Samoa to allow

bank takeover

Headlines

WESTERN Samoa is to repeal a 30-year old law in Parliament this month to allow ANZ Banking Group take over half the shares in the Bank of Western Samoa.

The shares were held by the Bank of New Zealand which sold all its Fiji opera tions and shares in Western Samoa to ANZ last March. But a 1959 Bank of Western Samoa Ordinance prevented the immediate sale of the Bank of West ern Samoa shares which the government had a pre-emptive right to. Government holds the other 50 per cent of the Bank of Western Samoa.

Finance Minister Tuilaepa Sailele said government would offload its shares to statutory organisations and the public af ter the ANZ takeover. The move is aimed at encouraging private invest ment. ANZ has guaranteed the employ ment of all the workers including the four expatriate staff.

Western Samoa’s only other commer cial bank is the Pacific Commercial Bank which holds 25-30 per cent of the mar ket. The Bank of Western Samoa held assets worth WS$B6.6 million at the end of December 1988. These were in prop erty, loans deposit with the Central Bank, government stock, coins and notes and overseas accounts. The liabilities were W5|72.9 million, bringing net assets to WS$l3.7 million.

Don’t drink that water SOME villages on the south coast of Western Samoa’s main island of Upolu had their water supply disconnected for several weeks when raw sewage entered the system. Water was brought in by

trucks. A private septic tank cleaning

company had dumped the sewage near a water supply intake at Togigiga, 14 miles south, across a mountain range, from the capital Apia.

Solid waste on the bank of the river had to be cleared physically to prevent more contamination during rain.

The workers were warned of the water

supply intake but dumped anyway, high

lighting Western Samoa’s loose sewage regulations. The country does not have any largescale sewage treatment plant.

Sewage disposal carried out by private

contractors are therefore based mainly on ingenuity. Some dig trenches in iso lated areas and allow the waste to de compose naturally. Others spread the waste over a large surface area, allowing the sun, rain and soil absorption to break it up.

In 1987, Apia’s water supply was shut in some areas because an insecticide cal led AMBUSH was poured upstream of the intake to kill prawns. Three men were charged and convicted. While Apia’s water supply system has been up graded, a part of town and the outer districts still get untreated water.

New law for islands HAWAII Congresswoman Patricia Saiki has sought the approval of the House of Representatives to transfer six nationally administered US Pacific islands to the State of Hawaii and one to the Territory of Guam.

She proposed that Kingman Reef, Baker and Howland islands near Kiriba ti, and Midway, Jarvis and Palymyra and their territorial waters be incorporated in the State of Hawaii. Wake, closer to the Marshalls, be incorporated in the terri tory of Guam. Midway, on the northern tip of the Hawaiian Islands chain, and Wake are being used for military pur pose. These islands and their territorial waters cover thousands of square miles.

Forum bid’s

too tough

A CALL by the Melanesian Spearhead Group for the Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS) to be granted observer status at next month’s Forum is tough to fulfil, says Forum Secretary- General Henry Naisali. He pointed out that regulations allow only countries and not organisations to be observers at the Forum meetings. The FLNKS, seeking independence for French-ruled New

Caledonia, had sought Spearhead Group

support for its official presence at the Forum in Port Vila beginning next month. The Pre-Forum meeting is July 23-25; South Pacific Forum August 1-2; Post Forum Dialogue August 4-5.

Marshalls ship

registry booms

A LARGE Taiwanese-owned shipping company has just registered 14 of its container vessels under the Marshall Is lands flag in one move thereby trip pling the tonnage (to 3.6 million) now on the books of the Majuro maritime reg istry. Evergreen International SA de cided on the move after the United States authorities banned Panamanian registered ships from US ports. The Marshall Islands recently cut fees and

streamlined registration procedures to

attract more shipowners.