Samoa 7, 33 Yachts 61