PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY American Samoa US$2.OO Australia A 52.00 Cook Islands NZ$3.OO Fiji F 51.75 Hawaii US$2.5O Kiribati A 52.00 Nauru A 52.00 New Caledonia CFP2SO New Zealand NZ$3.OO Niue NZ$2.5O Norfolk Island A 52.00 Papua New Guinea K 2.00 Solomon Islands 552.00 Tahiti CFP3OO Tonga P 2.00 Tuvalu A 52.00 USA US$3.OO USTT and Guam US$2.5O Vanuatu VT2.00 Western Samoa T 2.75 ♦Recommended retail price only APRIL 1988 INSIDE EXPO 88 BID TO SACK WINGTI "• ■ at--..

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Cover Portrait: Roger Roberts

PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY Vol 59, No. 4

Voice Of The Pacific

April, 'BB Cover Story 39 Special Report; New Zealand. Under Prime Minister David Lange, New Zealand is leading the way in the Pacific. In our special series of articles Mr Lange explains his opposition to nuclear arms, we interview Foreign Minister Marshall and Pacific Island Affairs Minister Prebble, and analyse trade, arts and culture.

Bid To Sack Wingti 8

Behind the PNG Opposition’s proposed motion of no confidence.

Giraud In Australia 11

The implacable French Defence Minister visits France’s Pacific sparring partner.

Fiji’S Brain Drain

The nation suffers as professionals take flight.

Page 11

Paris Split On New Caledonia 14

The French view from the capital is more complex than many Pacific observers believe.

EXPO 88 THE ISLAND WAY 16 Spectacular Pacific displays at the multi million dollar fair.

The Legacy Of Gabby Pahinui 18

The la-te great guitarist still influences Hawaiian music.

ALOHA COMRADE! 19 A Soviet delegation spreads glasnost in Hawaii.

Hawaii Celebrates 20

Giant festival marks the end of the Year of the Hawaiiian.

Kiribati Aid Plan 21

How aid is transforming the island group.

Rangiroa Heart Of The French

PACIFIC 22 Old ways at odds with the new in French Polynesia.

Salii Aide On Gun Charge 25

More strife in Palau.

Forum: Ffrst Contactunder Fire 26

The authors strike back at their critics.

Taking Care Of Business 34

Teaching commerce skills in the Pacific.

Giant Killers!

PNG rugby league comes of age as Port Moresby thrashes the Aussies.

Page 19 Editor Larry Writer Deputy Editor Carson Creagh Art Director Warren Scott Editorial Adviser John Carter Contributors Dr Robert Aldrich Nicolas Rothwell Frank Senge Jai Kumar Jack Kelleher Deborah Janov Ed Rampell John Hunter Diane Armstrong Publisher Geraldine Raton Managing Editor Arnold Earnshaw Advertising Sales Sydney & Melbourne — Warren Grey (02) 288 3521 Fergus Maclagan (02) 412 3918; Brisbane — Robert Walker (07) 371 0533 Adelaide — Hastwell Williamson Representations (08) 79 9522 Australian cover price is recommended retail only. Registered by Australia Post, publication No, NBPI2IO. Copyright Pacific Publications (Aust) Pty Ltd.

Departments OPINION 5 QUOTED 6 LETTERS 7 PACIFIC REPORT . .. 28 TRADE WINDS 36 ISLAND PRESS 52 TRANSITIONS 52 STAMPS 53

Shipping Schedules 54

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OPINION A Cynical Grab For Power Why this month’s proposed motion of no confidence in Mr Wingti is a flagrant abuse of the democratic process.

PAPUA NEW Guinea is destined for further disruption this month as the country’s leaders prepare to contest yet another vote of no confidence in a government. Of all the Pacific nations, PNG with its many problems is possibly the least well equipped to cope with the destabilising, debilitating and cynical exercise in power usurpation that this all too frequently used piece of legislation has become. A prime mover of this latest motion, Mr Michael Somare, has himself faced no fewer than eight such votes and has lost office twice as a result.

What was enshrined in the Constitution as a worthy and well-meant safeguard against abuse of power by bad governments has become, in the hands of opportunistic politicians as little interested in integrity as they are in the will of the electorate, nothing more than a convenient tool to facilitate blatant power grabs.

The PNG Constitution decrees that a motion of no confidence can be moved in the prime minister or a minister provided that there is one week’s notice and that it is supported by 10 per cent of the total seats in parliament. The calling of the motion usually unleashes a round of political horse-trading and non-aligned politicians are engulfed in the largesse of those who are courting their support.

PNG’s latest proposed motion of no confidence, directed this time against the Prime Minister Mr Wingti, is scheduled for this month and is as cynical as any yet mounted. Its proponents the Pangu Pati and the National and Melanesian Alliance Parties claim the motion has been necessitated by a plethora of Government failings. Cited are a “billion Kina budget bungle”, the Government’s inability to provide free education, a K 46 million diversion of EEC funds meant for agriculture to “general” items, the oppressive mass media bill and a failure in housing policy.

True, there is much in that list to inspire a lack of confidence. But it is understood that the Opposition has been plotting the no confidence motion since last August long before the advent of the above issues. Had the Government not precipitated or encountered these problems, it is reasonable to assume that the Opposition would have found another set with which to wallop Mr Wingti.

The bankruptcy of the latest motion of no confidence is further exposed by the Opposition’s courtship of the übiquitous Mr Ted Diro. The disgraced former Government minister is a central figure in perhaps the one issue genuinely worthy of a vote of no confidence the timber “The motion can contribute to instability in a nation that is crying out for steady, strong and long-term leadership” industry scandal and the Commission of Inquiry’s charges of perjury against Mr Diro, not to mention the former defence force leader’s alleged acceptance of funds from Indonesian military strongman Murdani. But, beleaguered though Mr Diro is, this motion of no confidence puts him in a position of some influence.

Mr Diro makes no secret of the fact that he seeks the Deputy Prime Ministership. He has called on Mr Wingti to confirm that the post will be his once he is cleared of the charges that have shaken his career (but what will happen if Mr Diro is found guilty?). Confident of his position, he has warned that if his demands are not met he will cross the floor, taking his People’s Action Party with him.

It is ironic that Sir Julius Chan, the present Deputy Prime Minister who stands to lose his position in the event of Mr Wingti bestowing the post on Mr Diro has himself been the architect of many no confidence votes and himself used the legislation to torment and harass Mr Somare during the Chiefs time in power.

Once more it is left to Father John Momis, himself an Opposition stalwart, to be the quiet voice of reason and fair play amid a strident cacophony.

“Get rid of the vote of no confidence,” he says. “It has outlived its usefulness.”

It comes as no surprise that Father Momis has the support of Mr Wingti.

The PM says, quite rightly, that elected governments should be left to fulfil their mandate and not be distracted by midterm challenges.

But it should not be forgotten how in 1985 the then deputy leader of the Pangu Pati crossed the floor in a vote of no confidence, taking 15 party members with him and tearing apart PNG’s largest party in the process. This person was rewarded by Sir Julius Chan with the alternative Prime Ministership. His name was Paias Wingti.

The axiom about those who live by the sword often being themselves impaled comes readily to mind. But if Mr Wingti is defeated (an unlikely prospect) it will be the most hollow of victories for his opponents and, a damaging blow to a nation in need of answers.

The fathers of PNG, in the interests of the country, must take a long, non-partisan look at the motion of no confidence. They must consider whether its retention is worth the instability it causes in a nation crying out for steady, strong and long-term leadership. Then they may well pass a no confidence motion of their own on this counter-productive piece of legislation. □ 5 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

Pride And Prejudice France must learn that Pacific responsibilities go hand in hand with privileges.

AUSTRALIA hosted visits by two symbols of France’s puissance in the South Pacific during March: the helicopter carrier Jeanne d’Arc and Mr Andre Giraud, the French Defence Minister. Both were symbols of France’s intention of signalling to the region that she has a strong and a legitimate presence here. As such, both visitors served only to exacerbate the war of words that is being fought over sovereignty and selfdetermination in Oceania.

The Jeanne d’Arc was an immediate and obvious target for protests against France’s intransigence with regard to nuclear testing; in fact, those with a Francophobe axe to grind could find in the vessel’s visit justification for almost all their prejudices.

France’s position was not helped, however, by Mr Giraud’s own intransigent response to questioning by Australian reporters. Admittedly, he must have found many of their questions annoying but he cannot claim to be used to a pliable Press back in Paris. It is difficult to believe that he was not thoroughly briefed on Australian prejudices as far as France is concerned, which raises the disturbing possibility that he knew very well what to expect ... and was prepared to push through his statements without regard to the consequences. Mr Giraud’s attitude to the Australian Press was not an isolated response, however: in talks with senior politicians including the Prime Minister, Mr Hawke, and Defence Minister Kim Beazley, his disdain for Australia’s regional role earned him little approval or likelihood of a sympathetic response to France’s claims of Pacific representation.

Pacific Islands Monthly has been accused of “Francebashing” in its reports on New Caledonia and French Polynesia, but critics should note that all three of these places are to be found on the map of the South Pacific. For that reason alone, this and other interested publications have the right and the responsibility of assessing the impact of any nation’s actions in the Pacific on every inhabitant of that vast region quite apart from a journalistic responsibility to report events in the Pacific from a Pacific perspective. What France (or any nation) may intend from the distance and comfort of its capital has a significance to all the peoples of Oceania.

The fact that both France and Australia seem woefully ignorant of each other’s priorities and philosophies, especially as they concern relations between the two nations, is cause for real concern. Australia’s retreat on its position of support for New Caledonian independence has shocked and disappointed many people in the region: the change from “independence” to “self-determination” represents a new mood of self-interest and isolationism that is morally no different from France’s own highly simplistic approach to international relations.

In plain language, France has reaffirmed its intention of going its own way with or without the approval of, and in defiance of the disapproval of, its allies. There are no surprises in this, but Australia has suddenly and unexpectedly adopted an attitude of compliance with the French attitude: the era of Australia being the advocate of Pacific dignity has ended with a barely audible whimper.

But Mr Giraud and his colleagues should not take too much comfort from the new Australian position, for they must sooner or later realise that a continued and active French presence in the Pacific brings with it not only privileges but responsibilities.

French Polynesia and New Caledonia cannot be played as pawns in the NATO game. If, indeed, France is the globally significant nation she claims to be, her responsibilities are to the globe. For the sake of her shining past and her potentially bright future, France should remember that Oceania consists of small areas of land united by not separated by a vast area of water. The Pacific community has need of good neighbours. □ Quoted “To refresh your memory, let me remind you that I was not born in a tent yesterday, nor am I a Johnny-come-lately.”

Mr John Kaputin, PNG’s Minister for Minerals and Energy (and mixed metaphors) responding to press reporters that his position was in jeopardy.

“If you people figure out how to get along with France, let us know.”

US Senator J J Exon (Nevada) to reporters in New Zealand during a visit by a US Congressional delegation. Quoted in Washington Pacific Report.

“Mr Somare seems to have a way of arriving at conclusions based on little or no evidence.”

PNG Environment and Conservation Minister Mr Perry Zeipi, responding to Opposition criticism of the Government’s mining policy.

“A waste of time.”

The head of PNG’s Finance Department, Mr John Vulpindi, in a scathing attack on the country’s system of public accounts.

“My job is so frustrating I want to resign.”

Mr Vulpindi again, on his position as head of the Finance Department.

“Australia’s collaboration with neighbouring countries has never been better.”

Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Mr Bill Hayden, responding to criticism by the opposition leader Mr Howard.

“The United States, Britain and France are not close to joining the South Pacific nuclear-free zone treaty.”

New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Mr Marshall at a disarmament conference sponsored by the United Nations in Geneva.

“The Fiji military must give an assurance that it will not again interfere in the running of the country.”

The president of the Australia-Fiji Business Council, Mr Russell Leitch, at a conference of the organisation in Suva.

Foreign Minister Hayden. 6 OPINION PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

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Letters

Fair Games

THE ARTICLE by Carson Creagh in your January issue on the South Pacific Games demonstrates his lack of understanding.

The last paragraph in particular of his story is in direct conflict with the constitutions of the participating countries or should be.

Sports administrators have a responsibility to see that their country or territory is represented in regional games. They should be charged with this responsibility by the constitution that guides them: people may consider this to be a simplistic or “head in the sand” approach, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

It is unfortunate that politics regularly use sport because it presents perhaps the best platform for demonstration. All national sports administrators should be attempting to maintain an autonomous body that does not make decisions on the basis of race, politics or religion.

Governments do sometimes try to stop sports teams travelling, which thwarts both athletes’ and administrators’ preparations that cover many months and often years.

Please, Mr Creagh do not criticise sports administrators for doing their job (usually voluntarily, I should add). They should not have to make political judgments; and they should not have to be political clairvoyants.

Brian J Wightman Nukualofa Tonga OUT OF THE FRYING PAN ...

I WRITE to congratulate you on your excellent February Opinion, “Why Conservation Is Crucial”, in which you refer to the importance of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

I would also draw readers’ attention to another article in the same issue: “In Praise of Fried Fruit Bat”, which suggests that the pest problem of fruit bats in Madang and other parts of Papua New Guinea could be alleviated by exporting the animals, frozen, to Guam.

Readers may not be aware that over-exploitation of many fruit bat species in Guam and some other South Pacific countries has resulted in the recent listing of nine species by CITES. International trade in flying foxes is now controlled and monitored ... and anyone contemplating setting up in the frozen fruit bat trade would be well advised to contact Papua New Guinea’s Department of Environment and Conservation to ensure that export permits are.

Frank Antram Director TRAFFIC Oceania □

The Japanese Invasion

YOUR ARTICLE titled “Japan’s Business Invasion” by Tony Siaguru in the February issue was good and productive for international advancement.

In addition to Mr Siaguru’s observations, I believe that there are three more problem areas in the Japanese “business invasion”, particularly regarding its ODA (Official Development Assistance). 1) Only about one per cent of total Japanese ODA goes to the Pacific Islands. 2) Allocated only every single fiscal year, the amount can hardly match recipients’ five-year or seven-year development plans. 3) Fiji or Nauru cannot be recipients of Japanese ODA because their GNP per capita is too high to qualify. Even if the Northern Marianas, with its population of 33,000, need funds to match the rapid increase of Japanese tourists, who will number more than 160,000 in 1988, the islands cannot get the Japanese ODA because it is a US territory.

If Pacific Islands Monthly and other international magazines continue to carry articles such as Mr Siaguru contributed, Japan may find a solution to its Pacific problems.

Hiroshi Nakajima Executive Director The Pacific Society Tokyo

Us Samoa To Vote

CONTRARY TO correspondent David North’s report in your January issue, American Samoa has non-voting membership on the Republican National Committee and will be participating at the Republican National Convention in New Orleans.

Under Republican rules, expansion of membership and addition of convention delegations can only be approved at the quadrennial national conventions. That procedure was adopted long ago so that all players in the presidential game would play by an unchanging, pre-determined set of rules each presidential election cycle, and is one of the reasons we have won the White House four of the past five elections.

The Republican Party of American Samoa was only organised in 1985, hence this year is the first convention at which the subject of our affiliation can be addressed.

In January, the Republican National Committee voted to recommend to the convention a rule change that would grant our party a .full, voting membership and would authorise us to send voting delegates to all future conventions. We anticipate convention approval of this change in New Orleans this August.

Amata Radewagen Republican National Committeewoman for American Samoa Washington DC 7 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

Papua New Guinea

Bid To Sack Wingti Frank Senge examines the PNG Opposition’s bid to oust PMPaias Wingti, and finds a cynical exploitation of the Constitution for personal power.

AMOTION of no confidence in the Government is one of the most frequently exercised sections of the Papua New Guinea Constitution. It is a mini-election in Parliament, where politicians can veto the people’s choice and elect their own government often switching party affiliations with abandon and with no thought for personal integrity or credibility.

The two post-independence governments of Michael Somare had eight votes of no confidence moved against it in seven years, from 1978 to 1985. Two succeeded in ousting Mr Somare from office, once in 1980 and again in November, 1985.

Now Mr Somare, for the first time on the opposition benches after an election, is poised to move his own no confidence motion against the nine-month-old Government of Prime Minister Paias Wingti in this month’s sitting of Parliament. The Opposition has been planning the motion since last August, when Mr Wingti took government by a three-vote majority. That narrow victory and another very close vote for the speakership in November 1987, when 14 Government members voted for the Opposition candidate, has encouraged the Opposition to forge ahead with its plans, despite Mr Wingti’s obvious numerical strength at the moment. The Government coalition has 68 members to the Opposition’s 40.

An Opposition task force called the Policy and Strategy Committee was formed for the purpose of preparing for the no confidence motion. The committee is headed by Mr Somare’s Pangu Pati deputy leader, Rabbie Namaliu, and comprises parliamentarians from the three Opposition coalition parties Pangu, National and Melanesian Alliance.

The Opposition has yet to spell out clearly the sins of the Wingti Government that it wants to remedy by removing it from power. But in press statements released in the past the Opposition has accused the Government of making a “billion Kina bungle” when it brought down the country’s biggest budget since Independence, in November last year. It has charged the Government with not living up to its promise to provide free education and diverting K 46 million from the European Economic Community targeted specifically for agriculture, toward general items in the budget.

The Opposition has also spoken out against the Government’s proposed mass media bill, its housing policy, its proposal to place members on statutory boards and city councils, and drastic cuts to education and health allocations.

It once announced that if successful it would introduce a mini-budget aimed at shifting the present Government’s emphasis on economic development back to the social sector. However no more has been heard of this particular plan.

It is not at present certain whether the Opposition will move the no confidence vote in this sitting or at a later meeting.

An Opposition spokesman said: “It will be an eleventh-hour decision. Much of it depends on the rumblings in government.”

The uncertainty arises from the unclear position of the key figure in the Opposition’s plans: controversial former Defence Force commander Ted Diro, leader of the People’s Action Party. Mr Diro also heads the Papuan Bloc in Top left: PM Wingti makes friends in Indonesia, but is assailed at home. Above left: Deputy PM Sir Julius Chan. Above Right: Motion author Michael Somare.

REUTERS

Parliament.

Mr Diro has been the cause of these “rumblings” in the Government. He is claiming the job of Deputy Prime Mimster along with one senior ministry. He resigned his Foreign Affairs portfolio when he was charged with five counts of perjury by the Forestry Commission of Inquiry in which he features prominently. Mr Diro’s deputy party leader, Aruru Matiabe, was sacked by Mr Wingti when he tried to defend him. Mr Matiabe said it was normal for politicians to receive money from overseas sources, when it was revealed at the inquiry that Mr Diro had received U 55139,000 from Indonesian army chief Benny Murdani to fund his elections.

Traditionally, the post of Deputy Prime Minister has gone to the party with the second largest numbers in Government, The Peoples Action Party has 12 members, six more than Deputy Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan’s People’s Progress Party. In addition, Mr Diro has the support of another eight members from the Papuan region. Mr Wingti said of his decision not to make Mr Diro his deputy: “It was a very difficult decision. The bloc had the numbers but there was the inquiry. I could not give it to him.” The PM leaves no doubt, however, that Mr Diro would take the Deputy’s job were he to be cleared of the charges.

“What happens after the Commission of Inquiry is dictated by politics and numbers. Ted and me, we have a firm understanding. We talk about things that I will not disclose,” Mr Wingti said.

There is conflicting information as to whether Mr Diro will support the Oppossion no confidence move. Opposition members claim that Mr Diro has been talking to them and that he would pull out of the Government, taking 17 members with him. But sources close to Mr Diro say he has pledged to stay with the Government until he is cleared.

People’s Action Party president Vincent Eri says: “A vote of no confidence is one possible way to get some sort of redress ... It is some kind of light at the end of the tunnel unless there is some solution before that.” “Redress”, as Mr Eri puts it, means nothing less than Mr Wingti giving the Deputy Prime Ministership to Mr Diro. What has kept the Papuan Bloc from playing too great a role in the motion has been, first, the number of ministries it has in the Government. The Papuans have been given the biggest allocation of II ► No Confidence: Uses And Abuses r ER THE election in July last Mjk year, many PNG politicians pro- " * posed that certain sections of the Constitution be amended or deleted altogether. Among these was the provision for votes of no confidence. f u n omi ?’ one the authors o the PNG constitution, said the provisi°n had outlived its usefulness, while the man who had used it most often and who had benefited from it most, Sir Julius C han, says it is a useful tool in the hands ot the people to change bad governments and also to keep those who are in power on their toes. ...

Pnme Minister Mr Wingti will support any moves to do away with the provision. He told Pacific Islands Monthly, e are waiting for Father Momis to intr° w? 11 h U P-’’

What, then, is this motion of no conidence and how has it been used over the years since Independence?

Section 145 of the Constitution stipuates that a motion of no confidence can be moved in the Prime Minister or a minister provided there is one week’s notice and that it is supported by a number of members not less than one tenth of the total number of seats in parliament.

No confidence votes have bedevilled PNG since 1975.

Here is a history of the power play.

A motion cannot be moved 12 months before elections or six months after the formation of a new government following elections.

The provision was first exercised in August 1978, by the late Sir (then Mr) lambakey Okuk when he was the Opposition leader. Sir lambakey moved the motion when Mr Somare tried to introduce the controversial leadership code. The vote was never taken. Sir lambakey withdrew it on grounds that he did not have the numbers.

Later that year, however, another party leader, Roy Evans, introduced the motion again. Mr Somare defeated it by 68 votes to 35. In November 1978, Sir Julius Chan’s People’s Progress Party withdrew from Mr Somare’s Government and sponsored Opposition leader Sir lambakey Okuk as the alternative Prime Minister. The vote was beaten 63 to 45 by Mr Somare’s Pangu Pati and the United Party, which had defected from the Opposition to join the Government.

In September 1979, Papua Party leader Galeva Kwarara, who was in the Opposition, moved another vote of no confidence in Mr Somare. It was again defeated, this time 63-64.

Finally, in March 1980, the Opposition put up Sir Julius Chan as alternative Prime Minister and parliament for the first time ousted Michael Somare in a vote of no confidence. Mr Somare was beaten 57 to 49 in the vote, taken on March 11.

Mr Somare, then in Opposition, moved his only vote of no confidence in a minister against Police Minister Warren Dutton in 1981, but was defeated.

The next year the people returned Michad Somare to power in the second national elections.

Sir lambakey Okuk moved a vote of no confidence in November 1984 but withdrew it as he had done in 1978, and for the same reasons.

In March 1985, Pangu Pati deputy leader Paias Wingti crossed the floor with 15 others, splitting the biggest political party in PNG in half. He was enticed across by Sir Julius Chan, who promptly named him alternative Prime Minister.

Mr Somare defeated the motion with the help of Sir lambakey’s National Party 68 votes to 19.

The Opposition was undeterred. On November 21 1985, Mr Somare fell to a Sir Julius sponsored vote that put Mr Wingti in power. Wingti scored 58 votes to Somare’s 51.

It was a well-planned move. Mr Wingti had 18 months to rule. A vote could not be taken in the first six months. Neither could it be taken in the next 12 months, because they were the 12 months leading to the elections in 1987. It was 18 months of undisturbed political sailing and Mr Wingti used the opportunity to make sure he was returned to power.

During all these protected periods he has proposed drastic changes to the public service and changed the Government’s policy emphasis from the social sector to the economic sector.

His period of freedom from a motion of no confidence expired in January 1988, when the six months’ grace specified by the Constitution lapsed.

April is the first opportunity in 24 months for a motion to be made. The Opposition is losing no time. □ PNG’s Parliament House. 9 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

“Mr Wingti’s position is simple enough. Mr Diro will not be promoted until he is cleared of charges of perjury and other serious allegations” <4 ministries and the speakership. Second, though they openly support Mr Diro they are keen to see him cleared of the charges he now faces. Perjury alone carries a penalty of 14 years’ imprisonment in PNG.

A senior member of the Papuan Bloc, Mr Robert Suckling, says: “We have a young, hard-working and creative Prime Minister who spends 24 hours a day thinking about PNG. Why should we blindly change him? Why change something that works? The vote of no confidence is a wild dream. The chance of it succeeding is as remote as flying to the moon.” Sharing Mr Suckling’s view are Civil Aviation Minister Hugo Berghuser, Foreign Affairs Minister Akoka Doi, Environment and Conservation Minister Perry Zeipi and at least two other, ministers, as well as ordinary members.

The Papua Party, led by Finance and Planning Minister Galeva Kwarara, has been silent on the no confidence motion, but the party knows it will never retain the important Finance and Planning portfolio with a new government so is thus unlikely to move with the Opposition.

Mr Diro himself knows that defecting to the Opposition will not save him from the charges he now faces, nor will he automatically win the Deputy Prime Ministership in a new government.

If Diro stays with the Government, his numbers intact, he is assured of the Deputy Prime Minister’s job once cleared of the charges. If Mr Wingti should change his mind, however, and refuse to make Mr Diro his deputy the entire Papuan Bloc will rally behind Mr Diro and propose him as Prime Minister in another vote of no confidence, a senior member said.

On the no confidence motion, Mr Wingti is keeping quiet. He told Pacific Islands Monthly : “My attitude is to wait for [the motion] to come. I don’t want to waste time on things from which the nation won’t gain any benefit. It’s better to engage in productive work. We have made a firm commitment to govern the country; my ministers are working hard; our policy is in place and I am sorting out the implementation process. I have no time for such things as no confidence motions.”

Mr Wingti claims to have firm control of his Government. He says he has not negotiated with any Opposition parties.

A group of five members within Mr Wingti’s own People’s Democratic Movement gave him notice that they would move out if they are not given one ministry. However, one of them later claimed the ultimatum was a bluff.

There is also the usual five or six fencesitters, mainly defectors from the Opposition who have signed on again with the Opposition without resigning from the Government.

The major parties Sir Julius Chan’s PPP, Father Momis’ Melanesian Alliance and Michael Mel’s National Party are keeping unusually quiet on the issue.

If the Opposition has been testing the waters, as it appears to have been doing, it may well have discovered that the no confidence motion may not succeed.

It may go down in the tally books as the vote of no confidence never taken. □ The Diro Factor The disgraced former minister has much to gain ON MARCH 9, Prime Minister Paias Wingti told a delegation of Papuans that their leader, Mr Ted Diro, would not be given the Deputy Prime Minister’s job. The meeting was the first time Mr Wingti had received an official delegation claiming to represent the Papuan people; he has previously given the same message to party executives, and twice told Mr Diro himself he would not have the job.

Mr Wingti’s position is simple enough.

Mr Diro will not be promoted until he is cleared of five charges of lying under oath and other serious allegations now before a Commission of Inquiry investigating the PNG forestry industry. And Mr Wingti has maintained his stand under strong pressure of the Papuans moving out, splitting his majority in Parliament and possibly losing him government; of letters from gangs threatening to burn down parliament house; of threats to his own life; and of Mr Diro’s Central Province electorate embarking on a mass (and possibly uncontrolled) demonstration.

Now it seems Mr Wingti had the support of the majority of the Papuans all along. At the March 9 meeting he had on his side Civil Aviation Minister Hugo Berghuser and Finance and Planning Minister Galeva Kwarara. Both are members of the Papuan Bloc.

The next day nine members of the parliamentary wing of Mr Diro’s People’s Action Party (PAP) met and agreed to stay with the Government. Only three members Mr Diro, his deputy Arum Matiabe and Daniel Itu were absent. The meeting sacked Mr Matiabe and launched a strong attack on the party executive, claiming it had been making “highly inflammatory and misleading statements” regarding the party’s position in government without the knowledge or consent of elected members.

Mr Matiabe was accused of having failed to take on the role of party leader while Mr Diro was attending to what the meeting described as “personal problems”. Mr Diro was called on to return from Australia for urgent meetings on the deputy leadership, his own problems and confirmation of the party’s loyalty to the Government.

Party president Mr Vincent Eri, his deputy, Professor John Waiko, and secretary lan Glanville were strongly cautioned and the meeting decided to make substantial amendments to the party constitution to remove most of the powers vested in the executive.

Subsequent events have revealed that only a few groups in Port Moresby have been stirring Papuan emotions. A meeting of Papuan premiers at Milne Bay in February strongly supported the Wingti Government and its emphasis on economic development; and even in Central Province village leaders have called on their people to dissociate themselves from such movements.

Much of the support for Mr Wingti comes from the Papua bloc itself, which has the greatest number of ministers in the government. As one Papuan member put it, “There may be a few disgruntled leaders but the region has not lost at all. In fact, they have got the best deal they will have in a long time.” D Ted Diro: eyes on the PM’s job. 10 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

The Region

Monsieur Giraud Says “Non!”

France refuses to back down on controversial Pacific policies.

By Larry Writer Despite the handshakes, the smiles, the ceremony and the gifts, the abiding message from French Defence Minister Andre Giraud at the conelusion of his recent visit to Australia was that his Government and the Australian administration would continue to disagree over France’s Pacific policy.

Mr Giraud and Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke spent two hours discussing bilateral and regional issues, including French nuclear testing at Mururoa Atoll and French policy in New Caledonia. At the meeting, said Australian officials, the pair had agreed to “bury the hatchet”, so ending officially a year-long freeze in relations imposed by French Prime Minister Chirac after bitter Australian condemnation of France’s Pacific activities.

Mr Giraud and Mr Hawke each guaranteed that his country was prepared to discuss “any issue at any time”. However, said officials, the pair recognised “that there will continue to be differences of opinion on Pacific issues”. While in Canberra Mr Giraud, the first French Minister to visit Australia since 1985, also had talks with his Australian counterpart, Defence Minister Kim Beazley, and acting Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Senator Evans.

Later, at a sumptuous gathering on board the French navy ship Jeanne d’Arc on Sydney Harbour, Mr Giraud said: “My talks with Mr Hawke were cordial and successful. We share many common opinions. There is largely more to unite our countries than to disagree about.” He added that France and Australia “had a vital interest in the Pacific, and so we have the same interests in developing peace and stability in the region.”

However, never during his Australian visit did the French Foreign Minister indicate that France would make any concession to critics of its Pacific policy.

He explained that France had stepped up its profile in the region to put an end to any “misconceptions” that it was not a legitimate part of the Pacific. Mr Giraud said France had every right to continue nuclear testing on Mururoa, as the atoll was French territory. He especially discounted criticism from the South Pacific Forum, which has continually made it clear to France that countries in the Pacific region are against the tests.

Mr Giraud nas a reputation of being the member of the Chirac Government most favourably disposed toward Australia. But in a television interview he bluntly told Australian nuclear opponents to stop interfering in matters that did not concern them. “France is not thinking of stopping nuclear testing at Mururoa,” Mr Girand said. “It’s not your country; mind your own business.”

When asked whether New Caledonia would always remain part of France, the Minister countered: “Will Tasmania become an independent country because it is an island?”

While in Australia, Mr Giraud awarded Australian war heroine Nancy Wake the French Legion of Honour medal and in Sydney opened the La Perouse Museum, France’s bicentennial gift to Australia.

There, an anti-nuclear artist thrust a painting into his hands. It was titled: Uranium You Can’t Have Your Yellowcake And Eat It Too.

There were also demonstrations against the visit of the Jeanne d’Arc. The helicopter carrier was the target of the Sydney Peace Squadron, Australians For Kanak Independence and the Pacific Peace Fleet.

The Fleet’s spokesperson, Elizabeth Morley, said: “We object to the arrogance of French policies in the Pacific. We are also concerned that France is planning a huge increase in its nuclear arsenal just when the US and USSR are reducing theirs.”

At the end of his Australian visit Mr Giraud flew to New Caledonia, where a regional election will be contested on April 24, coinciding with the first round of French Presidential elections. □ Clockwise front top left, Mr Giraud in Australia: at the War Memorial in Canberra with director Keith Pearson; meeting the press; greeting Nancy Wake on board Jeanne d’Arc; addressing Sydney school children. 11 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

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COUNTRY— , PHONE( Rfl A Subsidiary of National Education Corporation FIJI Professionals On The Run Fiji’s brain drain hampers economic recovery.

ONE OF Fiji’s most pressing problems today, along with how to revive its economy, attract more tourists and woo foreign investment, is how to fill key professional positions, particularly those where special skills are required.

The Republic, which is now struggling to get back on the rails after last year’s coups, is faced with the problem of a massive and unprecedented brain drain. Indians who make up 51 per cent of the population and who dominated most professions in the past teachers, doctors, lawyers, computer operators, nurses and administrators are now leaving the country for such places as Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States.

Historically, Indian parents who themselves had little education and had served as labourers on sugar cane plantations placed great emphasis on educating their children, with the result that these children found themselves to be academically qualified for positions in most professions.

However, the scene is now changing rapidly. Indians in senior positions within the civil service say they have been forced to retire or to leave prematurely. Several who were permanent secretaries have been retired; heads of other departments, such as the commissioner for inland revenue, the comptroller of customs, senior health administrators and labour officers, have resigned and doctors and nurses have left the service.

It is not only the public sector that has been affected.

Banks and organisations such as the Fiji Electricity Authority, the Fiji Sugar Corporation and the media (in particular the national radio station, Radio Fiji, and the two newspapers, the Fiji Times and the Fiji Sun) have lost most of their senior Indian staff.

Sir Vijay Singh, chief executive of the Fiji Sugar Cane Growers’ Council; Justice Kishore Govind, a judge of the Supreme Court, and the former police commissioner, Mr Raman, are now living in Australia.

The governor of the Reserve Bank of Fiji, Mr Savenaca Siwatibau, has taken up a post at the Australian National University as a consultant.

Meanwhile major Indianowned business houses in Fiji have made or are in the process of making arrangements to relocate themselves outside Fiji. Most family-owned businesses already have one or two partners outside the Republic, setting up their operations in New Zealand or Australia.

New Zealand has taken trained personnel, especially in computer-related industries, while others have migrated to Australia or Canada.

Lawyers who graduated from Australian or New Zealand universities have had little problem getting work in those countries, but doctors particularly graduates of universities in India have encountered difficulty in being allowed to practice their profession in Australia and New Zealand, where Indian qualifications are not recognised.

More than 500 primary and secondary school teachers have retired or resigned, producing an acute shortage made even worse by the fact that Fiji had already cut back on teacher training before the events of 1987. To overcome the shortage, the Education Ministry has re-employed retired teachers.

A similar vacuum created by the departure of Indian doctors and nurses has seen Fiji accept an offer from the People’s Republic of China for an initial team of 10 specialists and general practitioners.

Japan has also stepped in with an offer of nursing staff, though language will be a problem for both doctors and nurses in dealing with patients who speak Fijian, Hindi or English.

Although the civil service and the private sector have been hard hit by the professional exodus, the Secretary of the Public Service Commission, Mr Poseci Bune, has maintained that “there is an adequate supply of trained manpower in Fiji to replace all the senior officers” who have left the service. The stream of newspaper advertisements for qualified personnel, however, tells another story.

Observers say the present brain drain will have serious effects on the Republic’s economy. Neither can the shortage be overcome quickly: qualified Indians continue to depart and overseas recruitment is hampered by many professionals’ reluctance to accept contracts to carry out their work in a country where there is still some political instability and uncertainty where even those in command often seem to be unsure of what the future of Fiji holds. a Mr Savenaca Siwatibau, the former governor of Fiji’s Reserve Bank. 12 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

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New Caledonia

Paris Split On Pacific Role The metropolitan French view of New Caledonia is much more complex than many Pacific observers think.

By Dr Robert Aldrich NEW CALEDONIA may not have occupied a great deal of space on the front pages of daily newspapers recently, but the territory’s situation is far from resolved. Violent confrontations in the town of Poindimie, on the northeastern coast of Grande Terre, pitted Kanak nationalists against French gendarmes in February. In January, the French National Assembly approved the new plan for the territory put forward by the Government of Jacques Chirac and elections have been called for April 24 to select leaders for the re-drawn regions and the Congress of New Caledonia elections the FLNKS has said it will boycott.

Not coincidentally, the voting will be held the same day as the first round of voting for the French Presidency.

New Caledonia is not the central issue in the contest to choose a new President, but all parties see a chance to win votes through their positions on New Caledonia. In fact Maurice Satineau, in his recently published book Le Miroir de Noumea {The Mirror of Noumea), argues that each party’s position on New Caledonia is determined largely by the possibility of scoring electoral points in France.

Yet metropolitan France’s attitudes to New Caledonia are more diverse and more subtle than they may appear at first glance.

No real consensus on the future of the islands exists, and the program designed by Chirac’s Minister for Overseas Departments and Territories (“Dom-Tom” to the French), Mr Bernard Pons, is far from winning unanimous approval. Efforts are now being made to discuss different points of view on New Caledonia. One major attempt was a seminar held in January at the National Assembly in Paris.

The meeting was organised by the new Assocation pour I’Evolution Pacifique de la Nouvelle-Caledonie (Association for the Pacific Evolution of New Caledonia), headed by Socialist politician and former Secretary of State for Overseas Departments and Territories George Lemoine.

The aims of Lemoine’s organisation are to “aid in the Pacific evolution of the territory” and, significantly, to “ensure the presence of France in the South Pacific”.

In opening the seminar, Lemoine said that the situation in New Caledonia is now “stalemated” by the lead-up to the presidential election and by the wait for the implementation of the Pons program.

However, the time is now ripe for discussions that could lead to a peaceful solution of the New Caledonia problem.

The first speaker at the Paris meeting, Alain Rollat (who covers the South Pacific for France’s most respected newspaper, Le Monde), characterised the situation since the September 1987 referendum as an “impasse”. The referendum which was boycotted by the FLNKS and in which the remaining 50 per cent of the electorate voted almost unanimously for New Caledonia to remain an integral part of France has produced only unhelpful results.

Rollat argued that it is necessary for “the state to eliminate inequalities and create reconciliation”, but such has manifestly not been the case with the present Government. The State should be an “arbiter” between the different interests, though current policy is simply to dismiss the activities of the FLNKS as the work of agitators; and French authorities in the territory avoid meeting those who do not support their views ... an approach that hardly facilitates dialogue. The FLNKS, Rollat believes, does not want a complete break with France, but the intransigence of the Chirac Government provides ammunition for more radical elements in the pro-independence coalition.

Jean-Louis Seunn, professor of political science at the University of Bordeaux, emphasised legal questions and warned against underestimating the results of the referendum, since it was carried out in conformity with the French constitution and is legally binding Seurin agrees with Rollat that Paris must act as an arbiter and must work out a consensus but argues that Melanesians must be reminded it is legally impossible to have a referendum reserved for them alone; likewise, the Socialists must be reminded that “the State has to do more than console Jean-Marie Tjibaou”.

Jean-Pierre Doumenge, a geographer from Bordeaux and author of several authoritative studies of Melanesian society in New Caledonia, also pointed to longterm structural problems in New Caledonia particularly the disparities between different regions and economic sectors. Greater development would reduce ethnic and regional inequality and make the territory less dependent on oulside investment and expertise. But it is important, said Doumenge, to work out an “intercommunal pact” for the evolution ot the territory.

The final speaker was Jean Chesneaux, a former professor at the Sorbonne whose most recent book is Transpacijiques {reviewed in Pacific Islands Monthly in January). Chesneaux posed a senes o questions about the future ol New Cajedonia and France’s role in the South Pacific: does a French presence in the South Pacific, for example, necessarily demand sovereignly’Other co “ n ‘;' e “^J;| 1 n S^p ; l ] ’‘ many and Japan are able to ™ amta cific presence without such sovereig y.

Chesneaux also questions thc dcg ec of identification between New Caledonia and metropolitan France, arguing that poll- REUTERS FLNKS President Tjibaou announced a new policy of “muscular mobilisation". 14 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

cymakers must reflect on the strategic value Noumea does or does not offer. (For his part, Chesneaux agreed with Admiral Alexandre Sanguinetti, who was in the audience, that New Caledonia’s strategic value alone is minimal.) These discussions left many questions unanswered, including how a new government whether Socialist or conservative would act. In any case, as Alain Rollat suggested, action of any kind would be difficult. Unresolved, too, was the method by which regional and ethnic inequalities could be attacked and how a consenus could be reached. But the talks at least indicate to an often simplistic Australian media the diversity of opinions that exist in metropolitan France.

In the parliamentary debates on the Pons law in December, the Socialist Party strongly criticised the proposals presented by the conservative Government. The French Communist Party has condemned French “colonialism” in New Caledonia, as has the small Parti Socialiste Unifie and groups on the far left. But even members of the coalition in power particularly several in the UDF, the more moderate partners of Jacques Chirac’s RPR have questioned the Government’s approach.

Demonstrations of support for Kanaks have attracted thousands of participants in Paris and have been endorsed by trade unions, a variety of political parties and by influential individuals.

The different Kanak support groups are generally sympathetic to the FLNKS and independence for New Caledonia, but a second current of opinion, widespread in the Socialist Party and in some parts of the UDF, sees the need for a solution to the New Caledonian question that does not necessarily involve total independence.

The FLNKS is accepted as a legitimate mouthpiece for the Melanesians, though it does not represent the opinions of all Kanaks. Only a redesigned relationship between France and the territory, says this “pragmatic” group, can allow a redressing of Melanesian grievances, safeguards for Caldoches and’other groups and a preservation of France’s wider interests in the Pacific region.

The starting point for Bernard Pons’ argument, of course, is that New Caledonia is legally part of the French Republic and that the referendum of September confirms the desire of the majority of the territory’s population to retain that status.

At the extreme, the French view can become exaggerated and polemical. A new work by French Senator Pierre Lacour, titled De I’Oceanic au Pacifique: Histoire et Enjeux {From Oceania to the Pacific: History and Stakes) insists on the “incontestable right of France to be present in the Pacific and to remain there, in spite of the perfidious campaigns of denigration” to which France is subjected. Following the fashionable argument that “the centre of the world is inexorably moving toward the Pacific basin, which is now destined for a formidable economic development and will soon become the favoured terrain for Big Power struggles”, Lacour demands that France take a strong role in the region. He charges that “Anglo-Saxon” hostility to the French has historical roots and that Australians in particular have tried to thwart France’s ambitions. “We saw this only too well when France and Great Britain recognised the ‘independence’ of Vanuatu in fact, an Australian protectorate by proxy, which furthermore does not exclude shore rights for Soviet ships. Whence also comes the impudence with which Australia condemns France’s nuclear tests (after having organised them itself) and the incorrectness or the guilty complicity of New Zealand in welcoming the subversive missionaries of Greenpeace.”

Such is the diversity of French attitudes. The Pacific and Australasian media have often caricatured the French viewpoint, seeing it as unanimous and hardline. They have ridiculed legitimate French concerns, using the shorthand of “colonialism” as sufficient interpretation.

They have mistakenly reported aspects of French policy and have exhibited a lack of understanding (and lack of interest in) the French political system.

In reality, politicians and scholars in France have a rather more complex and much less unanimous view of the Pacific and the role that France can and should play in the region. □ Dr Robert Aldrich is Senior Lecturer in Economic History at the University of Sydney and a specialist in French history.

His forthcoming book, The French in the South Pacific 1842-1945, is to be published by MacMillan.

Poll Violence Grows A spate of riots and kidnapping marks the end of peaceful protest in New Caledonia.

CAMPAIGNING for local elections in New Caledonia scheduled for April 24 began in a bad climate in February, when a “commando group” of 100 FLNKS activists attacked gendarmes with stones and cudgels in the northeast coast township of Poindimie. e ebruary '22 incident in which 15 gendarmes were injured and 10 taken hosage by Kanaks protesting the alienation of traditional tribal property for a hospital, also saw four military vehicles and two civ! ian cars flrebombed by members of icti tribe. Night-long talks between mil- Hants and officials saw the hostages released; the Kanaks involved escaped into surrounding bush but over the next few days 11 were captured The Poindimie “incident” reached flashpoint after months of futile discussion between administration and mumcipality officers who intended to build a regional hospital on the site as one of a number ofurban development projects and Tieti clans, who claimed the land as their own. Clan members occupied the land for three months, with the support of the FLNKS, and as a symbol of its commitment FLNKS officials decided to hold the organisation’s annual Congress in Poindimie over the weekend of February 19 and 20.

On the day before the Congress was to begin, however, gendarmes expelled the “squatters”, forcing the FLNKS to relocate its meetings on land owned by the neighbouring Tibarama tribe. Reports from Noumea say the gendarmes were taken by surprise by the “commando” group, apparently organised by the FLNKS’s radical left-wing Partie de Liberalion Kanak (Palika), and that the attack though criticised by the FLNKS leadership reflects the separatists’ new strategy of “muscular mobilisation” expounded by party president Jean-Marie Tjibaou after the Tibarama Congress, Pro-independence Kanaks and Europeans have chosen, said Tjibaou, to repudiate the statutes devised by French Minister for Overseas Territories Bernard Pons through a process of “active boycott]ng”, “But the FLNKS is determined to negotiate a real self-determination Act leading to independence,” Mr Tjibaou cautioned .. .. ~~ , T u he P o^ can " not be excluded as New Caledonia moves closer to this month’s elections, timed to comc ! de w 1 ltl ? the metr opohtan French presidential elections, The anti-independence movement was Quick to respond to the Poindimie incidents this February: Rapprochement pout a dans la Republique (RPCR) President Jacques Lafleur called, unsurpn singly, for the immediate dissolution of FLNKS because of its “terrorist” methods and branded its members subversives .

New Caledonian issues look set to become major stakes in the pre-election period. If the FLNKS fails in its strategy, French Prime Minister Jacques Chirac will claim its ineffectiveness as proof of the correctness of his policies ... and as a much-needed boost to his own presidential ambitions. But if trouble does strike, as seems increasingly likely, current Presidem Francois Mitterrand will find it hard to resist exploiting the situation. □ 15 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

AUSTRALIA Expo 88.. .The Island Way Spectacular island displays will star at Expo.

By Larry Writer TRUE TO the spirit of Australia’s SA6OO million World Expo 88, the laser-lit, glitziest, most costly world fair ever, Pacific nations will show off their wares around an articifial tropical lagoon complete with island outriggers and 200 newly planted palm trees. Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Tonga, the Cook Islands, Solomon Islands, Western Samoa and Vanuatu will all have their displays by the 0.6 hectare, 1 metre deep lagoon that will be stocked with fish and sailing craft. The palm trees, as well as coral grit for the pathways connecting the exhibits, have been brought from the islands. A South Seas restaurant offering such fare as Shrimp Louie Salad and Chicken Adobe will satisfy what is hoped will be hordes of hungry visitors keen for some island ambience. World Expo 88 opens on April 30 in Brisbane and will run for six months.

Said Sir Llew Edwards, chairman of Expo 88: “Expo will give the Pacific islands a chance to promote themselves to the world in a Pacific island environment.” In addition to the lagoon, this environment will feature a Samoan oval fate (island house), traditional dancing groups, hand carving demonstrations, war canoes, a Fijian meeting house and musical performances.

There will also be business conference facilities where Pacific governments and companies will put their products on display, promote trade and tourism in their region and enhance diplomatic relations with other nations.

Sir Llew told Pacific Islands Monthly that Expo 88 organisers had made Australia’s Pacific neighbours a top priority.

“We have extended invitations to island royalty, prime ministers and politicians, as well as leaders in business and tourism.

The response has been excellent and we hope to see such influential figures as King Tupou, Mr Wingti, Mr Somare, Sir Julius Chan, Ratu Mara, Mr Robati and Father Walter Lini in attendence. There will be many islanders among the expected 750,000 overseas visitors as well.

“We have given the island nations SA2- $ A 3 million to help ensure that island culture, trade and tourism opportunities are effectively presented,” said Sir Llew.

The theme of Expo 88 is “Leisure In The Age Of Technology”. Said the chairman: “We all live in the age of technology lb p; The Expo monorail. Above: The South Pacific! a goon. 16 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

but it is not all new technology. The traditional technology of the island people such as constructing grass huts that can withstand cyclones, rain and heat is something that we can all learn from today. So we have invited island craftsmen to Expo to display their skills by building huts and other artifacts on site. Some items will be for sale. Each country will be allowed to sell five products representative of its lifestyle.”

Sir Llew said that the theme of Expo was particularly relevant to the islands.

“Leisure is a concept of universal understanding with no cultural or socio-economic barriers. The Pacific nations will be united with countries from all over the world to highlight the way technology has changed and is continuing to change our lives and our pursuit of leisure.”

The World Expo 88 will be set on 16 hectares on the south bank of the Brisbane River, near the Queensland capital. The seven Pacific nations attending will be among the 50 countries taking part. Many countries will stage a “national day” celebration with traditional costumes, music and food. Pacific region countries’ national days are: Vanuatu August 24; Solomon Islands August 30; Western Samoa September 3; Fiji September 6; Tonga September 10; Papua New Guinea September 16.

Throughout Expo, patrons will be entertained with classical music, opera, folk and rock music, theatre, vaudeville, sporting exhibitions as well as traditional ethnic entertainment. Acts already signed include Johnny Cash, James Taylor, John Farnham, INXS, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Jimmy Barnes, the English Shakespeare Company, the Australian Opera, Monterey Jazz Festival musicians, Roger Woodward, Philip Glass, Robert Wilson and Michael Lemieux. Laser beams will illuminate the skyline during the shows.

The symbol of Expo 88 is the series of massive tension membrane canopies called sun sails that provide shade and shelter. A SAI2 million electric monorail will whiz patrons on a 2.3 kilometre loop of the site.

Each Pacific nation will be responsible for fitting out and staffing its area. Papua New Guinea needed a larger pavilion than other island nations for its displays; PNG Consulate spokesman John Hunter told Pacific Islands Monthly that his country was pulling out all slops to make a good showing at Expo 88. “Our Government sees Expo as an excellent opportunity to show the world what we can do. Sir Julius Chan, the Trade and Industry Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, has been deeply involved in our exhibition. The Government has contributed K 500,000 to present dancers, entertainers, craftspeople, and to display our agricultural products such as fish and coffee. We will also have a superb audiovisual show.” □ Pacific Artists Gather A celebration of island culture.

By Carson Creagh WITH THE sth Festival of Pacific Arts due to open to the public on August 14, the northern Queensland city of Townsville is experiencing an unprecedented influx of island artists, performers and exponents of Pacific traditions.

To the islands and Aboriginal artists who will be taking part, the festival is a celebration of the vitality of their cultures and traditions, and of their kinships in a region that is only now discovering its strength in the face of disintegrating cultures elsewhere in the world.

And to the people of Townsville, the festival means a welcome addition to the area’s tourism and visitor revenue. Two thousand performers and perhaps 20,000 visitors will take part in the fortnight-long festival.

This year’s festival will have a strong Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander input, explains festival director Ms Pat Turner. “The objective of the festival is to promote the maintenance of indigenous cultures in the Pacific region,” she says.

“We aim to maximise cultural exchange between our indigenous people and those from participating nations. Another aim is to promote a greater understanding among non-indigenous peoples about indigenous cultures.” To this end delegates from the 15 participating countries and territories Australia (with 300 participants so far), American Samoa (60), Easter Island (50), French Polynesia (120), Guam (40), Hawaii (100), New Caledonia (100), Niue (40), Papua New Guinea (200), Tokelau (100), Wallis and Futuna (43), Western Samoa (60), Vanuatu (45), Northern Marianas (40) and Cook Islands (40) will engage in joint activities that explore the commonalities and differences between their traditions. As well, the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Palau, Pitcairn, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Tuvalu will-be sending an as yet unspecified number of artists.

Joint artistic director Jimmy Little, one of Australia’s best known Aboriginal entertainers, says that “assisting in the programming of the cultural format into an entertaining and informative program is a very real and important objective for me.

It is almost automatic that those who attend the festival will leave with more knowledge and awareness that people from all walks of life are part of the family of humanity.”

Pat Turner expands the philosophy of cultural sharing: “It is important to me, as one of the indigenous people hosting this festival, to have a high-level involvement in [its] planning and management.

“For that reason we have a majority of Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders on the board of directors, and our local advisory committee is composed of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island representatives.”

Although nominations for participation in the sth Festival of Pacific Arts closed on March 15, enquiries are still welcome, and anyone interested in attending or taking part in the festival should contact festival staff at PO Box 720, Townsville Qld 4810; phone (077) 21 2488. □ Top: Expo site takes shape. Above: island lagoon architecture. 17 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

HAWAII Gabby Pahinui’s Musical Legacy The late, great Hawaiian guitarist inspires a new generation.

By Ed Rampell EVEN in death, the great Hawaiian slack key guitarist and singer Gabby Pahinui is the maestro of South Seas music. Although he passed away in the early 1980 s, Gabby’s traditional musical legacy endures as a link between generations.

According to Pahinui protege Peter Moon, “people idolised and fell in love with Gabby because he represented a lost, vanishing Hawaii.

“This old man is his overalls was an ideal grass-roots figurehead, a folk artist who mirrored his times. He did not compromise his heritage and principles. In the early ’7os, young Hawaiians had no one else to look up to. Gabby remained true to his beliefs,” asserts Moon, the leader of the band that bears his name and perpetuates the exotic Pahinui sound.

Gabby’s indigenous authenticity went far beyond his public persona, for the troubadour revived the traditional and distinctive Hawaiian music that had become adulterated by foreign influences. Martin Pahinui, one of Gabby’s 10 children and a member of the Peter Moon Band, says his father “revived the old ways, bringing back the unique open chord tuning known as slack-key.”

Gabby had an innate musical genius.

Moon says that “the old man” had a natural ear and was an all-round musician, though he could not read music. Gabby’s first instrument was the eight string guitar, and he also played ukulele. Before Gabby, Moon says, “Hawaiian music had no introduction and conclusions. The way Gabby told a story in his songs was like a book told through pure music, rhythm, structure and melody.”

Gabby was a high school dropout and self-taught musician. He was born in 1920 and raised at Waimanalo, a Polynesian preserve on Oahu. His career started at the age of 13, singing in bars. Moon says that Pahinui “had perfect pitch and a pure falsetto in his youth”, and Martin adds that his father possessed a unique yodel. Gabby was one of the first Hawaiians to sing and play at the same time.

Gabby really came of age in the 19705.

Influenced by the resurgence of nationalism by minorities in the continental United States during the 19605, a new staunchly Hawaiian generation emerged in the 50th state. Gabby became these people’s hero ahead of his contemporary, Don Ho, who “sold out” by deliberately appealing to tourists and the mainstream mainland audience with Las Vegas style “hapa haole” ditties, such as his hit Tiny Bubbles. Gabby’s traditional Hawaiian harmonics, lyrics and personality won the hearts of the Hawaiians.

Gabby’s artistic triumph was bittersweet, however.

While he retained the integrity of Waimanalo, where he and his family lived on Hawaiian homestead land in a corrugated Quonset hut, it was Don Ho’s So-called “Waikiki orientation” that was commercially successful.

Don Ho became a multi-millionaire, but Martin Pahinui recalls that until the day his father died, Gabby “had to continue to work on road maintenance for Honolulu City and County.

After a day’s work Dad played music...”

Despite his popularity with island audiences and TV specials, albums and concerts, Hawaii’s population simply was not large enough to support its greatest musician. Gabby suffered for his art, paying a price for staying true to the beat of a different drummer.

Nor did fame suit this local boy well.

Moon insists that while Gabby’s celebrity status did not make him hi-makamaka (snobbish), “fame affected him. He didn’t known how to handle it. Gabby didn’t become famous until he had already passed his musical prime. Everybody wanted to be his friend, and when he went to the store, his money was no good.” But Martin says that Gabby just wanted to be alone, and to escape the pressures of stardom he would play golf or go to the beach.

Martin Pahinui remembers how his father used to “drive us crazy, blasting classical music on the stereo! He liked rock music the Beatles, Chicago, Boston. He went to a Three Dog Night concert. He liked Mexican music and went to see Don Ho, who used to be a beach boy with Dad way back when” Moon adds that “Gabby was a product of this times. He was a semijazz man, inspired by Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Benny Goodman.”

Country and Western guitarist Chet Atkins w ho performed in a slack-key style once telephoned the Pahinui household but, Martin recalls, his father was too nervous to return the call of one of his idols.

However, superb American guitarist Ry Cooder who once turned down Mick Jagger’s offer to become a member of the Gabby at work in the studio. 18 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

Rolling Stones to remain true to his own musical roots played with and was inspired by Gabby.

Gabby passed his musical legacy on unstintingly to the younger generation. In addition to his sons Martin, Bla and Cyril (a former member of the Peter Moon Band), the Pahinuis taught and played with the Cazimero Brothers and Peter Moon, among others. He transmitted his mana o (wisdom) to a new generation of musicians. Gabby was a demanding taskmaster and teacher, “a hard man to please, who’d scold us if we played wrong,” Martin remembers. Moon says, “I spent so much time with him, going over the finer points. He showed musicians how to really play and not just be flash.”

The Peter Moon Band is one of the best exponents of Gabby Pahinui classicism, and the group’s newest album “The Guitar Man” contains a tribute to their guru.

The band includes Moon on slack-key guitar and ukulele, Martin Pahinui on bass, Steve Hall on lead and rhythm guitar and ukulele, and his brother Bobby Hall on vocals. David Choy frequently accompanies the quartet on saxophone. The band’s lyrics reveal a South Seas sensibility, often using metaphors such as a cane fire as a warning to an embattled culture.

Whether performing reggae, jazz or rock, the Peter Moon Band has an ineffable Hawaiian texture and feeling a sound derived largely from Gabby.

Martin describes his father as “unreal”. One fine sunny day Gabby died of a heart attack at an Oahu golf course; he was only in his early 60s. For many of the mainly landless, acculturated Hawaiians of 1988, their main connection to the past is through music.. Gabby Pahinui’s talents gave voice to the old ways. As one grandmother remarked: “Gabby reminds me of days gone by.” □ Aloha Comrade!

Soviets bring Glasnost to Hawaii.

By Ed Rampell WITH A warm “Aloha, Tovarich!”, Hawaii has welcomed four Soviet scholars who came to spread the island version of the Glasnost gospel according to Gorbachev. During their 10 days in Hawaii the academics discussed Moscow’s program for “Pacific Perestroika” at the University of Hawaii, the East-West Centre and elsewhere. Their agenda included disarmament, fishing deals, the Law of the Sea, economic aid, Libya, neocolonialism and the US annexation of Micronesia.

The four young, English-speaking scholars were Doctor Victor Andreevich Vrevsky, senior researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies, USSR Academy of Sciences; Alexander Valentinovich Vorontsov, a researcher at the same Institute; Artemy Apetovich Saguirian, senior researcher at the Institute of World Economy and Internationa! Relations, USSR Academy of Sciences, Moscow; and Nikolai Grigorjevich Scherbina, head of the International Law of the Sea Division of the Institute of Ocean Economics of the USSR Academy of Sciences at Vladivostok.

The arms race is a top priority. According to Dr Vrevsky: “We have to release military tension in the Asia-Pacific Region. There is nothing like the INF (Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces) Treaty in this region. Military confrontation is more acute and dangerous here; we need to reduce tensions). There is no disarmament mechanism in the Pacific Rim. We have no forward bases in the North Pacific, while the US pursues forward basing at Soviet frontiers. We’re interested in reducing tensions and proposing negotiations.

Korea can explode at any time. World War 111 can start with Korea. “We need an INFtype treaty in the Pacific.”

Dr Vrevsky says the only arms control initiative in the Pacific theatre has been “Soviet dismantling of SS 20 missiles”, and that Washington deploys “nuclear subs in the Pacific and tactical nuclear weaponry near Korea [while] there are no Soviet subs in the South Pacific. We don’t have and have never had military interests there, and never will. The USSR has no strategic interests and lines of communication in the South Pacific.”

He goes on to say that Vietnam’s Cam Ranh Bay is not really a base. “Yes, it offers port facilities for our fleet, because there are none in the Indian Ocean. However, Cam Ranh Bay does not equal the major US military presence at the Clark and Subic bases in the Philippines.”

Dr Vrevsky says the USSR condemns French nuclear testing at Mururoa and that the Nuclear-Free Pacific movement is viewed by the Soviets as a “valuable contribution to the cause of disarmament. The USSR signed without any reservations the protocols of the South Pacific Nuclear-Free Zone treaty. The US, Britain, and France didn’t sign and don’t respect the Rarotonga Treaty .. .We also support the proposals for Nuclear-Free ASEAN.”

On the unrest in New Caledonia, East Timor and West Papua, Dr Vrevsky says, “the Soviet Union, of course, has for a very long time supported national liberation movements. The problem of national minorities is an internal affair of states... in principle, yes, we support them, but we do not send arms.” As for French Polynesia, in addition to opposing the nuclear tests there, he says Moscow is “for the rights of indigenous people, sovereignty, and freedom.”

On alleged Libyan support for Pacific national liberation movements. Dr Vrevsky says “I have my own opinion on Gaddafi. He’s fishing for trouble. It’s not important where Polynesia, New Caledonia, or Africa. He’s trying to impose his own vision of anti-imperialist struggle.”

As for the late 1987 Soviet missile tests with dummy warheads relatively near Hawaii: “We must improve our weaponry unless we attain disarmament. The US has Kwajalein; we just have occasional tests (in the region) .. . The tests were outside of Hawaii’s territorial waters ... It’s hard to say whether Gorbachev personally knew about them. This was a routine exercise, not a political decision; nothing unusual.

There’s nothing very good about these tests, but if we go further down the road of disarmament, it’ll be resolved.”

On the economic front, Dr Vrevsky says, “The USSR is interested in commercial agreements in the islands. This is the reason we signed the Kiribati and Vanuatu fishing treaties. We are seeking expansion of the fishing areas ... We want joint ventures in fisheries and forestry.”

Currently, the USSR does not have any major aid, technology transfer or economic development programs in the Pacific. However, Dr Vrevsky adds that Moscow will be an “observer at the Pacific Economic Co-operation Conference at Japan this year. We have projects with other developing countries and cannot see why we should not with island states.” □ Ry Cooder: inspired by Pahinui.

Soviet leader Gorbachev. 19 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

Ho’olokahi For A Year Of Pride Native Hawaiians gather to hail their heritage.

By Deborah A Janov WITH THE dawning of January 23 came the beating of the pahu drums and the chants and dances of hula halaus on every Hawaiian island, calling the people of Hawaii to unite. The island of Oahu, “The Gathering Place”, was beckoning thousands of Hawaiians from near and far to its shores for Ho’olokahi the celebration that marked the culmination of The Year of the Hawaiian, “Ho’olako 1987”.

Aloha Stadium, the site for ohana , this gathering of thousands of families and friends, hosted a reunion that was both physical and spiritual. It was a revitalisation of relationships and a celebration of a proud heritage. Opening the six-hour celebration was Waikiki headliner Don Ho singing the theme for Ho’olokahi, Hawaii Loa. Responding to the refrain “stand together as a nation”, the crown rose enthusiastically to its feet, waving hands and Hawaiian flags in unison.

Reverend William Kaina of Kawaiahao Church opened the formal ceremony by asking the audience to stand together as one and pray. The Hawaiian kahunas and Christian pastors offered prayers of thanks: for the day, for the elders, and for continued unity.

The first Governor of Hawaii of Hawaiian ancestry, John Waihee, along with Congressman Daniel Akaka and Henry Giugni, US Senate Sergeant-at-Arms, were introduced. Next came the trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the sponsor and organising backbone of the Ho’olokahi celebration.

The blowing of a conch shell heralded the entrance of the Royal Court with its chanters and kahili (standard) bearers, They walked the length of the field, which was bordered with young girls in white muumuus and young men dressed in white with blue sashes. Members of the royal societies and Hawaiian civic clubs were introduced. Each group wore matching aloha shirts and muumuus, walked down the field hands entwined, and was enthusiastically greeted by the audience.

There was a thunderous ovation for the kuma hula (hula masters) as they offered individual chants while approaching the Royal Court. To the continued beating of the drums, 33 singers marched on to the field like an animated mural of purples, reds, greens, yellows, whites and oranges.

They faced each other at the centre of the stadium, then turned to the Royal Court at the front. Moving in unison, they performed Au’a ’la, an ancient chant of prophesy that encourages Hawaiians to remember and be proud of their heritage and to retain their lands.

The Royal Hawaiian Band played Hawai’i Pono’i while the audience and performers sang. The departure of the Royal Court marked the end of the formal proceedings and the beginning of an entertainment extravaganza.

An array of performers offered old and new Hawaiian music. Many favourite songs sparked cheers of approval from the stands. Performances by stars such as the Brothers Cazimero and the Makaha Sons of Niihau prompted spontaneous hulas down on the field.

Beyond continuous free entertainment, plentiful food and hearty alohas, however, the significance of Ho’olokahi lies in Hawaii’s cultural heritage. This retrospective year abounded with occasions to unite and renew the old days: the Family Sunday at the Bishop Museum; the Living Treasure Awards; the songfests and annual hula competitions; the canoe racing and lei making; the end of a historic two-year voyage of the Hokulea\ Kamehameha Day; Aloha Week.

The Year of the Hawaiian was the brainchild of Uncle Tommy Kaulukukui, a trustee-at-large with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. In 1980 he ran his campaign for trustee based on three principles; Aina (land) Haaheo (pride) and Lo Kahi (unity). Kaulukukui is devoted to recovering the lands taken from the native Hawaiians, in renewing the pride of these once sovereign people and in unifying them.

During an interview at his OHA office, Kaulukukui said, “Hawaiians were the first people to inhabit this land. They welcomed everybody shared their food, their land, and even their blood [in intermarriage with the foreigners] the true spirit of aloha ... We must all paddle together and be one with the same purpose.”

Kaulukukui decried the fact that only two per cent of students at the University of Hawaii were native Hawaiians. He hoped that the awareness brought about by Ho’olokahi would emphasise the need for educating Hawaiians, and indicated that any money left over from Ho’olokahi would be put into a scholarship fund.

An interesting note at Ho’olokahi was the tables set up at the entrances to the stands to encourage native Hawaiian voter registration.

To hope that the year of the Hawaiian could solve any of the major issues or problems facing the native Hawaiians would be naive. These people are “dramatically over-represented in our prisons, on our welfare rolls, and in the social-assistance agencies” and “constitute the largest percentage of high school dropouts, of substance abusers, and of family and child-abuse cases,” wrote Hawaii authority Gladys A Brandt in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.

If anything came out of the celebrations, it was “pride” and “unity”. The year offered opportunities for Hawaiians of all ages to take a step forward, review their heritage and take pride in what it means to be Hawaiian. □ Deborah A Janov is a student in Broadcast and Print Journalism at Leeward Community College, Oahu. Her report on the Ho’olokahi festival was judged the best in a competition co-ordinated by Pacific Islands Monthly and lecturer Ed Rampell to foster young Pacific journalists.

Festivities at Aloha Stadium the finals of “Ho’olako 1987.” 20 HAWAII PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

KIRIBATI Grass-Roots Growth Strategy Kiribati’s development plans concentrate on community industries.

A RECENT visit to Australia by Kiribati’s Minister for Trade, Industry and Labour, Mr Raion Bataroma, confirms that one of the South Pacific’s tiniest nations has an approach to aid and development that should be a model for its larger, and more populous neighbours.

“Small is beautiful” may have fallen out of favour in the West, where large-scale enterprises are integral to our perception of success. On Kiribati, however, a large enterprise would fail not because of lack of technical or management expertise, but because few would consider the bureaucracy that grows out of bigger business to be a reasonable way of spending one’s time.

Life on Kiribati’s islands demands a more considered pace and a more low-key approach which is just what the Government of Kiribati is providing. Mr Bataroma, in Sydney to acquaint the Australian Government with his nation’s development strategies, outlined a pragmatic and efficient Five Year Plan for Kiribati’s gradual move into self-sufficiency.

The plan consists of four major objectives: to aim for self-reliance, which involves increased import substitution; to utilise Kiribati’s natural resources such as fishing and coconut production; to balance the nation’s deficit budget as far as possible; and to improve the quality of life for all i-Kiribati.

Within these major objectives the Government is concentrating on production, communication, outer island development and making the best use of aid. Mr Bataroma described his visit as an “export market mission” on behalf of “Kiribati’s production sector, exploring export possibilities under the SPARTECA pact and developing ways of making Kiribati capable of generating exports.

“Kiribati has established 10 projects in the past 18 months,” Mr Bataroma said in the offices of the South Pacific Trade Commission. “They are up and running, with nine in the private sector and only one the Tarawa Biscuit Company under Government control.

“The total capital input over these 10 projects is only $A72,000, and they have generated a turnover ofsA3oo,ooo in their first year and a half of operation, employmg 45 people,” he said. The projects, chosen under the expert guidance of United Nations Development Program industry development advisor Mr Nardeo Singh, are highly labour intensive and have already shown great profit potential: an aluminium can crushing plant generated $A40,000 in export earnings in its first 12 months of business.

“We are confident our visit will be a success,” Mr Bataroma said. “The Australian Government is pleased with the resuits of its initial aid investment and is willing to assist us further. The Australian High Commissioner in Tarawa has been instructed to make available up to $A50,000 in aid funds for each of 11 additional projects planned for 1988/89.”

Together with three “integrated” projects on five of Kiribati’s outer islands, the planned projects 26 in all will employ more than 250 people, and their benefits will be available to an ever larger number of i-Kiribati.

The most encouraging aspect of the Kiribati Government’s industrial plans is their simplicity, community scale and appropriateness to island life. Four of the current industries, for example, are operated by local women ice-cream manufacture, a snack-food outlet, confectionery making and a photographic studio while planned developments range from seaweed and desiccated coconut proceedingto the possible export of fresh coconuts to Australia, increased laundry soap production (currently 11 tonnes a year, with a further 200 tonnes being imported) and the processing and export of toddy syrup, This last venture has a high chance of appealing to the health-conscious Australian and New Zealand markets: very high in Vitamin C and with a two-year shelf life, toddy syrup (known as Kamaimai in Kiribati) if attractively packaged may well prove a steady income earner, Representatives of AIDAB will be visiting Kiribati in the next few months to assess the operations of existing businesses and to report on projects as yet in the pipeline. Mr Bataroma and Mr Singh are confident AIDAB’s officers will be impressed, Kiribati’s determination to proceed from small beginnings minimises the risk of accident or failure, its careful progress with the development of a tourist nexus on Christmas Island and its interest in training young craftsmen and craftswomen, indicate that the harsh lessons learned by other developing nations have not been lost on the people of Kiribati. □ Western Samoa Poll Confusion THE PRIME Minister of Western Samoa, Mr Vaai Kolone, has been replaced as leader of the ruling coalition. The new leader of the coalition, which comprises the Christian Democratic Party and a group of independents known as the Vaai Kolone group, is the former deputy Prime Minister, Mr Tupua Tamasese Efi.

The leadership change followed a unanimous decision at a coalition caucus meeting at which Mr Vaai Kolone became deputy leader. Mr Tupua Tamasese Efi was Prime Minister of Western Samoa from 1976 to 1982.

The coalition has also decided to form a new political group; a coalition spokesman said its name would be announced immediately.

At time of going to press, the election result was stalemated at 23 V 2 seats each for the Human Rights Protection Party and the Christian Democrats. The final result may depend on a draw from a hat.

The unusual resolution may be required to decide who holds the seat of Falealili, where candidates from both parties tied for second place in a constituency that returns two members to the 47 seat Parliament of Western Samoa. □ President Tabai: business in Kiribati is “up and running 21 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

RANGIROA Heart Of The French Pacific A vision splendid in the throes of evolution.

By Nicolas Rothwell A VISION of changeless paradise... with fast-rising tensions beneath its placid surface. The great atoll of Rangiroa, jewel of the Tuamotu archipelago, seems an apt emblem for the French Pacific. Rangiroa is a meeting-place of cultures, crossroads of the traditional and modem worlds. The main centre in one million square kilometres of ocean, with a lagoon that could comfortably enclose the whole island of Tahiti, Rangiroa itself has fewer than 2000 inhabitants and the whole Tuamotu-Gambier group some 12,000 yet Paris is engaged in a substantial spending program to improve conditions on the tiniest and most strategic of its South Pacific possessions.

On his first official mission to Rangiroa earlier this year, France’s new High Commissioner in Papeete, Mr Jean Montpezat, experienced firsthand a complex and isolated society in a state of evolution.

Behind the facade of welcoming speeches and children singing the Marseillaise, some intriguing dilemmas remain.

Though remote, the Tuamotus have long known the impress of Tahitian culture. French Polynesia’s pre-eminent linguistic expert, Mr Maco Tevane of the Academic Tahitienne, points out that the Tuamotu dialect is increasingly mingled with the dominant Tahitian language as communications and contacts between the islands and Papeete improve.

But even today, many of the 43 inhabited atolls of the Tuamotus and Gambiers remain havens of fervent religious faith, their vivid beliefs rarely touched by outside influences. While the Evangelical church is the chief force in much of French Polynesia, here it has few adherents. Twothirds of the Tuamotu people are Catholics; almost all the rest are Mormons or belong to fundamentalist creeds.

Many islanders, attracted by the promise and the seductive lifestyle of Tahiti, have left their atolls in past years for the bright lights of French Polynesia’s capital creating an acute social problem for territorial authorities, who are confronted by unemployment and over-population in Papeete even as the islands are being emptied. The new President of French Polynesia’s Government, Mr Alexandre Leontieff, has stressed his commitment to improving the existence of the islanders; this is also the key thrust in France’s own development plans for the islands. For the Tuamotus are absolutely vital to France the archipelago contains the military base at Hao Atoll and the nuclear test site of Mururoa, twin components of the all-important CEP (Pacific Experiment Centre).

Rangiroa itself besieges the visitor with its splendours; so wide is its span that sometimes rainclouds blanket one islet while sun shines across the atoll and vast rainbows seem to span the lagoon waters.

Paved roads, almost daily air services, research centres and a new satellite station all testify to the infusion of high technology into traditional Polynesian culture. But as the most powerful political leader of the Tuamotus, Mr Riquet Marere, Mayor of Rangiroa, explained in his welcoming address to the High Commissioner’s party, development problems remain.

While French administrators in their snow-white uniforms looked on and Tuamotu children draped the visiting dignitaries with the traditional Tifaifai cloth of welcome, the bemedalled Mr Marere listed his priorities; aid for water collection and distribution, an earlier census and a study of increased regionalisation of the territorial Government.

France’s policies for Rangiroa and the Tuamotus illustrate the potential of advanced development for such small and isolated communities. Paris has an unusual commitment to these Polynesian atolls for they are legally part of France and the administration of aid is eased by the fact that there is only one major donor. Life not only on Rangiroa, but on many of the Tuamotu-Gambier group as well as some islands in the far-flung Marquesas, will be revolutionised by mid-year when a new satellite system introduces a direct television link with Tahiti’s French programs, greatly increasing the sense of connection between these communities and the outside world and also, the authorities hope, helping to reverse the migration from the islands.

Until today, the archipelago has been without television except for videos rebroadcast by local centres and telephone services beyond Rangiroa and Hao have been minimal. These, too, will be improved by the satellite link.

Elsewhere on Rangiroa, Mr Montpezat, by now much-garlanded and rechristened “Tetiare Tane” by the welcoming party, could inspect the various projects that help strengthen the links between faraway Paris and the Tuamotus: a sophisticated seismic station for tsunami warnings, a medical centre and, in the village of Avatoru, the territorial maritime research centre. Known as EVAAM (Establishment for the Validation of Sea Farming and Maritime Activities), this facility carries out research into such fields as mother-of-pearl production and live baits for tuna fishing both vital if the Tuamotus are to establish self-supporting commercial economies in co-operation with institutions including the University of Orleans and Canberra’s Baas Becking Geological and Biological Laboratory.

But life in the Tuamotus is not a constant process of harmonious development mediated by the largesse of France; inevitable problems confront the islanders. Mr Marere, a politician equally at home on the atolls and in the cut-throat world of Papeete’s Territorial Assembly, gave Pacific Islands Monthly a thumbnail sketch of the issues confronting the Tuamotus today.

A co-founder of the Tahoeraa Huiraatira party that controlled Tahitian politics until late last year, he was one of the mem- ► Days Of Evil Still Haunt Faa’ite Atoll IN EARLY September 1987, on the remote Tuamotu archipelago atoll of Faa’ite, six people were burned to death victims of an orgy of perverted religious fervour, some even dying by their own children’s hands.

A total of 10 people have been arrested and charged in connection with the “tragedy of Faa’ite”, and now await trial in Papeete. Yet reports of the chain of events that led to this fatal rite of exorcism still retain an edge of mystery. According to Tahiti newspapers the first islander to die, a 35year-old man, was beaten to death by celebrants convinced they could only ward off prophesied disaster from their atoll by freeing him of his “devil”. Next, the other victims were burned alive on a ritual pyre by the hysterical congregation, led by a pair of religious crusaders who claimed holy inspiration for their orders.

After the alarm was sounded by radiotelephone, the mayor of Faa’ite and a Catholic priest arrived on the far-flung atoll to restore order two days after the first slaughter and just half an hour before a further four “impure souls” were to be sacrificed to the healing fire.

In the wake of this chilling illustration of evil lurking within the heart of nature, French Polynesia remains dazed; a tactful 22 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

and horrified silence is still the preferred response when Faa’ite is mentioned.

Certain Catholic leaders, aware that the instigators of the disaster claimed the authority of their own Church’s “Charismatic Renewal” sect, display a natural reluctance to discuss the murders. Others are intensely pursuing their mission in the Tuamotus. The head of the majority order of French Polynesia, Pastor Jacques Ihorai of the Evangelical Church, agonises over the tragedy which occurred in a region where the Catholic creed is predominant: “When we heard about it, we asked what we could do; we asked what it was the Church did not do.”

Some French colour journalists, lured to Tahiti in the wake of the Faa’ite murders by a taste for disaster, hinted that such catastrophes were not unprecedented in the archipelago, and might even stem from pagan purificatory rituals surviving in the atoll culture. To these notions Pastor Ihorai replies bluntly that such murders are not characteristic of Polynesia: “Look at Joan of Arc she wasn’t burned at the stake by Polynesians.”

The picture that is emerging of events on Faa’ite indicates that the atoll became a ghastly laboratory for the forces of uncontrolled religious enthusiasm: a pair of charismatic preachers, claiming inspired power, arrived to find a power vacuum on the island in the absence of the traditional authority figure, the mayor.

Their insistent preaching won over many of the inhabitants, who became convinced of an urgent obligation to confess all sins in a shared ceremony.

Pastor Ihorai believes that the tragedy of Faa’ite raises the question of a deeprooted anxiety afflicting Polynesians today; in the determination of the sect leaders to create a climate of total worship, he sees “a certain fear, a lack of security that wants others to be like oneself—those who were not in agreement could trigger insecurity, and so they were branded heretics; they had to confess their faults.”

“There was this idea one should confess, or be seen as possessed by the devil, One should confess in public, one should confess in order to be accepted... the logic is that if one confesses one will be in a state of security, one will be safe.”

Some observers contend that despite the intense religiosity of French Polynesia, its people could best be described as “practising, but not believing”. This school of thought tends to feel that many of the superstitions of traditional society remain active below the surface of day-to-day life.

Maco Tevane of the Academic Tahitienne, a principal guardian of his country’s culture, laments the lack of persistence of Tahitian tradition and views the Polynesian as an “amnesiac” who forgets his history. But Mr Tevane still believes the collective memory has survived in part, covered by the introduction of Western religion: “When the European came the Polynesian discovered evil and sin until then he feared the gods, he lived in a world of fear, he was always in a state of culpability, and the gods were to be propitiated,” he ventures, Another scholar of Tahitian history, confronted with the evidence of the bonfire of Faa’ite, recalls uneasily the fevered 19th century “Mamaia” cult of anti-Christian resistance that sprang up within the missionary church: a cult characterised by intense, day-long prayer sessions, direct contact with the ancient gods, and constant prophetic visions. By way of explanation of the disaster, Mr Tevane notes that “beliefs are still very much alive in the Tuamotus and in these atolls that are very isolated and deprived of contact with the outside world, all you need is a tiny spark to start things off; sometimes trouble can begin from personal animosity alone.”

Reasons and explanations may multiply, but they could never explain away the horror of those flesh-devouring flames leaping beneath the palm-trees and blue sky. Those purificatory flames may mark the still-troubled fusion of traditional and Christian beliefs and visions. Even as the embers fade, in memory fire and flame linger. A relative of one of the accused awaiting trial in Papeete is reported to have expressed the wish, shortly after the murders, that he could burn him on revenge’s “bright bonfire”. □ Rangiroa’s superb scenery is a backdrop to some Intriguing dilemmas. 23 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

“These people have more French sentiment than Tahitians ... they have no interest in independence” ◄ bers who defected to form the new Government coalition; recently a candidate for the Territorial Assembly Presidency, Mr Marere also serves as president of the Tuamotu-Gambier intercommunal organisation, and is finely attuned to his constituents’ interests. He supports the concept of regionalisation, warning that “each region of Polynesia has its personality, its needs, its economy to develop, which differs from the others. One cannot say the mentality of a man of the Tuamotus is the same as that of a man from the Marquesas or Australs, so the idea is to allow each area to develop; and we must find the means to decentralise, to persuade these Tuamotu and Marquesas populations to return to their islands.”

But while Mr Marere presides over the infusion of modem lifestyles into the Tuamotus, he is also aware of the need to protect and husband the islands’ youth; because of the lack of a high school in the Tuamotus the school population is subjected to an extraordinary culture-shock, being routinely transplanted from the calm life of the islands to bustling Papeete at the age of 12 for continued education. “Each time these children arrive in Papeete there is a total change in their existence; and there are no success stories,” He says, We must build a high school here. Consider the easy life here, in the open air; but in Tahiti they are without everything.”

Mr Marere, like other French Polynesian regional leaders, is an ardent supporter of continued ties with the Republic; all the pro-independence movements are based in Papeete. But he believes Frances political control entails economic responsibilities: “What we want is rational benefits that encourage our people to help themselves; the state provides the initial assistance and it is then up to them to continue.” He points out that independence would mean “taking a significant step backwards” in living standards: We are used to our situation and happy with it, and also, perhaps, France has spoiled us we must develop our economy to the point ot self-sufficiency. I have some hope that one day we will have independence, but while marching together with France we can t do otherwise, for all the small nations have a great nation standing behind them.”

Mr Marere’s attitude toward the CEP’s nuclear test site in the Tuamotus is similarly pragmatic: “We have always been careful and concerned, and insisted all precautions be taken to avoid contamination in the future but the CEP is implanted in our midst, and if we suppress it at once, there would be 3000 people out of work at a stroke, and the lack of money would be worse than contamination. We must seek to develop an economy where everyone could work; perhaps we should seek to lower our living standards, for we have a very high standard of living.”

One observer on Rangiroa confirms the implicit message contained in Mr Marere’s words, noting that “these people are far more French-thinking than Tahitians, and they seem to have virtually no interest in independence on the contrary, they have far more French national sentiment.”

In part this may be because Polynesian conservative, family-based society is more intact in the distant islands than in Papeete; in part it may be because the disruptive effects of westernisation are less evident in remote communities.

Yet the connection with France is an integral part of the political and economic order on Rangiroa, as was made plain when Mr Montpezat attended an extraordinary session of the island’s municipal council, at which the 1988 budget was debated. The Tuamotus, both removed from and deeply affected by the two external forces of Tahiti and mainland France or “territory” and “state” reflect these pressures in their processes of government, which are at once parochial and curiously directed toward the outside world that helps provide for their needs. The budgetary session, a rather protracted feast of democracy, prompted the High Commissioner to describe France’s extensive aid program as a “mark of solidarity with those most distant, experiencing most difficulties, who are at once French and Polynesians”.

But funds from Paris and the looming presence of Tahiti are scarcely enough to remove the overwhelming sense of place that defines the Tuamotu atolls; land-slivers becalmed on a tireless ocean’s face, the wind’s pauses and waves’ pulses their only markers of passing time. At night, sometimes, beneath a thick canopy of stars, Rangiroa’s role as bridging point in space and culture, between ancient and modem realms, is driven home in haunting style: as Tuamotu teenagers dance to Papeete’s latest reggae tunes while lanterns burning in empty houses ward off the ghostly Tupapa’u, ever-potent dwellers in Polynesia’s spirit world. D French High Commissioner Mr Jean Montpezat, his wife and the Mayor of Rangiroa, Mr Riquet Marere. 24 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

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PALAU Salii Aide Guilty Of Gun Attack REPUBLIC OF Palau President Lazarus Salii’s special assistant and two other Government employees have been convicted of firing guns at the home of Speaker of the House Santos Olikong. The court found presidential aide Joel Toribiong and his co-defendants guilty of illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, plus riot. The trio was not convicted on three other charges, including attempted murder and aggravated assault.

Each was sentenced to 15 years jail for the firearm charge, five years for ammunition and six months for rioting, the sentences to be served concurrently. However, the three convicted men are free on bail pending an appeal.

On September 6, 1987, shots were fired from a speeding car at the Speaker’s residence. Twelve people were inside at the time, including a baby. Nobody was hit by the gunfire. The following day the 71 -yearold father of peace activist Roman Bedor was shot dead, a bomb exploded near the home of an elderly pacifist, injuring her daughter, and a meeting house linked to dissident High Chief Ibedul Yutaka Gibbons was burned down.

On September 8, a court challenge by Palau’s matriarchs aimed at preserving Palau’s constitutional ban on nuclear substances was dropped. The matriarchs cited fear of reprisal as the reason for not pursuing their case. Mr Toribiong and fellow Government workers Paul Ueki and Tadashi Sakuma were subsequently charged in connection with the shooting incident at the Speaker’s household.

The trio’s non-jury trial, presided over by Palau National Court Judge Frederick O’Brien, began on January 26. Witnesses during the trial included four police officers, who testified that they saw the suspects around the time of the crime in an Ed Rampell reports on a reign of terror. unmarked red sedan identified by eye witnesses as the getaway car.

House of Delegates Speaker Olikong is a staunch opponent of a proposed Compact of Free Association between Palau and the United States. This treaty would override Palau’s anti-nuclear constitution and grant the United States military access to the strategically located Western Pacific archipelago. The Compact would terminate an American-administered United Nations Trusteeship and grant Palau home rule and substantial United States aid. In January, Speaker Olikong told the US Congress that Compact foes are regularly intimidated by supporters of the Salii administration.

According to activist attorney Roman Bedor and others, the car used by the men who murdered Bedor’s father matches the description of the vehicle used by the gunmen in the Olikong case. Prosecutor Basse, however, says that the special assistant to the president and the two other men have not been charged with the Bedor homicide, which the authorities are still investigating.

As of going to press, the General Accounting Office’s Palau probe has not been made public. This investigation into the “reign of terror” on Palau by the US Congressional watchdog agency will help the US Congress to determine, among other things, whether or not the proposed Compact has been internally ratified in accord with the Palauan constitutional process.

Dissenters who oppose the treaty told the US Congress during hearings early this year at Washington that they wished to mount a legal challenge to the Compact, but feared reprisals. The dissidents requested US Congressional guarantees for their safety when they refiled the court challenge that has twice been withdrawn because of intimidation. To date Congress still has not voted on the Compact’s ultimate ratification, which still requires UN Security Council approval, according to the UN Charter. □ President Lazarus Salii. 25 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

FORUM First Contact Under Fire Authors Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson respond to writer Chris Ashton’s critical review of their new book, First Contact, an account of the PNG Highlanders’first encounter with the outside world. Carson Creagh mediates the debate, adding some criticism of his own.

History holds many traps for the researcher. Contemporary records vary according to the point of view ofthe recorder, written records are lost, destroyed or suppressed, eyewitnesses to events die, or forget, or will not reveal secrets. Even when the subject is open to all, memories and perceptions vary.

And, significantly, the historian carries particular prejudices into his or her research. Just as people live up or down to what is expected of them, so historians (like all of us) tend to find what they are looking for in their analysis of events.

These are just some of the problems with Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson’s otherwise excellent book First Contact, reviewed with honest and openly declared passion by Chris Ashton in our February issue. We have printed Bob and Robin s reply to Chris Ashton s review here, plus a critique from longtime Mt Hagen resident Lois Logan. As Pacific Islands Monthly deputy editor, I have added my own impressions.

CARSON CREAGH SAYS. . .

I AM, LIKE others, fascinated by the story First Contact tells of the meetings between Highlanders and Europeans; that there are people alive and in their middle years who can remember with such clarity their first encounter with my own society makes me aware of how far removed my generation has become from the adventure of life. That those same people can report honestly, with amusement, on their initial reactions is a tribute to their sophistication and intelligence.

But that Connelly and Anderson can mask their polemical intentions with some oral history window-dressing is an insult to their subjects. In too many instances and anecdotes, the reader is distracted from the story by invitations to share the author’s good, solid middle-class abhorrence of the Leahy’s racism and brutality.

An air of testiness pervades the pages that deal with the Highlanders’ acceptance of colonial rule. “Fifty years later it is impossible to establish the exact number of killed or wounded,” Connolly and Anderson write, as if disappointed that the Highlanders seem to have understood, much less forgiven , the Mauser-toting Europeans. “But this was a frontier, and frontier justice prevailed,” they say elsewhere meaning that the violence of the Highlanders toward each other and toward the explorers is sanctioned by their primitiveness. European violence is presumably worse than Highlander violence, These, however, are mere nagging objections. There are others that relate to the book’s stated intention of providing a hislorical account of first contact. The authors claim that the “rich documentary evidence lay largely neglected for 50 years” before the intrepid pair “came across it”, This, as Chris Ashton has noted, is nonsense. Not only has the evidence been quite thoroughly raked over many times, but it has appeared in a number of publications.

The same objection may be made to Connolly and Anderson’s claim that they “discovered” Michael Leahy’s film; again, its location and content were well and publicly known for years before they set out to copy it and to edit it selectively. It would Michael Leahy’s photograph shows the Highlanders' shock on meeting while men. 26 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

appear the same process has “enhanced” their book ... in which case it can make no claim to be history.

The book’s analysis of events and their broader meaning is selective at best and downright shoddy at worst. Certainly the young women “married” to the Australians were, in part, a sacrifice by their fellow tribespeople. But they were also power-brokers of considerable influence, which is of far greater importance as far as the Highlanders are concerned. They, unfettered by fashionable racial guilt, realised the potential for economic and political profit that lay in what was always perceived to be a liaison of convenience with the explorers, and utilised it for its advantages of shell wealth, steel and simple social cachet as if to demonstrate to rival and enemy clans that “we” are on such good terms with the white men that they will buy our women. What better way of keeping up with the Joneses than by marrying them?

Errors of omission compound the problems. James Lindsay Taylor, one of the most formidable from an intellectual as well as historical point of view figures in the exploration and administration of PNG, is given scant attention. Yet his life, his philosophy and his actions contradict the authors’ central tenet that all Europeans were rapacious black haters who could kill anyone who stood in their way.

This is offensive as much for its inaccuracy as for its implicit insult to Taylor.

He was certainly of a different stamp from the Leahys; he was an administrator, not a prospector, so his motives were more disinterested. He was a sensitive, romantic man whose identification with the people he helped govern was so complete he married a Wahgi woman.

He did not, however, see the people of the Highlands as some prelapsarian ideal of humanity. He recognised their weaknesses as well as their strengths, their aggressive and politicised society. And he was a European, far from home and with few other Europeans for company. Naturally he would be sympathetic to the actions of his countrymen simply because he could understand the whole unspoken, unseen basis for their actions. Would a colonialist Highlander have acted any differently if he were a patrol officer in Australia? Connolly and Anderson are not interested in such idle speculation; with a true Calvinist’s appetite for fallibility, they point out the forest and ignore the trees.

One final point should be made. Michael, Dan, Jim and Patrick Leahy, James Taylor and their fellows were entering adulthood when their fathers’ generation returned from the bloody savagery of World War I. They themselves were facing what was to become The Great Depression. They cannot be expected to have shared the perceptions of the 1980 s, and by looking down on them for being men of their time the authors are inviting the same fate from future readers of First Contact. 808 CONNOLLY AND ROBIN ANDERSON SAY . . .

CHRIS Ashton, in his review of our book First Contact, says we were “spot on” in our assessment of Michael Leahy. Not everyone agrees. Leahy’s family was extremely annoyed that certain information was revealed that other writers Ashton among them had in the past chosen to ignore. The family response underlines the difficulties writers can sometimes face when dealing with near-contemporary historical events and personalities.

“Ashton’s review was so completely uninformed we were left wondering if he had muddled his time and place.”

The latter part of Ashton’s review unwittingly illustrates these difficulties, which seem particularly to apply when the subject in question is Australia’s colonial role in PNG. Many Australians Ashton among them lived and worked there, and so have a vested interest, naturally, in what is written about the place: a bias, if you like. They are capable of reacting with hostility when newcomers stray into “their” patch, particularly when the writing attempts to be analytical of what Australians did there rather than merely celebratory. This antipathy can border on the hilarious, as in the PNG “old hand” who stated the reason some academics wrote critically of our stewardship in PNG was that they were jealous about missing out on the fun of being there!

Ashton’s review places him securely in this myopic camp. Thus when we attempt, as a backdrop to the story of contact in the Highlands, to present an analysis of Australia’s wider role in prewar New Guinea as opposed to merely celebrating it, Ashton labels us “urban liberals”, driven to overcompensate for our guilty cringe over the sins of “white supremacy”. When we describe pre-contact Highlands culture as vigorous and viable (hardly an unreasonable proposition) Ashton has us describing it as “almost Arcadian”, which it manifestly wasn’t. When we suggest the colonial period was a mixed blessing again hardly a revolutionary proposition Ashton has us describing it as “an unmitigated evil”, which again, it was not.

Ashton says our assessment of Australian colonialism in prewar New Guinea is “nonsense”, because we say it was largely exploitative. He says Australia put far more into New Guinea than it took out, which even a cursory look at, for example, the Bulolo Gold Dredging Company would reveal as nonsense. About a hundred tons of gold taken out and 10 per cent paid in royalties (most of which went back into the mining industry infrastructure); nothing much in it for the New Guineans.

But this is hardly original stuff. It was the usual colonial situation, which has been thoroughly documented and examined by a generation of distinguished scholars. Indeed, Ashton’s review was so completely uninformed we were left wondering whether for one reason or another he had muddled his time and place. Our book is predominantly about prewar New Guinea the League [of Nations] Mandate. It is not about pre- or postwar Papua, and it touches lightly on Australia’s post war trusteeship of Papua and New Guinea.

The mandated Territory of New Guinea was a very different place from the colony of Papua, and Ashton might like to start his education by reading what Hubert Murray had to say about New Guinea before the war. He regarded it as a foreign country, with an administration dominated by white business interests who exploited the place for all they were worth, despite the efforts of a handful of dedicated and able government officers.

No well-informed student of this subject matter could seriously disagree with Murray today, just as no well-informed student would deny that Australia’s postwar record in Papua and New Guinea was a very different story; and one which, by and large, Australia has reason for looking back on with a measure of pride.

We would suggest that Chris Ashton is the one who got out of his depth in this matter, not us.

LOIS LOGAN SAYS. . .

I WISH to make some comments about First Contact, and have the first-hand knowledge to be able to do so, as I lived in the Western Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea from 1970 to 1985, know the area well, know Danny Leahy and his sons, know most of the Hagen people who are represented in the book, and know Joh and Clem Leahy very well.

I have a basic knowledge of the local dialect, and worked in the newspaper business in Hagen before joining the staff of the then Premier Nambuga Mara OBE as his assistant.

I saw Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson making the movie First Contact, which we watched at George Leahy’s and later at Joh Leahy’s coffee shed, in 1984.1 knew the book would be forthcoming, and that Connolly and Anderson were planning a second film. I have eagerly awaited both of them.

Continued on page 50 27 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

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Pacific Report

□ Shelled Out

THIEVES ON the Gazelle Peninsula of Papua New Guinea raided a woman’s house and stole more than SASOOO worth of traditional shell money.

□ Fiji Court Backlog

THE FIJI Government announced amendments to the country’s criminal procedure code, with the aim of reducing a backlog of more than 140 cases pending in the High Court.

□ Vanuatu Airport Upgrade

AUSTRALIA is to fund the upgrading of 10 of Vanuatu’s 26 airfields. The work, which will involve hardening the runway surfaces and putting in drainage, is expected to cost more than SAI million.

□ Nz’S Fiji Edict

NEW ZEALAND’S High Court ordered the New Zealand Government to say whether it recognised the Fiji Government. The order was made by Mr Justice Quilliam, who is hearing a case in which the Fiji High Commission in Wellington is fighting eviction from the premises it currently occupies.

□ Kiribati In Canberra

A DELEGATION from Kiribati held talks in Canberra on ways in which Australia could help the country’s industrial development plans. The delegation was led by the Kiribati Minister for Trade, Industry and Labour, Mr Raion Bataroma.

□ Tate In Fiji

AUSTRALIA’S Justice Minister, Senator Tate, was the first Australian Government Minister to go to Fiji since the military coups when he visited there as part of a tour of Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

□ W Samoa’S Games Squad

WESTERN SAMOA announced plans to send 20 athletes and officials to this year’s Olympic Games in the South Korean capital, Seoul.

□ Second Boat On Png Patrol

PAPUA NEW Guinea’s Defence Force received a second patrol boat from Australia under the two countries’ defence co-operation program. The Pacific Class patrol boat, Dreger, joined its sister boat, Tarangau, in patrolling Papua New Guinea’s coastal economic zone.

□ Aussie Medics Return

THREE AUSTRALIAN doctors resumed work in Fiji’s two major hospitals in Suva and Lautoka under an Australian aid program. Their return follows the resumption of Australian aid to Fiji.

□ Png Pay Reviewed

THE PARLIAMENTARY Salaries Tribunal in PNG began a major review of the salaries and allowances of national parliamentarians.

□ Tv Crew Deported

A BRITISH television crew was deported from Papua New Guinea on orders from the Foreign Minister, Mr Akoka Doi. The crew had been accused by local newspapers of using a script with references to cannibalism.

□ Gendarmes Under Fire

IN NEW Caledonia, police detained a Melanesian after shots were fired at paramilitary gendarmes south of Noumea.

Two gendarme patrols came under fire near the Melanesian village of Saint-Louis, but no one was hurt.

□ Png Uni Boost

PNG PM Mr Wingti said he would forgo buying a new executive aircraft and that some of the money saved would go to providing funds for university scholarships.

University students at three campuses had boycotted classes over a Government decision to axe the scholarships for matureage students.

□ Racial Strife In Fiji

SECURITY FORCES in Fiji mounted guard on an Indian settlement, following an outbreak of violence between Fijians and Indians in Viti Levu.

□ Ok Tedi Reopened

THE OK TEDI mine in Papua New Guinea’s Western Province was reopened following Government intervention, after angry landowners had closed it down. The landowners, the Oksapmin people, were angered by the recent death of a clansman and chopped down trees, blocking access roads to the mine site and damaging some property.

□ Security Conference

DELEGATES FROM 14 South Pacific island nations held discussions in Suva on regional security. The delegates identified a wide range of political, military, economic and other issues affecting regional security.

□ Christian Radio For Tonga

KING TUPOU of Tonga has granted AM and FM broadcasting licences to United Christian Broadcasters Pacific Ltd, an Auckland based non-denominational, non-profit Christian organisation.

□ Marshall In Paris

THE NEW Zealand Foreign Minister, Russell Marshall, visited Paris for talks with French officials aimed at forging better relations between the two countries. Mr Marshall met his French counterpart, Mr Jean-Bemard Raimond, and the Foreign Trade Minister, Mr Michel Noir.

□ Visa Fraud

A WOMAN was jailed for 15 months in Fiji for taking $ Al4OO from two women after promising them Australian visas. It was the second such conviction in Suva recently.

□ Png Typhoid Alert

Typhoid is on the increase in Port Moresby. Cases have risen from an average of between two and five per month to 23 per month so far this year. The increase is due to a damaged and inadequate sewerage system, and the lack of a good water supply to many parts of the city.

□ Labour Policy Mission

A MISSION with the task ofimproving labour policies will begin a tour of six South Pacific nations later this year. Senior government officials from Australia, New Zealand and six smaller South Pacific countries will visit the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Western Samoa, Vanuatu and Tonga.

□ Png Jails Slammed

A UNITED Nations consultant reported that PNG jails lack the most basic security and that mass breakouts are inevitable unless immediate changes are made. □ 28 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

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Ela Motors Wheels For The Nation

[slUr Cl\l hjCLIYILLiy 1) TWENTY FIVE years is a significant milestone, especially in an industry that is subject to many changes. All of us at Bums Philp and Ela Motors are proud to have achieved this record with Toyota.

The last 25 years has seen considerable investment and expansion in Ela Motors which today sees us operating through 13 branches nationwide and being the largest automotive network in Papua New Guinea, with over 700 staff.

We are now seeing the benefits of our training programs with over 90 per cent localisation and many citizens in management positions.

Over the years, one of our key strengths has been the Toyota model range which has proven to be most reliable. In support of this excellent product, we have in excess of K 4 million worth of Toyota genuine parts in stock in Papua New Guinea.

A major part of the continuing development is the specialist training centre located in Port Moresby. This is the only centre operated to this level by a distributor. Since the centre started in 1977 we have had over 1400 people attend a wide range of courses covering all aspects of the automotive business.

In line with our tradition of investment and business improvement we shall see in this 25th year the opening of our prestigious new showroom and used vehicle centre in Lae along with Papua New Guinea’s first truck sales centre. These openings will be followed two months later with the completion of our total new complex in Mt Hagen.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our clients for their custom and support over the years and all of us look forward to being of further assistance to you.

Adrian Collins

General Manager

Charles Betteridge Recalls

THE LAST 25 YEARS By Charles Betteridge, Parts Manager, PNG.

LOOKING BACK over the last 25 years, I recall when I first arrived in Port Moresby and joined Bums Philp & Company Ltd as parts salesman. That was in April, 1960. The workforce was predominantly expatriate orientated but even at that early stage Bums Philp had six citizen staff working in the Parts Department under six expatriates.

Most of the vehicles in the country in those days were of British or European origin.

Japanese sourced vehicles were practically unheard of, primarily due to the fact that there was no proper representation established in the country at the time. Theiss Sales in Sydney (the Toyota distributor for Australia) had a small agent operating from a service station in Boroko but it was obvious that sales were not effective. Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan had identified the need to become properly established in the market and so they approached Bums Philp, as the largest company in the country, with a view to offering the Toyota franchise. That was in mid 1962.

In November 1962, a basic agreement was reached for sales of Toyota vehicles to be handled via a Bums Philp subsidiary company, the Port Moresby Freezing Company Ltd, known generally as PMF.

It wasn’t until March 1963 that Toyota Motor Corporation finalised the agreement and officially appointed Bums Philp through PMF as the Distributor for Toyota.

PMF then arranged to take over the three Toyota vehicles held in stock at the service station in Boroko. These were a Toyota RK4S Stout, a Toyota RKI6O Dyna Truck and Toyota RT2O Tiara sedan.

The total Parts stockholding acquired fitted into 6 cardboard boxes and amounted to approximately L4OO value (around Kl5O by today’s reckoning).

From a service station and garage on the comer of Hunter Street and Champion Parade in downtown Moresby, PMF sold their first Toyota vehicles and established the initial Toyota Genuine Parts Department.

Sales of Toyota in 1963 only achieved two units.

The long established “well known, well made” British vehicles were definitely preferred. The introduction of other models from Toyota, however, created considerable interest. The Toyopet sedan featuring the twin cylinder air-cooled 800 cc engine was unique.

Although the car itself was quite small, it performed remarkably well, especially on fuel economy ratings where it achieved over 50 miles to the gallon! During 1964 six new Toyotas were sold.

The year 1965 saw the PMF garage and service station move out to a new complex in Pascal Avenue, Badili, to be known as Moresby Garage...the present location of today’s head office, Parts. 1965 was also the year of the introduction of both the Toyota Corolla and Toyota Corona passenger cars. On the commercial vehicle scene, the FJ2S Land Cruiser, the RK4S Stout and the RKI6O Dyna Trucks were already becoming well-established and proving both economical and dependable.

At the same time Parts sales had improved substantially and the decision was made to build a new Parts complex to house both the Bums Philp range of vehicle parts and the Toyota parts.

The Toyota Land Cruiser became PNG’s predominant 4 Wheel Drive vehicle over the ensuing years. Their 6 cylinder petrol and optional diesel engines were outperforming the 4 cylinder Landrovers, and their ruggedness was already proved.

By 1969 Landrovers had almost disappeared from the 4 Wheel Drive scene here, having been progressively replaced by the Toyota Land Cruiser.

The opening of the giant Bougainville Copper Mine in Panguna in the 1960 s required a strong and durable 4 Wheel Drive to tackle the virgin jungle taking surveyors and engineers up into the mountains. Toyota Land Cruiser was the right vehicle for the job.

The establishment of the Highlands Highway from Lae to Mt Hagen also required a formidable 4 wheel drive vehicle the Toyota Land Cruiser.

On the sedan side, the Toyota Corolla quickly became the most popular medium sized car available. Burns Philp had expanded their outlets and began selling Toyota cars in Lae and Rabaul. By 1969, Bums Philp decided that a separate automotive division was necessary to allow for further Toyota expansion.

On July 1,1969, Ela Motors was established. Facilities such as garages and parts outlets previously used by Bums Philp became known as Ela Motors.

Private dealerships came into being and within a short time, Toyota vehicles were being sold in Mt Hagen, Goroka, Kimbe, Popondetta, Madang, Aitape and Kieta. Ela Motors was by then established in Port Moresby, Lae and Rabaul and over the next few years gradually expanded the network.

As vehicle sales expanded, so did the requirement for a proper back-up parts service. Lae was the central location, so a new Parts complex was built, the Central Parts Operation, (CPO) primarily to serve the rapidly expanding Toyota franchise. In 1980, the new CPO complex was officially opened.

Today, Ela Motors CPO Lae is still the largest Parts warehouse in Papua New Guinea, housing over K 5 Million worth of parts under the one roof.

From a humble beginning in a small garage in Port Moresby in March 1963, Toyota is now represented throughout the length and breadth of the nation with 13 wholly-owned branches of Ela Motors covering all the major centres from Tabubil and Vanimo in the West to Kieta in the East.

Charles Betieridge congratulated by Hiroshi Nogami.

A.P. Collins, Ela Motors’ general manager, receives an award from Hiroshi Nogami, Toyota manager, Oceania Dept, In recognition of 25 years of Toyota in PNG.

Charles Betteridge’s Toyota Sports 800. 32 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

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Business Special

Taking Care Of Business Diane Armstrong looks at moves to teach islanders the subtleties of commerce AT ARARUA College in the Cook Islands, 13-year-old Polynesians are learning about division of labour, bad debts and capital expenditure.

They are among 2000 children in the Pacific being taught new business studies courses designed especially for them.

“When I visit these classes, my biggest thrill is when the kids tell me they enjoy learning about commerce, and when I see that they’ve really grasped it,” says Mike Horsley, lecturer in Education at the School of Teaching and Curriculum Studies at the University of Sydney.

His enthusiasm is understandable: for the past four years, he has been consultant to an extraordinary UNESCO-funded project aimed at introducing vocational courses into Pacific island schools.

There has been a push since the midseventies for courses with a strong local content for the newly independent slates of the Pacific. “When the Institute of Education at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji co-ordinated an indigenous curriculum in business studies, home economics and industrial arts, I became the commercial studies consultant. Three years before, I’d been seconded to teach commerce at the USP, so I was a natural choice,” Horsley explains.

Until then, school courses had been largely academic, geared for the elite. But local educationists wanted courses suitable for islanders who were likely to remain in the villages. “Our job was to help create courses that were relevant to local lifestyles. Many islanders operate small businesses and our aim was to make sure they would do so successfully. In time, these courses would also help them pursue higher studies. Our task involved writing textbooks, devising leaching materials, training the teachers, and holding workshops to assess progress,” he says.

When teachers from the Pacific islands began writing business studies courses for their schools, it soon became obvious that a special glossary of commercial terms was essential so that students could understand the basic concepts. In the past 20 years, the culture of the Pacific has changed rapidly and many new concepts needed to be expressed. As time was running out for the project, only one fully developed glossary could be completed and the team decided to compile one for the Cook Islands, whose Ministry of Education was extremely enthusiastic about the project.

The challenge of co-ordinating this glossary, the first of its kind in the Pacific, fell to Mike Horsley. Sitting beneath a map of the Pacific in his cluttered office at the university, he hands over a textbook. Au Kupu Anga Anga Kimi Pu Apinga, or The Words of Accounting, Small Business, Bookkeeping and Commerce is a softcover book whose text is interspersed with cartoons and illustrations. Each page is divided into two columns, with English explanations on one side and Maori on the other.

“We didn’t know what we were in for when we decided to compile a lexicon of basic business terms in the vernacular,”

Horsley smiles. “For one thing, Cook Island Maori doesn’t have a vocabulary capable of expressing business concepts! In the end, we had to invent 400 of the 550 words in the glossary.”

Mike Horsley makes it sound simple, but compiling a dictionary in a language not suited to cope with modern concepts is anything but straightforward. “Our first step was to see if the word existed in Maori, with the help of local translators such as Rangi Moekka, whose knowledge of Maori is astonishing,” he explains. As few business terms existed in the spoken language, the search began for written material. The Savage Dictionary, the major linguistic resource of the Maori language of Rarotonga, contained very little in the way of a business vocabulary. Legal and accounting documents didn’t help much, since very few of them had been translated.

The most unusual source of words was the Bible. “Rangi Moekka looked up words like ‘usury’ and ‘wages’ in an 1850 Maori Bible and re-used these archaic terms for our glossary. He used the Tahitian Bible as well. It’s amazing, really, using the Bible to translate commercial terms of the 1980 s!”

Where no Maori words, either current or archaic, existed, the glossary team coined new words, by Maorifying or transliterating English words. So “cheque” became tieke, “accounts” became akanuti, “collateral” became kortura, “assets” became atteti and “glossary” became grotari.

But finding the right word was only part of the conundrum; the next phase was to explain the concept. For example, the difference between “goods” and “services” is a crucial one in commerce, yet Cook Island Maori only has one word to cover both and it’s a word that is not precise enough to convey the exact meaning. Successful businessmen must understand the difference between supply, demand, needs and wants, but in most Polynesian languages one or two words express all these ideas.

Another instance of the difficulty the glossary-makers faced concerns the word “money”, which is expressed by only one word in Maori moni while English has more than 30 words expressing subtle Mike Horsley introduces students from the Cook Islands, Niue, Vanuatu, Tonga, Western Samoa and the Marshall Islands to computer practices at Ararua Collegae in the Cook Islands. 34 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

shades of meaning. “In the Niue dialect, it took a whole page of text to explain the concept of capital,” Horsley recalls.

When the problems had been ironed out, the words coined and the concepts explained, the text had to be submitted for approval to the Ministry of Education. It wasn’t always accepted. “While we were working on the glossary, a turnover tax was introduced into the Cook Islands. After a lot of effort, the translators came up with a Maori translation whose connotation was of a boat capsizing. That analogy wasn’t very well received by the political leaders!” he laughs.

The glossary has had immediate practical results. It is now possible to keep records in Maori, while bookkeeping had been difficult in the past simply because there were no words for column headings.

Translating commercial terms into Maori will help preserve the local language, by increasing its ability to express modern business concepts and thus make business education available to all Cook Islanders; not only those who speak English well.

The glossary is only one of the achievements of the UNESCO Vocational Curriculum Program. In the process of creating three new courses, the project team produced 60 textbooks in home economics, industrial arts and business studies for 80 new classes. Classes in all three now exist in Niue, Vanuatu, Western Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu and the Cook Islands, while the Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Kiribati and Nauru have classes in industrial arts and home economics. Some 28 syllabuses for upper primary and junior secondary classes have been designed and nine glossaries are being developed.

According to Mike Horsley, the most remarkable feature of the project was its totally Pacific character. “The project was flexible enough to allow each country to decide whether it needed more teacher training or more textbooks. Local priorities determined how they adapted the project. Vanuatu, for example, decided to make business studies part of other courses, while other countries decided to make it separate. All our decisions were reached by Pacific-style negotiation: until everyone agreed, no progress was made!”

Some chapters were common to all the textbooks, but the teachers who wrote them were able to put in specific material relevant to their own islands, so instead of being remote the books deal with specific local issues. Niue’s commerce textbook, for example, discusses how the local plumber runs his business and illustrates a lesson about government services with a story about the primary school teacher having an accident and going to the local hospital.

In structuring the courses, the project team kept in mind that they were aiming to help people succeed in their own communities. “We didn’t want to impose a set of values alien to the local culture, but we had to get the students to look at what was going on around them and see how suecessful business people in their communities had combined the needs of their society with the demands of business methods,” Horsley says.

“We never lost sight of the need to reinforce local culture and to make the children see the value of their traditional way of doing things.”

There’s a story in the Niue textbook about two men shipwrecked on an uninhabited island. Piri, the islander, survives by catching crabs, climbing palms for coconuts and using sticks to light a fire, while George Barnaby Shaw, the Englishman, is helpless. When a rescue boat finally arrives, Piri is doing fine but all that’s left of the Englishman is a skeleton! Anecdotes like this were meant to relate to the children’s lifestyles.

“My biggest thrill is when the kids tell me they enjoy learning about commerce, and when I see they’ve really grasped it”

Mike Horsley Pacific attitudes to family and possessions had to be considered when writing the texts. Not many commerce books list “relatives” as a cause of business failure, but the Cook Island glossary does! “Accounting is certainly the produce of the First World way of thinking, and giving gifts is a cultural phenomenon,” says Horsley, “but to make the students commercially literate, we had to bring the issue into the open and make them think about it.

We wanted them to understand that while it’s perfectly okay to give away the profits, giving away the capital means losing your business.”

One of the most valuable results of this project was the creation of what Mike Horsley describes as “The Curriculum Family”. Because this whole project was based on sharing resources and pooling knowledge, teachers and curriculum officers were constantly visiting each other’s countries. “We all became like a real extended family,” says Horsley. “Wherever we happened to visit, we were always accommodated at the homes of the local teachers or their families, and we all became very close. Once, when a flight was cancelled, we all lived with the local curriculum officer and his family for a week!

And later, when some of them came to Australia, they stayed with me.”

He recounts his favourite example of the closeness and co-operation that this project engendered: “I arrived in Niue to train local teachers in business studies, but just as I disembarked, to my surprise the four of them embarked: they were all going to a colleague’s funeral in Auckland. Because we’d been working together in developing the texts I was able to step in and take their classes during their absence.”

The logistics of getting teachers together during the project presented many challenges, as the process involved travelling to atolls and islands scattered over thousands of kilometres. The only way to reach the remote Pacific atoll of Tokelau, for example, is by taking the Sunday boat from Western Samoa. To make sure they caught it, project members from Fiji booked on the Saturday flight from Suva to Apia. Unfortunately, Nausori airport was closed due to floods, so grabbing all their textbooks and photocopying equipment, they caught a taxi to Nadi, hoping to reach Sydney in time to board a plane to Apia so they could still catch the boat.

Relieved, they made the flight. In Apia, they received urgent customs clearance, jumped into a car and rushed to the port . . . just as the boat for Tokelau disappeared from view!

In this context satellite communication seems incongruous, but for the duration of the project curriculum officers spoke to each other using the University of the South Pacific satellite. Each country had a satellite centre so officers could discuss courses. “My phone was linked to it in Sydney, while Fred Griffiths, the project co-ordinator, chaired the sessions from the USP’s central office in Suva, and participants in remote islands were able to discuss their ideas using space-age technology,” he says.

The project has had some failures.

Some books weren’t finished, others proved too difficult. Some officers dropped out, some trials were disastrous.

“For some countries, investment in this project wasn’t worthwhile,” says Horsely.

“I would like to review the project to see why some succeeded more than others. I feel that we didn’t always get the right people for the task, but in most countries the participants were magnificent, and their results reflect their dedication. These teachers had the right blend of idealism and realism to make the project succeed.”

The successes far outweigh the failures, however. Although funds stopped in July 1987, some countries have generated enough momentum to continue with the work on their own. Eight are developing their own glossaries, including the Marshall Islands, which only came to observe the project. One of the most illuminating comments on the value of the project is that some of the teachers who taught the new commerce courses took their own precepts so seriously that they have now gone into business for themselves! □ 35 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

Trade Winds

□ Fiji And Australian Businessmen

PLEDGE MUTUAL SUPPORT.

A JOINT meeting of the Austraiia-Fiji and Fiji-Australia Business Councils has expressed confidence in Fiji’s future and has spoken of an “enormous amount of goodwill” between Fiji and Australia.

In a communique issued after the twoday meeting at The Fijian Hotel at Cuvu, delegates said Fiji should continue as a destination for Australian tourists and “a forum for substantial business investment and development”.

The councils approved several proposals to be submitted to the Government.

Among them are: ■ A planned campaign in Australia and elsewhere to encourage Fiji nationals who have emigrated to return home to reverse a worrying “brain drain”. ■ Initiate training programs to fill the “skills gap” created by emigration. ■ Relaxation of the present Sunday trading and sporting bans in Fiji, which the councils said would encourage tourism. ■ Early conclusion of a “tax sparing” agreement with the Australian Government to fit in with investment incentive packages now being offered by the Fiji Government. ■ The Fiji Government to respond quickly and positively to media enquiries to avoid speculative reporting about the country, especially overseas. ■ Improved communications facilities in Fiji to encourage investors. ■ Updating of the Australian joint venture scheme about which many delegates said they knew nothing. ■ A lowering of personal income tax in Fiji, increasing personal initiatives. ■ Using Expo 88 in Brisbane to promote tourism and investment potential.

Fiji welcomed increased Australian direct investment in Fiji, the Prime Minister, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, said in a message to the conference. Ratu Sir Kamisese’s keynote address, which was to be delivered at the opening, was read out by the acting Prime Minister, Mr Josefata Kamikamica. Bad weather delayed the Prime Minister’s return to Fiji after an official trip overseas.

In his message, Ratu Sir Kamisese said the interim administration was focusing at the moment on restoring stability and growth in Fiji’s economy and providing incentives for investment.

The immediate need was to provide people with the chance for regular employment and for increased income generation to maintain a reasonable standard of living.

“It is in this regard that the message I would like to convey to you today is that we welcome increased Australian direct investment in Fiji”, he said.

Ratu Sir Kamisese said more Australian companies should take advantage of the special tax concession facilities introduced recently.

The Fiji dollar devaluation and the tax free factory or tax free zone facilities would, it was hoped, make Fiji more attractive as a manufacturing base, he said.

The Prime Minister also urged a systematic examination of the South Pacific Regional Trade and Economic Co-opera- Outrigger Design For Export Boat Contract An Australian firm uses traditional ideas in a boat for the islands.

AFTER EXTENSIVE sea trials and top level demonstrations in Papua New Guinea, the Sydney based company TPS Marine is to commence construction of its first batch of 10 fully welded aluminium fishing and transport boats aimed at the Pacific islands market.

The first 10 will be manufactured in Papua New Guinea by Niugini Steel under a contract placed by TPS’ Papua New Guinea subsidiary, TPS Marine (PNG) Pty Limited.

Mr Peter Martin, managing director of TPS Holdings Limited, says the TPS Sea cruiser 28 has been designed for Pacific islands fishing and transport.

“We have come up with a new export based product that is very attractive to the people of the island nations,” says Mr Martin. “The demonstration and sea trials held in Papua New Guinea were attended by leading membersof the Govern ment and public service, together with representatives of leading trading houses in the area.”

The TPS Seacruiser 28 is 8.6 metres long, has a beam of 4.26 metres and a main hull beam of 1.2 metres. It is constructed of fully welded 2.5 mm (12 gauge) aluminium plate powered by an outboard motor or diesel inboard motor.

The Seacruiser has been designed using a traditional style with a central hull and outriggers affixed to either side. Solid aluminium platforms are affixed to the hull and each outrigger. The boat weighs some 580 kilograms, has a load carrying capacity of 750 kilograms and is likely to sell for $ A 10,000 for the outboard version and $A 11,000 for the diesel version.

TPS is aiming to construct the boats by sub-contract or on a joint venture basis along the lines of the initial construction in Papua New Guinea. The manufacturer would purchase the pre-cut boats in kit form together with a jig to enable easy fabrication of the finished boats.

Says Peter Marlin: “We are using a typical Polynesian design that has been proven over hundreds of years for its buoyancy, stability and load carrying capabilities. It will be ideal for fishing and inter-island transport; it will also be able to carry a number of village members together with additional cargo.

“The strength of construction will mean minimum maintenance requirements together with the ability to handle the roughest use, particularly in coral lagoons and other hostile environments.” □ The 8.6-mefre Seacruiser employs outriggers for stability and buoyancy.

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He assured investors of the safety of their investments, protection of their proprietary rights and freedom to operate in line with existing regulations. □

□ Fiji To Be A Duty-Free Haven

THE LOSS of duty-free access to the United States by Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan has stimulated the Government of the Republic of Fiji to offer entrepreneurs from these Asian nations known as the “four tigers” for their aggressive manufacturing and marketing strategies tax-free zones and factories.

A Fijian trade mission to Southeast Asia has set out to convince investors that the events of 1987 are history and that all Fijians are working hard to get the country’s economy back on the rails.

“Enquiries are coming in about marine, fisheries and agricultural development, exploitation of mineral resources and manufacture for export,” said Finance Minister Josefata Kamikamica.

“There are several large tourism projects pending and I have conferred with overseas business people looking at multi-million dollar schemes here.”

Noteworthy in the incentives package is the Government’s encouragement of foreign investors to move into empty factories premises vacated by Indianowned businesses in forced sales. □ SECOND PRIZE WILL COST YOU ...

HOTEL AND resort proprietors in a number of South Pacific locations were at first flattered, then increasingly suspicious of “awards” granted by a Spanish organisation calling itself EDITURIN of Madrid, publishers of International Commerce and Tourism. In the Cook Islands, for example, Bill Tschan of the Avarua firm JPI Ltd was informed that his business had won the “International Award Grand Prix for the Best Quality and Service”. Mr Tschan reported the good news to the Cook Islands News, only to learn next day that the owners of the Muri Beachcomber Motel, Arorangi Travel and Lagoon Lodges had all received the same letter.

AH “winners” were asked to advance SUS27OO to EDITURIN as acceptance of an invitation to a “gala dinner” in Madrid. As well as being presented with the “Bronze and Marble Trophy” and a diploma, the multiple winners were to receive promotional material, a videocassette recording of the gala dinner and publicity in a “special edition” of Executive and Traveller Guide a mysteriously unknown publication.

No news has been received from Madrid expressing regret that Pacific prize winners could not attend the dinner.

□ Us, Marianas In Betel Furore

ANGER has greeted a United States Customs Service refusal to admit betel nut from the Northern Marianas to the US mainland, citing “possible violation of FD & C regulations” whereby the US authority has decided Marianas betel appears to contain “deleterious substances”.

The wrangle is taken from the realms of comedy by the United States’ continued importation of betel nut from the Philippines and Thailand, prompting accusations of favouritism and double standards. “We have been chewing betel nuts for as long as cowboys have chewed tobacco,” says Marianas Government official John Delßosario Junior. “I might note that chewing tobacco isn’t a ‘deleterious substance’: it’s a cancer causing substance.

“Doesn’t betel from the Philippines and Thailand contain the same ‘deleterious substance’ that the US has assumed to be contained in betel nuts from the Northern Marianas?”

Betel nut is an important crop in many parts of the Pacific, and though tests have shown it does contain toxins and that it has a deleterious long-term effect on users, it is considered an essential part of islands life. The Government of the Northern Marianas is considering further protests and official action against the US Customs Service, which to date has not responded to Mr Delßosario’s accusations.

□ Cocoa Down, Coffee Up

A REPORT from Westpac’s Economic Department notes that despite buffer stock purchases, the world price of cocoa has continued to decline by as much as 25 per cent in the case of Papua New Guinea cocoa. Falling prices are a result of record stock holdings, currently estimated at 38 per cent of seasonal production. With another significant surplus forecast for this year, the report says, prices are expected to remain weak.

In the'same report, PNG’s coffee growers gained some relief from weak prices with an 18.5 per cent increase in production and price increases of at least 15 per cent. Although world production of mild coffees is expected to decrease by as much as 10 per cent this year, PNG coffee continues to bring good prices in the international marketplace, with the International Coffee Organisation’s Composite Daily Price index reaching SUS 1.21 per pound by mid-February.

□ Dining Out In Niue

A NEW SNZ 150,000 tourist restaurant on Niue Island is scheduled to open in May.

It is one of the largest private investment projects ever undertaken on Niue, and will give a much-needed boost to a slowly developing visitor industry.

Called Sails of Niue, the restaurant is situated at Makapu Point overlooking Aloft Bay about four kilometres north of the main village of Aloft. Owned by Salome and Stafford Guest, it is built from New Zealand timber and was designed with a contemporary Polynesian look; heavy beams and a high roof supported by exterior poles.

Stafford Guest says the restaurant will be exclusively for visitors to Niue, and will feature local foods adapted for European palates.

Although Niue’s population is still dropping as the outflow of residents to New Zealand continues, Guest sees Niue as a holiday base for many New Zealanders seeking a quiet and safe vacation close to home. Last year the island welcomed a record number of visitors, and is expecting another good season this year.

□ Us Paper From Png

THE Scott Paper Company has been invited by the Papua New Guinea Government to set up a pulp paper mill and a reforestation project in the country. The Prime Minister, Mr Wingti, says the decision to invite the American firm was in line with the aim of the Government to promote local processing of PNG timber for both local and overseas markets.

Mr Wingti says the project would bring up to SA7OO million into the country. 37 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

Australian Maritime College CERTIFICATE OF COMPETENCY -

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Preparatory studies for the following Department of Transport & Communications Certificates will be offered by the College over the period 13 August - 25 November, 1988.

Engineer Class I - Part B

Engineer Class Ii - Part B

All examinations for the award of the Certificates will be conducted at the College at the end of the course.

Intending applicants should have had appropriate sea-going engineering experience.

FEES- There are no course fees. However, overseas applicants will be expected to pay an 'Overseas Students Charge' of SASO9 before a visa will be issued. An examination fee of $92 is payable to the DOTC.

Single room accommodation is available on campus at attractive rates (currently $9O per week).

For application forms and further details, contact: The Admissions Officer

Australian Maritime College

PO Box 986, LAUNCESTON. Tas. 7250 Australia Telephone, ISD 61 03 260731 provide 5000 jobs and paper products from the mill would be sold to markets in the Asian and Pacific regions.

□ Shellfish Venture To Continue

AUSTRALIA and Papua New Guinea are to continue an arrangement for the joint management of rock lobster fishing and prawning between the two countries.

Under the deal concerning rock lobsters, fishing will be primarily for the benefit of the traditional inhabitants of the Torres Strait Islands and the Gulf of Papua.

The Australia-PNG agreement bans all trawling for rock lobsters during their breeding migration.

□ New Deal For Fijian Sugar

FIJI HAS begun renegotiating a sugar agreement with the New Zealand subsidiary of the Australian company, CSR. Under the current three-year contract, which expired in March, the New Zealand Sugar Company has bought 57,000 tonnes of sugar a year at the free market price of about $A0.16 a kilogram and the New Zealand Government has been supplementing the price by 20 per cent.

But a New Zealand Embassy spokesman in Suva says his Government at present has not given any consideration to the compensation scheme and that it will not extend the sugar agreement, though it has resumed development aid suspended after last year’s military coups in Fiji.

□ Adb To Diversify Lending

THE ASIAN Development Bank says it will give more attention to providing loans that contribute to a greater diversity of agricultural production. The Bank’s president, Mr Masao Fujioka, said most lending was already directed toward agriculture and related works but more attention should be given to loans for diversified agricultural projects.

Mr Jujioka was speaking to reporters in Papua New Guinea after visiting a small-holder cocoa development project in Central Province. The Asian Development Bank is funding the project with a loan of nearly SAI3 million.

□ Farmers Support Trade Ties

AUSTRALIA’S National Farmers’ Federation has called for an extension of the country’s Closer Economic Relations (CER) agreement with New Zealand.

In a submission to a Government review of the agreement, the Farmers’ Federation says Australia’s first priority should be to seek “genuine reform of world trade on a multilateral basis”. However, an extension of the trade agreement with New Zealand would leave the two countries in a better position if the current round of multilateral trade negotiations is not successful.

The Federation says the Australia-New Zealand agreement could also form the base for a wider Pacific Rim agreement.

□ Nz Inflation Down, Jobless Up

THE GOVERNOR of New Zealand’s Reserve Bank, Mr Spencer Russell, has predicted that the country’s annual inflation rate will be five per cent this year.

In a speech to a gathering of bankers in Wellington, Mr Russell gave a strong endorsement of the Lange Government’s policies to bring down inflation, saying the focus on inflation was based on a conviction that a poor inflation record over the past 10 years had been the root cause of New Zealand’s economic problems.

Mr Russell added that the success so far in bringing down inflation laid the basis for sustained economic growth.

Meanwhile, New Zealand has recorded its highest unemployment figure since the Great Depression of the 19305.

According to figures from the Labour Department, more than 101,000 people, or 7.6 per cent of the workforce, were registered as unemployed at the end of 1987. The NZ Reserve Bank has also predicted that the unemployment rate will rise during the next 12 months.

□ Maori To Head Nz Coal Body

THE NEW Zealand Government has appointed a Maori to head a large stateowned company for the first time.

He is Mr Bob Henare, 54, a business consultant who was formerly deputy general manager of New Zealand Railways.

Mr Henare has been named chairman of New Zealand’s Coal Corporation (Coalcorp), which mines and owns most of the country’s coal resources.

□ Kiribati, Korea In Fishing Deal

SOUTH KOREAN fishing boats are to operate in the 200-nautical-mile Exclusive Economic Zone of Kiribati under an agreement signed in the country’s administrative centre, Bairiki.

The signatories to the agreement are the Kiribati Government and the Korean Deep Sea Fisheries Association. A statement from the Ministry of Natural Resources Development said the association would pay a fee of about $ A 420,000 for the right to fish in the waters of Kiribati for one year.

The statement did not specify what type of boats, or how many, were covered by the agreement. D Trade Winds

Special Report New Zealand

Nuclear Diplomacy: Lange’s Holy Grail New Zealand is playing an ever more vital role in the region. Leading our Special Report on the nation, Prime Minister David Lange confronts the controversial issue of New Zealand’s quest for a nuclear free Pacific. Following are interviews with Foreign Minister Marshall, Pacific Affairs Minister Prebble and analyses of the state ofNZ island trade and culture.

I think it was inevitable that at some time the Opposition would make its play for the great unclaimed prize of New Zealand diplomacy. By that I mean they would try to reconcile our insistence on the exclusion of nuclear weapons with the disruption to our participation in an alliance relationship with a nuclear power (the US).

It is a kind of Holy Grail of diplomacy, in search of which some extraordinary people have ridden off to seek their place in history. I have met people who were almost itching to sit where I sit and have a go at sorting it out, convinced that if only they had the chance to do it differently the accommodation would be made and the breach healed.

I do not want you to think that I have taken the well-intentioned among them lightly. The most thorough efforts were made to reach an agreement.

I also state plainly that no agreement is possible unless New Zealand changes its policy or unless the US changes its policy.

In other words an accommodation about ANZUS will only come about if nuclear weapons are brought to New Zealand or if the US acknowledges that it will not bring nuclear weapons to New Zealand.

May I explain the grounds for my certainty. You will remember that the Government was elected in 1984 on a platform that undertook to exclude nuclear weapons from New Zealand.

You may also remember that the Labour Party had undertaken to renegotiate the ANZUS alliance. There was certainly no intention of leaving the alliance or becoming a sleeping partner in it, and when I was campaigning in that election I was assertive of the value to New Zealand of the alliance.

At that time it was my view that New Zealand could exclude nuclear weapons and remain in active alliance with a nuclear power. I did not see the alliance as predominantly nuclear. I saw no need for the projection of nuclear force in the South Pacific. I believed that in the end New Zealand and the US would reach an accommodation because New Zealand’s regional usefulness as an alliance partner outweighed any part we could ever play in a global nuclear strategy.

In fact what happened has made it plain claims that ANZUS is not a nuclear alliance are absolutely hollow. The ANZUS relationship between the US and New Zealand is now inoperative exactly because the nuclear element in the alliance has become predominant.

The 1984 election was almost immediately followed by a meeting between US Secretary of State Shultz and myself. Mr Shultz stated that the alliance depended on the maintenance of American access to New Zealand ports on the basis of the neither confirm nor deny policy. He did not, as I recall, say then what he said last year, that neither confirm nor deny meant that nuclear weapons would from time to time be brought to New Zealand. I stated my Mr Lange “Claims that ANZUS is not a nuclear alliance are hollow” 39 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

“We were unable to satisfy ourselves that the was not carrying nuclear weapons” party’s view that nuclear weapons must be excluded from New Zealand. We agreed there should be a period of consultation and negotiation.

In the next few months the US made no request for any naval vessel to visit a New Zealand port and consultation and negotialion duly took place.

I must say that throughout the negotiations the American position did not alter; they would neither confirm nor deny the presence of nuclear weapons. They stated the consequences if New Zealand did not allow American vessels unimpeded access on that basis. They did not threaten, but they did not move.

American insistence on obscuring the presence or absence of nuclear weapons has a blunt logic to it. It preserves the ambiguity that maintains the credibility of the nuclear deterrent. Some vessels are nuclear-armed. Some are not. The pack is shuffled. As the Secretary of Stale put it to me, accepting neither confirm nor deny means accepting that from time to time American ships will be not might be — nuclear armed.

Hindsight now tells me that we might as well have stopped the negotiations almost as soon as we started, but you will understand why there was great reluctance to do that. The negotiations, however, assumed a remarkable character.

What happened was that various proposals to alter New Zealand’s position were discussed. Some of those proposals proved acceptable to the New Zealand Government, some did not. The proposals that were acceptable did not impair the integrity of our insistence on keeping nuclear weapons out of New Zealand. The proposals that were not acceptable were no more than devices through which New Zealand might try to proclaim itself nuclear free while actually allowing unimpeded access to nuclear weapons...

The talks continued to the end of 1984, when the US asked permission for a visit by the conventionally powered USS Buckanan. It is now apparent that the proposal was the product of widely differing expectations. The Americans saw the visit as the resumption of unfettered access; New Zealand saw the prospect ofa visit by a ship not armed with nuclear weapons. Both were disappointed; the Americans because New Zealand would admit only vessels that were not carrying nuclear weapons, we because we were unable to satisfy ourselves that the Buchanan was not carrying nuclear weapons.

After the rejection of the Buchanan's visit the negotiations focused on the wording of the bill that would give legal effect to New Zealand’s exclusion of nuclear weapons. Again, the basis on which the talks were held was the discussion of proposals to alter New Zealand’s position.

The draft legislation was considerably reworked to meet the objections of the Americans. Those objections rested on the point that the US could not under any circumstances be expected to breach its neither confirm nor deny policy by making a declaration about the armament of any of its aircraft or ships.

That is why the law is worded so that responsibility for compliance with it rests not with the owner of the visiting craft but with the New Zealand Government. Under the law as it stands now, the owner of the visiting craft may make any assertion about its armament, or may make none at all; the judgment rests entirely with the New Zealand Government.

That was as far as we could go before the law ceased to be a law and became merely a fond hope that the owners of visiting craft might comply with New Zealand’s wishes.

A law framed to allow unimpeded access cannot be in any way regarded as a prohibition on the entry of nuclear weapons. That was the price the US asked to preserve the operational alliance ... the Government was not [willing to pay it] and that was the end of the negotiations.

It simply defies logic to trust an ally not to bring nuclear weapons here when the ally’s own nuclear strategy requires that there be ambiguity about the presence of nuclear weapons. Genuine arms control demands disengagement from a nuclear strategy for the defence of New Zealand.

That in reality means that all visitors must accept that they cannot come armed with nuclear weapons.

The USS Buchanan. 40 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

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I should deal here with the point that arises from the difference between the law relating to the entry of ships and the law relating to the entry of aircraft. The latter allows for what is called a blanket clearance to be given to some types of aircraft.

Such a clearance has been given to aircraft supporting the Deep Freeze operation and to non-combat military aircraft bringing cargo and VIPs to New Zealand. All other aircraft must be cleared individually in the same way as ships.

The reason for the distinction is simple. Some ships carry nuclear weapons.

The aircraft that have the blanket clearance do not. That is why the clearance has been given, but the law has the same effect. A visit by an aircraft carrying nuclear weapons would result in as much of a breach in the law as a visit by a ship carrying nuclear weapons, and the law would be similarly invoked. The law requires the same judgments to be made whether visits are on an individual basis or a class basis.

Visits by aircraft in compliance with the law are welcome, as much as are visits by ships in compliance with the law.

I want it to be absolutely plain that New Zealand cannot return to an active alliance relationship with the US unless New Zealand changes its policy and allows nuclear weapons here, or unless the US changes its policy and accepts that it cannot bring nuclear weapons here.

I have some sympathy with those who argue seriously for the return of consensus in New Zealand foreign policy but I shall not allow it to be consensus based on deceit about nuclear weapons. There is much that is insincere in international relations and much that we do not like that we have to put up with, but this country at least can be plain about nuclear weapons.

This Government is committed to their exclusion from New Zealand as a serious measure of arms control. Words are not enough. We have acted, we have borne the consequences of our actions and we are not going backwards.

All of this brings me naturally to two further questions: whether we are better or worse off, and where we go from here.

In terms of threats to our independent existence we are in exactly the same position in 1987 as we were in 1984. There is no threat and none can be conjured. Those who refuse to take comfort in the Government’s assurances on this point can perhaps take comfort in the assertions of its most ardent critics: not even the fiercest of them has been able to identify an enemy massing on the horizon. Instead they tend to see the Government’s dereliction as the little tear we have made in the seamless fabric of nuclear deterrence.

In the wider meaning of security we are certainly not worse off. Those who talk about the withdrawal of the American security guarantee as if they are talking about a fact are doing, in fact, a disservice. The existence of the so-called guarantee was at the very least a matter of dispute. It was certainly never part of my calculations during the short period when the alliance with the US was operative.

That of course is very far from saying that I did not value conventional defence co-operation with the US. I did, and I would value it again, but I have simply never seen the alliance in terms of a small country in peril and its inevitable rescuer.

That is not the reality of it.

Defence co-operation should consist of the pursuit of common interests. That is the nature of New Zealand’s defence relationship with Australia. We have common interests that are well established and each can be helpful to the other in the pursuit of them. Those who suggest that the New Zealand Government would like Australia to be a kind of guardian for the US are misinformed if not malicious. As we did not see the US as a certain protector, we are hardly likely to think of Australia as a guarantor of our security.

While the ending of the operational alliance relationship with the US had some short-term disadvantages, in the long run we are better off. A false sense of security is not sufficient reward for taking part in a strategy that has no relevance to the defence of New Zealand. The ANZUS alliance has been unequivocally revealed in the past three years to be a nuclear alliance, a defence arrangement underpinned by a global strategy of nuclear deterrence.

As long as it retains that character it is no use to New Zealand and New Zealand had better make arrangements that are relevant to our own circumstances.

I am not suggesting that we shall be engaging in the internal politics of other countries. I will defend New Zealand’s position anywhere in the world, but New Zealand interference in the domestic politics of other countries would be as intolerable as outside interference in New Zealand politics. We shall concentrate our efforts on forums where a case for nuclear disarmament may freely be put and the interest of governments properly engaged.

In defence and in international relations generally, 1 think that the next few years will largely be a period of consolidation. There has been in some quarters a hope that the policy of the past three years is an aberration, but it is not and we shall have to get used to the new reality.

That means we must continue our reappraisal of our defence spending to match it better to our interests in the Pacific. We must reconsider the pattern of our overseas representation. There is little doubt that the greatest challenge to New Zealand diplomacy in the next few years lies in the South Pacific, but we are certainly not short of challenges, in trade and marketing as well as international relations. n From a speech by Mr Lange to the Wellington branch of the Institute of International Affairs.

“ANZUS at present is no use to us”

“We are not going backwards” 41 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

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The Marshall Scenario From Education Minister to Foreign Affairs New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Russell Marshall attacks Pacific problems with a principled zeal that makes him a man to be reckoned with, as the French nuclear lobby in particular has learned. By Nicolas Rothwell New Zealand’s Foreign Minister, Russell Marshall, combines his principled approach to international affairs with an engaging modesty and reticence. A man with Pacific priorities, he speaks in a reflective, careful style on the problems and complexities of the region.

Mr Marshall held the important Education portfolio before the re-election of the Labour Government last August. Many political observers interpret Prime Minister David Lange’s decision to move Marshall to Foreign Affairs as a favour to the party’s left wing, where the new minister unambiguously takes his stand. But Marshall seems far more than just a politically astute choice to articulate New Zealand’s fiercely independent foreign policy agenda; this former Methodist minister clearly thinks through the Pacific’s problems with an intense, if somewhat naive, decency.

Slow to anger, but possessed of a righteous fury, he has no time at all for France’s policies in New Caledonia and French Polynesia. Presiding over a talented New Zealand diplomatic staff in the region, he intends to keep the Pacific the chief concern of his Government; he has opened New Zealand’s mission in Vanuatu, and the next post to open will be in Tarawa, Kiribati, “giving us a Micronesian connection”. Last month he visited Paris for pacific discussions.

The minister has a special interest in the political debate in New Caledonia, continued French nuclear testing on Mururoa, and the evolution of the younger microstates of the region; but he is surprisingly circumspect in his comments on Fiji, where he sees a developing and stillfluid situation. Further, dogmatism is his enemy in discussing Pacific issues. Mr Marshall feels New Zealand’s history still interferes with his nation’s true regional role.

“We have to keep reminding ourselves this is where our major concerns lie. New Zealand is a South Pacific community and not a semi-European country off the coast between Britain and Spain,” he stresses.

Marshall identified a distinct ambivalence in New Zealand society in connection with last year’s Fiji crisis, which proved to New Zealanders that, though they may be the largest Pacific island community their sphere of influence is limited by their history.

Marshall discounted the drift by Suva towards closer ties with nations such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, in preference to its traditional links with Australia and New Zealand, “Fiji’s destiny is where it is geographically,” he claims. “There may be a time when they are closer to or more amenable to the blandishments of the Indonesians and the French; but while I’m cynical about the latter, I’m not so cynical about the former. I think the Indonesians have wanted to play a greater role in the South Pacific for some time, “We are not discouraging Indonesian participation: besides, I think a closer/Imlogue between the Forum countries and the ASEAN countries is a sensible thing in any event.” U 1 r A more intractable Pacific problem tor New Zealand’s diplomats, and one with which their minister feels more contident of long-term success, is New Caledonia, where the September pro-French referendum vote appears to have entrenched t e territory’s ties to Paris, “This is again an indigenous peoples issue, and the certainty to my mind is that sooner or later and I fervently hope sooner the Kanak people have to have A testy twosome: NZ Foreign Minister Bus sell Marshall (left) and French Overseas Territories Minister Bernard Pons stride to their recent talks in Paris. 42 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

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some say in whatever eventuates in New Caledonia; though there may be an absolute majority of French Government supporters, you cannot have a new form of government in New Caledonia that is insensitive to the aspirations of the Kanak people.”

Marshall readily expresses the fear that Kanak activists will despair of the moderate, politically sophisticated leadership of the Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS) under Jean-Marie Tjibaou and see the referendum, the results of last year’s controversial trial in Noumea of Caledonians accused of killing a group of FLNKS partisans, and the autonomy statute, as just so many pieces of evidence that a political approach to the problem is not working. But FLNKS leader Tjibaou has put to Marshall the argument that a wait-and-see policy is advisable, until this month’s French Presidential elections are over their results could well recast the shape of French domestic politics.

Mr Marshall is also critical of Bernard Pons’ autonomy statute, which he sees as unsatisfactory from the point of view of the Kanak people; but his outrage is sparked most vividly by the French campaign mounted at a last year’s United Nations committee vote to erode the established pro-independence, anti-French majority an operation in which Australian and New Zealand diplomats rallying the proindependence votes were trounced.

“The French ability to influence countries’ votes was, I must say, a revelation to me. I’ve become rather more cynical about international politics as a result of that,” the minister confesses. “The French were good colonisers but very poor decolonisers, and it does seem to me sometimes, watching the present French Government, that they have not learned a lesson from Indochina or Algeria: that this is their last bolthole and they are in some way fated to make the same mistake in New Caledonia as elsewhere.”

Recently, French diplomats have mounted an intriguing effort to stem the tide of New Zealand rhetoric against their policies; the Wellington French Embassy Counsellor, Mr Alain Gouhier, delivered a brave speech last month holding out the promise of constructive dialogue with Pacific nations, while warning darkly that “here and there the Press have included a mish-mash of facts, assumptions, accusations as well as official statements in other words, this is called disinformation it creates a hateful climate which at its worst touches on calumny.”

But Marshall, reasonable in most things, is an implacable foe when it comes to the most sensitive difference between New Zealand and Paris over Pacific policy: French nuclear testing at Mururoa.

The minister takes his position where he is most comfortable, on the moral high ground, and bitterly denounces the continued detonations. Opposition to nuclear weaponry remains a doctrinal point for the New Zealand Labour Party and, of course, there is another factor lurking in the background in Franco-New Zealand relations; half-stated, but ever-present, as Mr Marshall hints the tormented ghost of Rainbow Warrior: “All we can do is angrily protest to the French. We’ve done everything imaginable, except what they did to us, which is to resort to government-promoted terrorism. And we will not do that; we will not descend to the depths the French did.” n Prebble: Island Affairs At Heart The man who is making the welfare of islanders a top priority.

By Jack Kelleher.

RICHARD PREBBLE the dynamic, overloaded, fifth-ranking minister in New Zealand’s Labour Government holds portfolios that don’t include foreign affairs or immigration, but he is seen as having the most influence on the welfare of Pacific islanders in the country.

He cultivated islanders in Auckland Central electorate before they made it the hub of the largest Polynesian settlement in the South Pacific, and before he was elected MP for the area. He worked in Fiji as a lawyer for two years. He accepted island affairs as his first portfolio interest, and married a Fijian Labour Party worker.

As Minister of Pacific Island Affairs (in addition to major portfolios such as the controversial State-Owned Enterprises, the Post Office, Works, Railways and Broadcasting), he has a unit rather than a department but accepts full Government responsibility for the welfare of more than 100,000 Pacific islanders estimated to be living in New Zealand.

“I think I’ve had more personal satisfaction out of the Pacific Island Affairs ministry than all the other areas and portfolios I hold,” he says. Prebble helped promote the idea of the ministry through party councils and into manifestos, and had it offered to him by Prime Minister David Lange as the first act of the new government in 1984. An example of the small unit at work? “On three different Cabinet papers today (all to do with social issues) there was one on a Committee on Equal Opportunities within the Civil Service. I was able to suggest Pacific Islands communities needed to have their opportunities watched by the committee: the Cabinet agreed and invited my ministry to appoint a representative. I’ll make such an appointment,” he told Pacific Islands Monthly.

The issue of islander involvement in New Zealand has for years centred on the Immigration Ministry (currently under Stan Rodger) and its handling of work and permanent residence permit applications.

The Prebble unit participated in the overhaul of the 1966 Act, in particular with a submission that many islanders had become over-stayers without any intention of doing so and should be given a period of grace to get their papers straight. This Island Affairs Minister Prebble. 43 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

■Lliaud ♦ Special Report ♦ New Zeala

was the origin of the new Act’s provision for temporary permits for those who wanted to make formal application for permanent residence. Some Pacific islanders were said to have felt misled into thinking the immediate permits were a form of “amnesty” rather than temporary protection during the consideration of applications.

Prebble acknowledges “some debate” about the “accuracy of some of the translations” of the offer, but understands Pacific islanders are sophisticated in their understanding of immigration procedures, that a “good proportion” of the applications will be granted.

“In order to qualify for registration you have to have been in New Zealand for two years: if you’ve done that, you’ve not broken the law and you’ve got accommodation and a job, you’re more than halfway there.”

He emphasises that the vast majority of Pacific islanders in New Zealand have had no problems with illegal residence.

One basic problem has been their collective identification as “islanders” and not by the islands or groups of islands from which they come.

For example, Cook Islanders, Tokelauans and Niue people are New Zealand citizens; Samoans think of themselves as Samoans, not as “islanders”, and may meet other groups only in serving on committees such as Labour Party electorate branches.

Of 120,000 settlers or their descendants in New Zealand, “only about three thousand would have had an immigration difficulty,” Prebble asserts. It’s mainly a success story: “I think it’s part of the Pacific islands migration story, which has never really been told. Those who have settled here have done remarkably well.

“On my electorate committee I have a Samoan who could speak no English when he came here. Now he speaks fluent English. He owns his own house. He has a son who owns a house across the road they renovated it. Three months ago his neighbours elected him a city councillor at a ward by-election.”

Prebble, in shirt-sleeves in his office, speaks in an amiable mumble away from the debating chamber. He likes to point out that once shabby Grey Lynn in Auckland Central has become “trendy” after years of Pacific islander occupation. “Speculators have moved in, thinking they can buy up the properties. They knock on the door, find there’s a Pacific islander family living there. They ask who the landlord is and the occupants say, we haven’t got one, mate ... we own this property. Would they like to sell it? That’ll be the day, they say we moved into this neighbourhood and it has gone up in value with us in it.”

How does that square, he asks, with people who say of areas that this part was great “until the blacks moved into it”?

Richard Prebble’s colleague, Foreign Minister Russell Marshall, is “the premier minister” in the development of foreign policy. “I’ve got a good personal working relationship with Russell,” Prebble says.

“He wouldn’t mind me saying he often sends over interesting telexes he’s had from the Pacific and asks for comments. Our views would be close in any event.”

A number of Labour Cabinet members have personal knowledge of the Pacific islands or have significant island populations in their electorates he says. They include Prime Minister Lange “he and I have the biggest Pacific islander populations” but Prebble acknowledges that he has to point out to some visiting politicians from the Pacific that he does not have a foreign affairs role. He notices, however, how many come to see him, put their case*; then make it clear that they think he, as Minister of Pacific Island Affairs, should tell Civil Aviation (or whichever department they are having discussions with) what should be done.

When he was also Minister for Transport and for Civil Aviation his extra responsibilities fitted neatly alongside Pacific Island Affairs, which is greatly concerned with improving transport links.

Asked if he feels frustrated by the long process of diplomacy, which requires measured thaws before New Zealand can recognise the regime in Fiji, Mr Prebble replies that he sees no reason to feel frustrated. “One reality to accept is that Fiji is our nearest neighbour” he says. “Another is that one of our permanent interests is Fiji’s permanent interest to continue a good working relationship between stable, peaceful, law-abiding countries.”

One thing he would note about relations between New Zealand and Fiji in the past two months is that they have been shown to be deeply intertwined. This is demonstrated by “how few things were actually broken off’. New Zealand never withdrew its High Commission, for example, and continued with most of its aid programs. The only thing it really suspended was military aid. . . and he thinks that was an appropriate move.

“Our criticism of things we didn’t like puts us under a moral obligation to identify things we do like. The decrees issued recently, which established a High Court, appear to have restored a genuinely independent judiciary. The Chief Justice is a man for whom I have considerable personal regard. I think it would be a further step forward to promulgate an interim constitution to safeguard basic civil liberties. But I’m not a foreign policy minister ... that is my own view,” he adds.

The minister talks about the pace of diplomacy and his capacity to put up with it. “I enjoy the change of pace,” he says, “as in a meeting of Pacific islands people where, I guess, some would say nothing is happening, but people find all kinds of subtle ways to say a lot. The European way simply doesn’t suit everyone.” □ Richard Prebble (centre front) with his Pacific Islands AdviMry Council. (Bfek row): Koli Kama, Tony Johns, Granby Siakimotu, Sunia Raitave. (Middle row): John Maka, loana Teao, Louuisa Crawley, Louisa Kea, Alepano Savelio, Kilifi Heimuli. (Front row): Elizabeth McAllister, Sister Luisa Tuitavake, Mr Prebble, Tupou Manapori, Poko Morgan. 44

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PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

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Island Cultures Make Their Mark Art and religion , literature and sport .

By Jack Kelleher OUT OF the darkness of the street they come, family groups drawn to the dim lights of the church. Pressing inside for the Christmas midnight mass, the youngest children are wide-eyed with wonder as they are allowed to stay up well past their usual bedtime hours.

I am wide-eyed, too, tonight at the Church of the Holy Family here in Porirua. I seem to be stepping back 50 years to a time of cloud-white shirts and blouses, Sunday best; and to the church not as an outpost but as an extension of house and home.

Mothers whose features speak of Samoa, the Cooks and Tonga, together with some Maoris, nurse the very young. Husbands with the strong arms of bulldozer drivers, busmen and storemen hold aloft older children, also in white, in the overflowing aisles at the back of the church.

This hilly suburb at the northern edge of Wellington has hardly emerged from an era of state housing. It is only beginning to recover from lack of amenities, lack of privacy, lack of tree cover, porches, or garages that would invite house occupants to keep their cars off front lawns. Porirua was once originally the refuge of anyone of slender means: Pacific islanders preferred Newtown, one of the older inner suburbs of Wellington, as they have preferred Ponsonby in central Auckland or Sydenham in Christchurch.

A Samoan leader told me how town planners drive cultural and socio-economic groups into particular areas. Councils do it with the public transport they organise, the rates they levy. Wiri and Mangere were developed in Auckland, as Porirua was here, but Porirua was provided for an earlier, indigenous generation of renters dignified by visits and blessings from the Queen. In the past few years Porirua has begun to acquire a new sense of dignity and a diversification of its Maori-Pakeha culture since the islanders joined the population.

The groups come together at the Sunday mass, to demonstrate that religion remains a basic element in their lives.

Teenagers in particular are exposed to other influences, as are some of the older males. But in the homes of parents and grandparents traditional influences remain paramount and none of the generations want to damage that stability.

The arts of music, dress, design are expressed through the islanders’ religious commitment, along with the rituals of marriage, birth and death.

Fatu Feu’u is a Samoan-born, Auckland resident who recreates tapa through the modern art of lithography. In the islands his art aspirations may have caused him to develop no further than the other village painters who have become known locally: he was born in 1946 and grew up in the village of Poutasi. He was educated at Samoa College, Apia, and knew the kind of mark he wanted to make when he came to New Zealand at the age of 20.

He continued to paint while working in factories, then took a job in industrial design, carrying on with his art even when he was partly incapacitated by a hip injury at which time he produced a series of large abstracts using a cloth wrapped around a golf club.

At art school he learned to produce lithographs, then to sublimate lithography’s technicalities to a realisation of his Samoan heritage. He translated the legends of old Samoa to a new art form and a series of his lithographs is about to complete a record-breaking exhibition at the Dowse Art Museum, in the Wellington satellite city of Lower Hutt. There, islands-descended school children from Island storyteller Albert Wendt. 45 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

Id • Special Report • Ne

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WA> 195 Parramatta Rd, Auburn 2144 Sydney, NSW, Australia (02) 648 0591 throughout the region are being shown his work.

Fatu Feu’u’s lithographs reconstruct the beginning of the Samoan legend of the Nine-Headed Pigeon. Lupe Uluiva. The legend involves a manaia (son of a high chief) and his infatuation with a taupou (woman of supernatural origins). It is set in Vaimo’oi’a, or sacred bathing waters, that are the exclusive sanctuary of matais.

He says all the art forms of the Polynesian people, whether they be Samoan, Rarotongan or Maori, have a meaning a love story, a message, a genealogy or a catalogue. The messages are carved in wood or carved on their bodies. “If you read all the lines of the tattoo,” Feu’u says, “it will tell you a story. By reading the number of lines, and their shapes, you find a genealogy, and you can make out the titles of all the families.”

The example of this Samoan artist’s instinct, sense of tradition and talent, all given technique and release by scholarship in New Zealand, moved the Dowse to assemble and exhibit the NZ National Museum’s collection of tapa (so called in the Solomons, New Britain, Futuna and Santa Cruz; it is masi in Fiji, ngatu in Tonga, kapa in Hawaii and siapo in PNG and the Cook Islands), which includes a kapa room-divider believed to have been presented to Captain Cook when he was in the Hawaiian Islands.

Luseane Kiloi, a Tongan tapa-maker, followed in March by demonstrating the processing the bark of the hiapo (mulberry) in which narrow strips are beaten to paper thinness and overlaid with others to make a strong fabric, then dye-printed with stencils.

All of the island groups have their storytellers. If they are not as celebrated as Samoa’s Albert Wendt, established on New Zealand bookshelves for such novels as Sons For The Return Home, some are keeping the legends of the island home alive for succeeding generations; others are still savouring the experiences that will form the latest saga of the Polynesian migration. Poets, too, are still an important part of the literature.

No art form has had such mass appeal in establishing Polynesians throughout New Zealand as pop music. When the NZ National Youth Council introduced a mental health project to Parliament, the musical accompaniment was from the band Quabax, comprising Anne and Martha Samasoni and Suzanne Lyons.

The Polynesian preference for bright colours and cool styles in clothing has been taken up by Maori and by Pakeha women; indeed, women’s art is blending as artists from different island groups join together in a movement called Pacifica. New Zealand has long been the great coming-to- All Black star Wayne Shelford on the burst. 46

• Special Report • New Z

PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

NOTICE KIKKOMAN TRADE MARKS Notice is hereby given that Kikkoman Corporation, a corporation duly organised and existing under the laws of Japan, of 339, Noda, Noda City, Chiba, Japan, is the sole proprietor in Nauru and elsewhere of the following Trade Mark: i. KIKKOMAN Used in respect of the following: Coffee, tea, cocoa, sugar, rice, tapioca, sago, coffee substitutes, flour, and preparations made from cereals, bread, biscuits, cakes, pastry and confectionery, ices, honey, treacle, yeast, baking powder, salt, mustard, pepper, vinegar, sauces, spices, ice.

The proprietor claims all rights in respect of the above Trade Marks and will take all necessary legal steps against any person or company infringing those rights.

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PATENT ATTORNEYS, Sydney, Australia gether place of island people, and could produce something entirely new.

Pacific Islanders have also introduced New Zealand to a more exuberant version of the Maori’s extended family, which has been under great pressure as cousins and further generations are accommodated in limited space and with small resources, Hospitality has developed as an art form, rising above the pressures.

Left to themselves, the new settlers entertain each other with nothing more complicated than an islands-style cricket bat or a pack of cards. Nothing bridges the generations more effectively, Polynesians say, than cards. Elders teach the youngsters new tricks, such as the universal “suipi”, or sweep.

But in New Zealand the islanders have also become sports page heroes. Rugby union, rugby league, softball and netball even bowls, at a Commonwealth Games tournament have shown how dedicated to excellence Pacific islanders can be.

Rugby union stars such as Michael Jones, following in the footsteps of Bernie Fraser and Bryan Williams, have elevated the national game to an art form, with a grace of movement that is the aficionado’s delight. Jimmy Peau, New Zealand and Commonwealth boxing champion, also follows a long line of island fighters trained in Auckland.

The arts know no perimeters. Perhaps the different expressions of hospitality will take longest to blend as Pacific islanders merge in the New Zealand community, Louisa Crawley, deputy director of the Government’s Pacific Island Affairs Advisory Unit, says the most difficult aspect of life in New Zealand is the different way of “accepting” people, “Islanders tend to welcome anyone, tolike them immediately,” she says. “As they live with us we discover the less pleasant things. The tendency in New Zealand is to watch and observe first. If you make it, you’ll be accepted. Not before.”

Many questions remain. Will Pacific islanders in New Zealand preserve their traditional hospitality? Will they pick up long-lost pieces of their culture, as Maoris have done, in a renaissance? At this stage there are few answers. Polynesians and Pakehas, however, are confident that the process of integration is working well, n Trading Partners Good neighbours make good business partners but there are problems to be solved. By Jack Kelleher ENTREPRENEURIAL and manufacturing energy is having more effeet on trade between the Pacific islands and New Zealand than planning by governments and commissions. The forces combine, however, in the response of New Zealand garment manufacturers to the establishment of a new tax-free zone in Fiji.

Fiji has a need to encourage industry now more than ever and the New Zealand Government has just instituted a pohey of allowing Fiji-made clothing into the country duty-free, without licence. Put these factors together, add the cost of lahour in Fiji (attractive in comparison with labour costs in New Zealand) and it is easy to see why New Zealand manufacturers should transfer, mothball or try to dispose of their plants, open factories in Fiji and ship their goods home. ... lsn 1 a " B°°d news for Fiji, however: Fijians m New Zealand are among workers losing jobs through factory close-downs m Gisborne, Auckland and Whangarei.

Women, who make up 97 per cent of this workforce, are the most affected by the drying up of work in New Zealand, and the prospect of their employers setting up operations in Fiji.

Manufacturers setting off on this trail need to beware of a rule requiring 50 per cent of the total cost of production to be sourced in Fiji which would limit the origin of materials. And when the finished product is brought back to New Zealand, it must be competitive with imports arriving under reduced protection during the next three years.

Forestry is moving in the same direction, with Forest Products (Fiji) Ltd, a new joint venture between New Zealand and Hong Kong companies, gaining approval to operate a tax-free factory at Lautoka, to manufacture prefabricated houses for export to New Zealand. It is the first entirely overseas-owned company to take advantage of the scheme. Forest Products, a New Zealand giant, claims to have a process that can make use of timber unsuitable for other purposes. It plans initially to employ 72 people and to export 200 houses, earning more than $F600,000 in its first year.

Trade between the islands and New Zealand has languished in recent years in 47 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

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41 U spite of the reduction of NZ trade barriers and the establishment of programs to aid the production and marketing of island goods. There are no trade barriers in New Zealand that are not already in the process of being dismantled; in fact, the last two items on the list of dutiable goods coconut cream and passionfruit juice will be duty free by July 1. Australia will still have a few products left on-quota, specifically in the areas of textiles, clothing and footwear.

New Zealand has worked positively to achieve the aims of the South Pacific Region Trade and Economic Co-operation Agreement (SPARTECA); in the assistance area a $lOO,OOO fund is available to help island companies employ consultants to examine markets in New Zealand, The aid program, administered through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs rather than Trade and Industry, already has marketing studies and promotions under way.

There are plans to help Samoans establish that their honey is disease-free in order to satisfy the German market. Another study aims to improve the canning of food, and a third will examine the bottling of fish for export.

New Zealand provides only a tenth of the economic aid that flows to island communities, but from New Zealand’s point of view it is now the main part of its international aid commitment. NZ imports from the islands have decreased, mainly because they were concentrated in value on a couple of products and countries: the collapse of Nauru’s phosphate and decreased use of Papua New Guinea coffee had a disproportionate effect on total trade figures. When the Fiji sugar harvest was in jeopardy, after the coup, SPARTECA looked to be undone.

In fact, SPARTECA was needed as never before. Imports to New Zealand decreased from the 1983 figure of SNZBO million to the 1987 mark of SNZ6S million. Reduction in phosphate use had much to do with that, as Nauru battled problems unlike any other community s: its exports of phosphate plummeted from a value of SNZ42 million in 1983 to just $l5 million in 1987.

PNG’s SNZ9 million worth of exports in 1983 almost doubled by 1986 and dropped to SNZB million the following year as coffee prices fell.

In the same period, Fiji increased its production of manufactured items and became a promising platform for research assistance. To a lesser extent the same applied in Samoa and Tonga: Melanesian countries continued to rely heavily on export uses for sawn tropical timbers.

Fijian imports to New Zealand have been more stable than most; only $lOO,OOO down in the year to December 1987, from SNZI9.S million the year before. Sugar alone earned more than SNZII million, Cook Islands has averaged SNZS million export earnings in the past five years; Western Samoa has earned SNZ9.B million, Tonga SNZ4.2 million, Vanuatu SNZBOO,OOO, Niue SNZ 187,000 and Kiribati SNZ7I,OOO.

Exporters may have a new major competitor in New Zealand if all trade barriers are to fall. They will need to sidestep products from Taiwan, Korea and Indonesia.

SPARTECA s architects believe they have prevented items from these countnes infiltrating areas such as Fiji s tax-free zone with their 50 per cent requirement for local cost.

Trade between the islands and New Zealand, as everywhere, still has room for the initiative and imagination on the part of the individual: New Zealand s participants in SPARTECA are trying to encourage that. 48 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

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Fi r st Contact (the book) is disappointing, and hardly likely to be a bestseller except among that small audience familiar with the Western Highlands of Papua New Guinea and its recent history.

The Leahy brothers, the late James Taylor and the Hagen people themselves experienced a shifting of their lives in 1933 when they met. The massive impact of first contact and its aftermath does not pervade the book: contact that was the very first meeting between a sophisticated and diverse stone age culture and an arguably less sophisticated Caucasian influence is not portrayed effectively; precious records in the form of movie film and still photographs by Mick Leahy create little, if any, impression.

The book also errs, for example, by not explaining the naming of some of the Papua New Guinea people in the book.

This has, in some cases, been done in a specific way, but meaning is lost because the naming process is not explained by the authors. It appears as if people have massive names when in fact their representative clan name has also been mentioned. (This style of naming is only used by clans around Mount Hagen and does not apply to the naming of Papua New Guineans from other areas such as from around Goroka. To make matters worse, nowhere in the book is any explanation of pronunciation given about names.) One example of the naming process is Ndika Opramb Rumint, on Page 107.

Ndika (pronounced Jika or Jiga) represents the (Ndika) Jiga clan; Opramb Rumint (pronunciation Roomint) is his name.

Similarly, on Page 108, Mokei Nambuka (Sir) Wamp Wan should be divided as Mokei (Mogei): Nambuka (pronounced Nam-boo-ga); is the sub-clan. Wamp Wan, the name, when translated from the Melpa language means Wamp = man, wan - top or leader. Sir Wamp Wan was honoured with a CBE in 1981/1982.

Because there is no explanation of names as such, the significance of the names and tribal affiliations is lost. Yet it was that incessant inter- and intra-tribal competition and conflict in which the Leahys and Taylor unwittingly found themselves. To the Hagens (the Yamugas, the Jigas and the Mogeis), once the white men had been perceived as “friendly spirits”, a tremendous competition took place between and within clans to see which clan or sub-clan could win their favour. This happened because the white men were perceived as having supernatural powers and were believed to bring added strength or prestige to the clan that “won” them.

Leahy and Taylor were oblivious to these undercurrents; when they moved from one site to another, the Hagen people would have perceived such a move as being a shift in favouritism from one clan to another, and jealousies and tribal repercussions would have resulted. First Contact makes no attempt to cover those aspects, with the result that it lacks depth and substance.

Other inaccuracies occur when Mick Leahy’s son is referred to as Joe, when his name is Johannes and he has always been known as Jo, or Joh.

Inaccurate and vague details occur in many places throughout First Contact; I can only express the disappointment I felt at such excellent material being treated with less dynamism and less accuracy than the subject warrants. □ Mlcheal Leahy In Wabag, 1934.

First Contact Continued from page 27

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PNG rugby league comes of age.

By Larry Writer THE PAPUA New Guinea Kumuls rugby league team served notice during last year’s tour of England and France that they were at last a force to be reckoned with on the international rugby league scene. Although the PNG players were powered out of the Test matches by bigger opponents, they displayed ball skills and elusiveness far above the average. All that has ever stood between Papua New Guinea and international Test Match success has been the Kumuls’ inability to keep on bringing down the big men of England, France, Australia and New Zealand for the full 80 minutes of a match. And this, again, was their undoing on the recent European tour.

Now, however, with a comprehensive beating of Australia’s Gold Coast Giants based on a ferocious and unflagging defence, the Port Moresby side proved that Papua New Guinea rugby league has at last solved its defensive problems.

The victory was noted with alarm by Australian rugby league chiefs who had considered that the Test Match this year between Papua New Guinea and Australia at the Wagga Showground, NSW, on July 20 was a foregone conclusion. The international game is sandwiched into a full Australian representative calendar that features State of Origin games, a series against Great Britain and a match against the Rest of the World.

The silver-clad Gold Coast Giants, this year playing in the tough Sydney competition for the first time, were shocked by the determined Port Moresby side. Although the Giants boasted a million-dollar team they were beaten 28-22. In the losing team were Australian international star Chris Close, the man who inspired Manly club to the 1987 premiership, “Rambo” Ronny Gibbs, speedster Ben Gonzales, Mike Eden, Mark Ross, Billy Johnston and Rob Simpkins, all in the top rank of Australian league performers.

The Lloyd Robson Oval victory was a tribute to Port Moresby coach Steve Malum, who made sure that his men kept the pressure on the much bigger Australians. With only minutes to go it was still anybody’s game. Port Moresby led 24-22; then a high bomb, kicked with pinpoint accuracy by Port Moresby, landed over the Australian goal line. In the scramble fullback Mathias Kitimon plucked the ball from the arms of a Giant to score the try that put the result beyond doubt.

Port Moresby had scored the first try of the match when, at the 10-minute mark, hooker Michael Matmilo backed up a good run to touch down. Then the Gold Coast, with plenty of possession, mounted raid after raid on the Port Moresby line, only to be driven back by fierce tackles that picked the towering Aussies up and drove them headlong into the ground.

On the comparatively few occasions that Port Moresby had the ball they were spectacular, whipping it along a backline that including lightning fast Clement Mou, Mea Morea, Arnold Krewanty and Joe Ben. Their running and passing often left the Gold Coast men bewildered. In the forwards, none played better than the Kouoru brothers, Haoda and Gideon.

The 8000-strong crowd went home after the match convinced that the PNG Kumuls, sure to have a strong Port Moresby representation, would give the Australians a match to remember. □ The action had the 8000 spectators roaring for more. 51 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

The Island Press Reports from the papers, compiled by John Carter FIJI’S NEW envoy to the United Kingdom will travel to meet the Queen in a carriage drawn by two horses rather than four when he presents his credentials at Buckingham Palace next month.

In keeping with protocol, the Queen has downgraded the new envoy to a two-horse ranking because he will no longer be a high commissioner, but an ambassador.

From the Fiji Times , Suva IT HAS been a quiet week, according to superintendent Tanielu Galuvao, the police press officer. There was no fatal accident or serious crime. A taxi driver, Galuvao said, was involved in a race with another vehicle and had used a pistol to shoot at the door of the other car. He has been charged with possession of an unlawful weapon.

From the Samoa Times , Apia WHAT IS wrong with the dressing of young men in our town today?

Why do they wear their jeans unbuttoned at the waist and low on their hips as if their trousers are going to fall off?

Why do they prefer big baggy shirts which they write on and tear up so that they soon fall apart? ... I say what about our young men? Where are their minds and hearts?

They dress more like urban terrorists than the hope of this nation’s future.

From a letter by “Man Watcher” in the Papua New Guinea Post-Courier , Port Moresby IF ANYONE’S been lucky this month it’s the Prime Minister.

Dr Pupeke Robati took second prize in the Takuvaine Rugby Club raffle drawn recently to win $11,500.

What’s ironical is that his winning ticket was sold to him by the leader of the Opposition and MP for Takuvaine, Geoffrey Henry.

From the Cook Islands News , Rarotonga THE 1987 DUX of Avarua School, Robert Moana Matamaki, will be heading back to school this year with a new hair cut.

The 14-year-old lad had his long hair plaited into 51 hairlocks on Saturday and cut by various people in a ceremony at his parents’ home in Takuvaine.

Robert, dressed in white, sat on a beautifully decorated chair where his friends proceeded to singly cut a lock of hair each.

From the Cook Islands News , Rarotonga A SECURITY man told police yesterday he had been forced to do all the work for thieves who broke into the Talair hangar at Madang on Wednesday night.

Madang acting provincial police comtender Nelson Kass. said yesterday three masked men armed with bush knives held up the lone security man outside the hangar and “made the poor man do all the dirty work for them . - F D rom ‘ he Post-Couner , Port Moresby INI r, XT r* ■ „ 00 o POLICE IN Papua New Guinea say a man s head was blown off by a shotgun blast and 19 houses were burned when Highlands clansmen raided a rival village, More than 800 clansmen of the Kinimbi and Igom clans are said to have raided a village in the Baiyer River area owned by the rival Kopi and Kimbu clans.

Papua New Guinea police say it happened when Kopi and Kimbu men were at a meeting with the Western Highlands Peace and Good Order Committee.

From Radio Australia’s Pacific Report A MOUNT Hagen lecturer says two uniformed policemen bashed him up in the street yesterday “for no good reason”, and then drove off.

Mr Cletus Kaytopa, a lecturer at Holy Trinity Teachers College, said he was just leaving a friend’s home when the policemen pulled up in a van, jumped out and bashed him and a companion.

When he asked them why, they offered no explanation and drove off.

From the Papua New Guinea Post-Courier , Port Moresby CAN YOU believe that one pineapple exported to Queensland, Australia, for about 80 toea returns to PNG in three cans at K 2.50 each.

Well it’s true, according to Mr Michael Stoll, an expert and consultant in export marketing who has been hired by the Australian Department of Trade and Foreign Affairs to conduct seminars in PNG.

He told a four-day seminar attended by about 20 businessmen that PNG had the potential of setting up manufacturing industries.

From the Papua New Guinea Post-Courier , Port Moresby TAWAKE VEILESIYAKI, 39, of Raiwaqa: ‘T grew my beard as a sign of mourning, and have had it for two months.

The only problem that I have is food ending up in it. I have to clean my beard quite often.”

From a Fiji Times survey on “Why men grow beards”

Transition Died; James Grundy, former director of the Fiji Employers Consultative Association, in Suva’s Colonial War Memorial Hospital on January 13. Born in Middleton, Lancashire in 1908, Mr Grundy was a rubber planter in India prior to serving in the British Army in India during World War 11. He later worked in Malaya and Singapore before joining FECA as director in 1960.

Died: Campbell “Bambi” Quintal, 68, of Norfolk Island, on February 10. Known as “a Norfolk Islander of the old school gentle, courteous at all times”, Mr Quintal was a member of one of Norfolk Island’s most famous families and his death was a cause of sadness for all, according to the Norfolk Islander.

Name Changed: Mr David Unagi, member for Moresby North-East in the Papua New Guinea Parliament, announced in February that he has changed his name to David Moshe Dayan Unagi.

Died: Mr Herbert “Bert” Kienzle, 83, in Sydney. Mr Kienzle’s long and honourable association with Papua New Guinea began in 1927, when he was appointed manager of a rubber plantation at Kanusia. In the 1930 s he established a mining company in the Yodda Valley, near Goroka, and later set up his own rubber plantation there. Mr Kienzle’s most famous contribution to PNG history was his involvement with the Australian retreat along the Kokoda Trail in 1942. He assembled and assisted some 6000 carriers soon known as “Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels” and played a vital part in helping AIF soldiers survive the crossing of the Owen Stanley Range. Mr Kienzle is survived by his wife Naril, three sons, two daughters and several adopted Papua New Guinean children.

Appointed: Dr David J Doulman, as deputy director of the South Pacific Forum Fisheries Agency in Honiara, Solomon Islands. Formerly Chief Fisheries Economist in Papua New Guinea and director of the East-West Centre’s tuna project, Mr Doulman is an internationally acclaimed expert on tuna fisheries and the author of two books on fisheries in the South Pacific.

Appointed: Mr Michael M Maue, as project officer with the South Pacific Bureau for Economic Co-operation. Mr Maue is a Bachelor of Economics graduate from the University of Papua New Guinea and joined SPEC from PNG’s Department of Foreign Affairs, where he was assistant secretary in its Pacific Australia and New Zealand branch. As project officer (European Community), Mr Maue will be responsible for the administration of SPEC’s EC-funded regional program. □ 52 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

COUNTRY STAMPS MINIATURE SHEETS TOTAL VALUE IN DEUTSCHMARK Australia 58 1 59 46.35 Cocos (Keeling) Islands 18 — 18 46.00 Cook Islands 33 11 44 294.50 Fiji 22 — 22 52.90 French Polynesia 28 — 28 128.65 Kiribati 17 — 17 33.00 Marshall Islands 32 2 34 100.05 Micronesia 18 1 19 38.45 Nauru 14 — 14 18.30 New Caledonia 26 — 26 100.20 New Zealand 29 2 31 176.10 Niuafo’ ou Island 24 3 27 103.00 Niue 28 10 38 267.60 Norfolk Island 25 2 27 72.90 i Palau 67 — 67 136.80 Papua New Guinea 23 — 23 55.50 Penryhn 23 6 29 210.50 Pitcairn 16 — 16 33.85 Samoa 29 — 29 61.90 Solomon Islands 62 3 65 135.65 Tokelau Islands 13 — 13 26.40 Tonga 44 3 47 171.50 Vanuatu 24 1 25 106.00 Wallis & Futuna Islands 24 - 24 104.05 Pacific Stamp Box Edited by John Hunter EACH YEAR I report on the annual survey of stamp issues prepared by Michel Rundschau and appearing in the Michel Catalogue Stamp Magazine produced in West Germany. In this month’s column I review the 1986 survey, with particular reference to the Pacific.

One of the most notable features in recent times has been the ever increasing number of stamp issues each year. But in 1986, for the first time in many years, the number of issues has fallen dramatically.

The following shows the trend over the past five years: in 1982 there were 7793 stamps issued with 886 miniature sheets and 8679 total issues; in 1983, 7830 stamps, 825 miniature sheets and 8655 total issues; in 1984,9254 stamps, 908 sheets, 10,162 total issues; in 1985,9141 stamps, 915 miniature sheets, 10,056 total issues; in 1986, 8716 stamps, 793 miniature sheets, 9509 total issues.

Unlike many other industries where one looks with satisfaction at an increase in units produced, stamp collectors are horrified by the spiralling number of new issues each year. Many countries’ stamp authorities are guilty of putting out new issues simply to increase their revenue. But this does not work in reality because, over the past few years, collectors have reacted against this practice by dropping or cutting down on stamps from countries at fault.

Many countries, it seems from the latest figures, are at last listening to the cries of collectors. Australia Post reluctantly cut down on its proposed program of new issues in 1986 due to collectors’ appeals that the cost of the program was a heavy financial burden. I believe that next year will see further falls in the number of issues.

But let us look more closely at what countries produced in 1986. According to Rundschau, 17 out of 250 stamp issuing countries in the world produced almost 30 per cent of all new issues in 1986. It is these countries that need to heed the message that flooding the stamp scene with new issues does not necessarily increase the number of collectors or revenue.

The sad distinction of being the number one issuer of stamps belongs to Tuvalu. Tuvalu produced about 360 stamps in 1985 and was number one again in 1986, with 245 stamps produced and 33 miniature stamps. Such high production has cost Tuvalu its credibility with collectors and dealers. Tuvalu is no longer regarded as a reputable stamp issuing authority. There is, happily, no other Pacific nation in the top 17 producers. (For your interest, other high producers are St Vincent, Malaysia, Bulgaria, the Soviet Union and Vietnam.) Following is a breakdown of the number of stamp issues from each Pacific area: The above table can be a little misleading, for it is possible to wrongly praise a country for issuing only a small number of stamps without considering the face value of the stamps issued. A country can turn off collectors just as much by having excessive face values for its stamps. The Cook Islands, Niue and Tonga illustrate this point. They have issued a relatively small number of stamps but at a very high price.

The “black list” of top 10 countries according to financial face value contains only one Pacific nation Tuvalu. Tuvalu stamps have a total value of 524.40 Deutschmarks.

The countries I have criticised are on the way to causing permanent damage to their philatelic image by killing the goose that laid the golden egg. Many have huge stocks of unsold stamps that are often overprinted with strange commemorative events or are dumped through stamp packets on to the market. □ Above and at left are recent issues of stamps by the Cook Islands and French Polynesia. Though prolific issuers, neither nation floods the market as does Tuvalu. 53 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

Shipping Schedules

Australia New Caledonia

Fiji Hawaii North America

PACE Line (ACTA Shipping) operates a fully containerised service every 17 days from Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane to Suva and Lautoka. A recent feature of the service is direct calls at Noumea. The vessels continue on to the North coast of America, calling at Hawaii at frequent intervals.

Details from ACTA Pty Ltd, Sydney (2660633); Tlx AA121369; Fax 2671148; Burns Philp (SS) Co Ltd, Rodwell Road, Suva (311777); Tlx FJ2168; Fax 311804; Burns Philp (SS) Co Ltd, Lautoka (60777); Sato SA, Avenue James Cook, BPC 2, Noumea. Cedex (281122); Tlx 163 NM SATO; Fax 278532.

Australia Samoas Tonga

Warner Pacific Lines operates a regular cargo service from Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne to Nukualofa, Pago Pago, Apia and Vava’u.

Details from Hetherington Wesfarmers Shipping Agency, 37-49 Pitt St, Sydney (2231600).

Australia New Caledonia

Fiji Samoas Tonga

Pacific Forum Line operates a fully containerised service (general, reefer and ro-ro) from Brisbane and Sydney to Noumea, Lautoka, Suva, Apia, Pago Pago, Nukualofa, Sydney. Cargo centralised from Adelaide and Melbourne.

Details from Pacific Forum Line, PO Box 796 Auckland; Union Bulkships, 333 George St, Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne; Union Co, Lautoka; Pacific Forum Line, Suva, Nukualofa and Apia; Polynesia Shipping, Pago Pago.

Fiji Tuvalu Kiribati Fiji

Pacific Forum Line operates a conventional vessel providing a 28-day service from Fiji to Tuvalu and Kiribati.

Australia Lord Howe Island

Norfolk Island

Compagnie des Chargeurs Caledoniens operates four-weekly cargo service Sydney- Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island.

Details Hetherington Wesfarmers Shipping Agency, 37-49 Pitt St, Sydney (2231600).

Australia Kiribati

K. Asia Pacific operates a 5/6 weekly service from Melbourne and Sydney to Kiribati (Tarawa).

KAP New Guinea Lines calls Tarawa after PNG ports on a 35-day basis from Melbourne and Sydney/Brisbane.

Details from K. Asia Pacific Pty Ltd, Goldfields House, 1 Alfred St, Circular Quay, Sydney (2322277), Tlx; 122143.

Australia Tuvalu

K. Asia Pacific operates direct service every second voyage to Tulalu (Funafuti).

Details from K. Asia Pacific Pty Ltd, Goldfields House, 1 Alfred St, Circular Quay, Sydney (2322277), Tlx 122143.

Australia Norfolk Island

Lord Howe Island

Norfolk Island Shipping Line operates direct service every 5/6 weeks ex-Sydney.

Details from K. Asia Pacific Pty Ltd as managing agents for NISL, Goldfields House, 1 Alfred St, Circular Quay, Sydney (2322277).

Australia Cook Islands

Norfolk Island Shipping Line operates direct service every 5/6 weeks ex-Sydney.

Details from K. Asia Pacific Pty Ltd as managing agents for NISL, Goldfields House, 1 Alfred St, Circular Quay, Sydney (2322277).

Compagnie Generale Maritime operates a monthly service from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to Noumea, Port Vila and Santo, for containerised and brake-bulk cargo.

Details from Compagnie Generale Maritime, 12 Castlereagh St, Sydney (2313700).

Australia Nauru

Nauru Pacific Line operates regular cargo service from Melbourne to Nauru, passenger service to Nauru only.

Details from Nauru Pacific Line (Aust) Pty Ltd, Nauru House, 80 Collins St, Melbourne (6535709). Nedlloyd Swire, 8 Spring St, Sydney (20522).

Australia Solomon Islands

VANUATU NGAL/PNGL joint service operates a monthly service.

Details from Nedlloyd Swire Pty Ltd, 8 Spring St, Sydney (20522).

Australia New Zealand

The Australian National Line and the New Zealand Line operate a weekly container service (TRANZTAS) between Sydney and Melbourne to Auckland, Wellington, Lyttleton and Port Chalmers.

Details from Australian National Shipping Agencies, 131-137 York St. Sydney (2257333) and ANL Shipping Agencies, “World Trade Centre”, Cnr Flinders and Spencer Sts, Melbourne (6112323) or New Zealand Line, Pastoral House, 96 Lambton Quay, Wellington, (7285000).

Australia Nz Fiji

Vanuatu New Caledonia

Solomons New Guinea

Sitmar Cruises operates a year-round cruise program from Sydney to include the betterknown ports in the above countries plus a number of unspoilt, and largely unknown, island paradises.

Details from Sitmar Cruises, 39 Martin Place, Sydney (2399000), NSW; reservations and inquiries (008 422277); rest of Australia, reservations and inquiries (008 222277).

Australia Nz Fiji

Vanuatu New Caledonia

Solomons New Guinea

Sitmar Cruises operates a year-round cruise program from Sydney to include the betterknown ports in the above countries plus a number of unspoilt, and largely unknown, island paradises.

Details from Sitmar Cruises, 39 Martin Place, Sydney (2399000), NSW; reservations and inquiries (008 422277); rest of Australia, reservations and inquiries (008 222277).

Australia Png Solomons

VANUATU A consortium of NGAL/PNGL and CONPAC/ NEL has four vessels operating a joint service from east coast Australian ports to Port Moresby, Lae, Alotau, Madang, Wewak, Rabaul, Kavieng-Kimbe, Kieta, Honiara, Vila, Santo.

Details from Burns Philp & Co Ltd, PC Box R 124, Royal Exchange, Sydney 2000 (20547); Nedlloyd Swire, 8 Spring St, Sydney (20522); New Guinea Express Lines, 37 Pitt St, Sydney (2413991); Vila Agents PO Box 27, Port Vila (2456), Tlx: NHIOII.

New Guinea Express Lines operates a weekly container service from Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane to Port Moresby, Lae, Alotau, Kimbe, Rabaul, Kieta, Honiara, Kavieng, Madang, Wewak, Santo, Vila.

Details from New Guinea Express Lines, PO Box R 73, Royal Exchange, Sydney (2413991); New Guinea Express Lines, 127 Creek St, Brisbane (2219333); New Guinea Express Lines, 84 William St, Melbourne (6025544); Nuigini Express Lines, Port Moresby (214572); New Guinea Express Lines agent Steamships Trading, Rabaul (921400); Bougainville Agencies Pty Ltd, Kieta (956089); New Guinea Express Lines, Steamships Trading Co, Madang (822446); New Guinea Express Lines, Garamut Enterprises, Wewak (862106); Burns Philp (PNG) Ltd, Kavieng (942133); Alotau Steevedoring and Transport, Alotau (611318); Ngatia Wholesalers Pty Ltd, Kimba (93-5102); and Tradco Shipping, Mandana Avenue, Honiara (22588); Vila Agents Ltd, PO Box 971, Vila, Vanuatu (2490); John Lum & Associates, PO Box 65, Santo, Vanuatu (329).

Singapore Hong Kong Fiji

Islands Ports

Kyowa Shipping Co Ltd operates a monthly containerised and break bulk cargo service from Hong Kong to Lautoka, Suva and then to island ports.

Details from Carpenters Shipping, Private Mail Bag GPO Suva Fiji (312244); Fax: (679) 314572, Tlx FJ2199.

Far East Fiji New Zealand

New Zealand Unit Express (NZUE) operates a monthly service accepting containerised and brake-bulk cargo from Manila, Keelung, Kaohsiung and Hong Kong to Lautoka, Suva and thence to New Zealand ports. 54 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

TONGA KIRIBATI VANUATU

Cook Island

Solomon Islands

New Caledonia

U.S. SAMOA

Western Samoa

French Polynesia

Japan . Korea

YOU’LL FIND IT,

Where The Sky Meets

THE SEA

Roro. Container &

B.Bulk Shipping

BALI

Hai Service

AGENTS and PHONE SUVA:Burns Philp(B.P) 311777 Carpenter Shipping (C.S) 312244 LAUTOKA:B P 60777 C S 63988 APIA:B P 22611 PAGOPAGO :Polynesia Shipping Services Ltd. 633-1211 PAPEETE:Compagnie Maritime Polynesienne 42.84.02 NOUMEA:Etablissements Ballande 687-283384 VILA:B P 2456 SANTO; BP 230 HONlARAiSullivans (Solomon Islands) Ltd 21645 TARAWA:Shipping Corporation of Kiribati 26195 NUKUALOFA:B P2l 500 BUSAN:for general cargo Young Chang Shipping Co., Ltd. 753-0451 for vehicle Pan Continental Shipping Co , Ltd 778-7680 Soyang Shipping Co., Ltd 752-7755 JAPANrfor general cargo Swire 03-230-9245 for vehicle NYK Lines 03-284-5506 Mitsui O.S.K 03-584-0916 Details from Carpenters Shipping, Private Mail Bag GPO Suva (312244), Fax: (679) 314572; Tlx FJ2199; Burns Philp, Suva (311777); New Zealand Unit Express, Maritime Building, 2-10 Customhouse Quay, PO Box 890, Wellington (727865), Cables: ENZUE-MAN WELLINGTON, Tlx: NZ31340, NEDLNZ, or Nedlloyd Swire Pty Ltd. Sydney (20522).

Far East Mid-S. Pacific

China Navigation’s New Guinea Pacific Line operates a regular container service from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia and to Port Moresby, Lae, Rabaul, Kieta and Honiara monthly. Wewak and Madang will receive four direct calls a year. A T/S service via Lae to these and other PNG ports connecting with monthly sailings is available at cost. Cargo from the same Eastern ports to the South Pacific ports of Noumea, Santo, Vila, Papeete, Pago Pago, Apia, Nukualofa, Raratonga and Tarawa will be shipped via Japan or Busan on the monthly Bali Hai service.

Details from Steamships Shipping, PO Box 634, Port Moresby (220283 or 220289).

Kyowa Shipping Ltd operates monthly services from Japan to Guam, Saipan, Solomons, New Caledonia, Fiji, Western and American Samoa, Tahiti, Cook Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu.

Details from Hetherington Wesfarmers Shipping Agency, 37-49 Pitt St, Sydney (2231600); Carpenters Shipping, Suva (312244), Tlx: FJ2199.

Guam Northern Marianas

Saipan Shipping Co Inc operates a weekly service via barge carrying containers and conventional cargo between Guam and Saipan and Tinian.

Details from Saipan Shipping Co Inc, PO Box 8 Saipan. CM 96950 (322 9706 or 3229707), Tlx: 783619; Fax: (670) 3223183; Guam agents Maritime Agencies of the Pacific Ltd.

Hawaii Samoas Tonga

Cook Islands

Hawaii-Pacific Lines operates monthly container service between Honolulu, Pago Pago, Apia, Nukualofa and Avatiu (Rarotonga).

Details from Hawaii-Pacific Maritime Inc, PO Box 3264. Honolulu. HI 96801-3264 (808 53114841).

Details from: Morris Hedstrom (Samoa) Ltd PO Box 189, Apia, Western Samoa (21355, 22722) Tlx: 224 (MORISHED SX), Fax. 24-279; Union ’

Citco Travel Ltd, Rarotonga, Cook Islands (682 21780); Tlx: 62024 (UTRAV G); Fax: (682) 20859; Kneubuhl Maritime Services, PO Box 39, Pago Pago, American Samoa, 96799 (684 6335121 / 22); Tlx: 782505; Fax: (684) 6335100; Union Maritime Services Ltd, PO Box 4, Nukualofa Tonga (21644/5); Tlx; 66227, Fax: (676) 21645.’

Japan Fiji Island Ports

Kyowa Shipping Co Ltd operates a monthly containerised service from main ports of Japan to Suva, Lautoka, thence to island ports.

Details from Carpenters Shipping, Harbour Centre Building, Ist Floor, Thomson St, Suva (312244), Tlx; FJ2199 and Burns Philp, Suva (311777).

Japan Micronesia

The NYK Shipping Line operates a monthly cargo service from Japan to Micronesia, calling at Yoko, Nagoya, Kobe, Guam, Saipan, Truk, Ponape and Majuro, returning via Yoko, Nagoya and Kobe.

Details from Burns Philp & Co Ltd, 51 Pitt St Sydney (2591000).

Saipan Shipping Co Inc operates a monthly service from Japan to Saipan, Guam, Truk, Ponape, Majuro (Kosrae and Ebeye on inducement).

Details from Saipan Shipping Co Inc, PO Box 8 Saipan, CM 96950 (322 9706 or 3229707), Tlx: ’ 783619, Fax: (670) 3223183. Japan agents Kyowa Shipping Company Ltd; Guam Agents Maritime Agencies of the Pacific Ltd.

Japan Korea Png Japan

Paradise Service

Mitsui OSK Lines in joint service with NYK Lines operates a monthly service from main ports in Japan and Busan in Korea to PNG ports of Wewak, Rabaul, Kieta, Lae, Port Moresby, Kavieng, Kimbe, Madang and Oro Bay.

Details from Robert Laurie Company Pty Ltd, PO Box 1032, Lae/PNG (Direct: 423642 or Switch: 423811), Contact: W O Hackenberg, Group Shipping Manager & Marketing; Tlx: NE 42508, Fax: 423801.

Png Inter-Mainport

Papua New Guinea Line offers scheduled 10-20 day coastal liner services linking all PNG major ports with containerisation, reefer, heavy lift and trans-shipment facilities. 55 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

Details from PNG Line, Box 543, Port Moresby, PNG (211174), Tlx: 22269.

Png Uk/Continent

The Bank Line & Columbus Line operate a regular joint service from Port Moresby, Oro Bay, Kieta, Rabaul, Kimbe, Madang and Lae to Hull, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Antwerp and Le Havre.

Details from The Bank Line (A'asia) Pty Ltd, 51 Pitt St. Sydney (2516688), Tlx: AA24063; Columbus Line, Lae (423466), Tlx; NE 44171; or lines’ local agents.

Solomons Uk/Continent

The Bank Line & Columbus Line operate a regular joint cargo service from Honiara to Hull, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Antwerp and Le Havre.

Details from The Bank Line (A’asia) Pty Ltd, 51 Pitt St, Sydney (2516688), Tlx: AA24063; Columbus Line, Lae (423466), Tlx: NE44171; Tradco Shipping Ltd, Honiara (22588), Tlx: 66313.

New Zealand Australia

Png Solomon Islands

Pacific Forum Line operates a containerised and ro-ro service from Lyttelton, Napier and Auckland to Brisbane, Port Moresby, Lae, Honiara, Brisbane then New Zealand.

Details from Pacific Forum, Auckland, Christchurch; Union Bulkships, Brisbane; Steamships Shipping, Port Moresby and Lae; Sullivans Ltd, Honiara; Seabridge, Wellington.

New Zealand Cook Islands

TAHITI New Zealand Line operates cargo services based on pallets and similar units from Auckland to Cook Islands and Tahiti.

Details from NZ Shipping Agencies International Ltd, PO Box 3420, Auckland (392650); Waterfront Commission, PO Box 61, Rarotonga; Cook Islands; Shipping Office, Govt of Niue, PO Box 107, Niue Island; Compagnie Maritime Polynesienne, PO Box 36, Papeete, Tahiti.

New Zealand —Fiji

Reef operates a regular 18-day service from Auckland to Suva and Lautoka. Also passenger accommodation.

Details from Reef Shipping Agencies, PO Box 3382, Auckland, NZ (7712213), Tlx: 60633; MV Fijian Shipping Agencies Ltd, Private Bag, Suva, Fiji (311056).

Pacific Line with one ship operates two weekly ro-ro cargo services New Zealand, Lautoka, Suva. No passengers.

Details Sofrana Unilines, 18 Customs St, Auckland (773279), PO Box 3614, Tlx: NZ2313, Carpenters Shipping, Neptune House, Tofua St, Walu Bay. Suva (25141), Tlx: FJ2199.

New Zealand Fiji North

America (Wc)

Blue Star Line Ltd Pacific Coast Container Service. Only direct service to and from New Zealand. Blue Star vessels call at Suva and Honolulu on NZ-US West Coast voyages.

Details from Blueport ACT (NZ) Ltd, PO Box 192, Wellington (739029); Burns Philp (SS) Co Ltd. GPO Box 355, Suva, Fiji (311777), Tlx: FJ2168 Burship.

New Zealand Fiji Samoas

TONGA Pacific Forum Line operates a containerised and ro-ro 21 day service from Auckland to Lautoka, Suva, Apia, Pago Pago and Nukualofa.

Details f/om Pacific Forum Line, Auckland, Christchurch, Suva and Apia Union Maritime, Lautoka and Nukualofa; Polynesian Shipping, Pago Pago.

New Zealand Tonga

SAMOAS Warner Pacific Line Services: Auckland, Nukualofa, Vava’u, Apia, Pago Pago fortnightly carrying general and freezer cargoes and FCL Dry.

Details from McKay Shipping Ltd, Downtown House, 21 Queen St, Auckland, PO Box 3 (390229). Cables MACSHIP, Tlx: NZ2554 Warner Pacific Line, Box 93, Nukualofa, Tonga; Mealelel (Western Samoa) Ltd, Private Bag Apia, Western Samoa, Burns Philp (SS) Co Ltd, PO Box 129, Pago Pago, American Samoa (6332709), Cables 506, Burnsouth SB.

Nz Cook Islands Aitutaki

NIUE Cook Islands Line services Auckland, Aitutaki, Niue monthly carrying general and freezer cargoes.

Details from McKay Shipping Ltd, Downtown House, 21 Queen Street, Auckland, PO Box 3, Auckland (390229). Cables MACSHIP, Tlx: NZ2554; Fax: 32931.

Tahiti New Caledonia

Vanuatu Solomon Islands

New Zealand Png - Singapore

EUROPE Polish Ocean Lines operate in semi-container type vessels to the following ports: from Papeete, Noumea, Santo, Vila, Yandina, Honiara, Auckland, Rabaul, Lae, Singapore, Port Kielang, Penang then to Mediterranean ports and Europe via the Suez Canal. (Other New Zealand ports subject to inducement.) Details from Universal Shipping Agencies Ltd, 6th Floor, 38 Fort St, Auckland 1, NZ (390931, 390727, 32104), Tlx: 21517.

Europe Tahiti New

CALEDONIA Compagnie Generale Maritime operates services from Europe and Mediterranean ports to Papeete and Noumea using three ro-ro and multi-purpose vessel thus ensuring a bimonthly sailing to and from.

Details from Compagnie Generale Maritime, 12 Castlereagh St, Sydney (2313700).

Europe Tahiti New

Caledonia New Zealand

VANUATU SOLOMONS PNG - EUROPE Polish Ocean Lines offers regular monthly sailings for containerised and brake-bulk cargo, also conventional reefer space and reefer containers from Hamburg, Rotterdam, Dunkirk, Le Havre to Papeete, Noumea, Auckland, Santo, Honiara, Rabaul, Lae, Singapore, returning to Europe via Suez. Other ports in the South Pacific can be served directly with inducement or otherwise via trans-shipment.

Details from Sotama, BP 9170, Papeete (427805), Tlx: 373, Tlx: Sotama 373FP; SATO; BP, C 2 Noumea Cedex (272094), Tlx: 163 NM; Universal Shipping Agencies, PO Box 2282 Auckland (30930), Tlx: 21517; Vanua Navigation, PO Box 44, Vila (2027), Tlx: 1033; Melan Chine Shipping Co, PO Box 71, Honiara (21678), Tlx: 66335; Steamships Trading Co Ltd, PO Box 85, Lae (424666), Tlx: 42423; Union Steamship Co of NZ Ltd, PO Box 50, Apia (21781), Tlx: 225; Warner Pacific Line, PO Box 93, Nukualofa (22088), Tlx: 66219; Fiji Agents TBA.

Europe Tahiti W. Samoa

Fiji New Caledonia

Nedlloyd offers regular cargo services from Continental ports to Papeete, Apia, Fiji and New Caledonia.

Details Nedlloyd (Aust) Pty Ltd, Spring St, Sydney (273801); Carpenters Shipping, Ist Floor, Harbour Centre Bldg, 100 Thomson St, Suva (312244) Tlx: 2199FJ and Vetari St, Lautoka (63988), Tlx: 5215FJ.

Uk Europe W. Samoa

Tonga Fiji

The Bank Line & Columbus Line operate a regular joint cargo service from Hull, Hamburg, Bremen, Antwerp, Rotterdam and Le Havre to Apia, Nukualofa, Suva and Lautoka.

Details from The Bank Line (A’asia) Pty Ltd, 51 Pitt St. Sydney (2516688), Tlx: AA24063, Columbus Line, Lae (423466), Tlx: NE 44111, or Lines’ local agents.

Uk Europe Png

SOLOMONS The Bank Line & Columbus Line operate a regular joint cargo service from Hull, Hamburg, Bremen, Antwerp, Rotterdam and Le Havre to Port Moresby, Lae, Madang, Kimbe, Rabaul, Kieta and Honiara and on inducement to Yandina.

Details from The Bank Line (A’asia) Pty Ltd, 51 Pitt St, Sydney (2516688), Tlx: AA24063: Columbus Line, Lae (423466), Tlx: NE44171; or lines’ local agents.

Uk/Europe Tahiti New

Caledonia Vanuatu

The Bank Line and Columbus Line operate a regular joint cargo service from Hull, Hamburg, Bremen, Antwerp, Rotterdam and Le Havre to Papeete, Noumea, Port Vila and Santo.

Details from The Bank Line (A’asia) Pty Ltd, 51 Pitt St, Sydney (2516688), Tlx: AA24063, Columbus Line, Lae (423466), Tlx; NE44171; Ets A.M. Fare UTE, Papeete; Ets, Ballande, Noumea and other local agents.

Us Hawaii Micronesia

PNG PM&O Lines operates two fully self-contained container vessels on a sailing frequency of every 30 days between the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Honolulu and Majuro, Ebeye, Kosrae, Ponape, Truk, Saipan, Yap, Palau, Cebu, Davao. Lae, Kieta and Rabaul.

Details from PM&O Lines, 353 Sacramento St, San Francisco, California 94111, USA, (415 4215400), Tlx: 278016 PMO UR; owner’s Representative PO Box 803, Saipan, NMI 96950 (2346819). Tlx: 783605 CMCAA. 56 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

BANK LINE and

Columbus Line

24 day service to Europe.

Need we say more....

D G The Joint Service Partners offer facilities for shipment of: Containers (FCL/LCL) and Break-bulk Cargo plus reefer space and deeptanks for carriage of vegetable oils and other liquid bulk cargo.

Carriers also accept heavy lifts, overlength and cumbersome parcels.

Ports of Service; Loading: Papeete, Apia, Suva, Lautoka, Noumea, Port Vila, Santo, Honiara, Port Moresby, Lae, Madang, Kimbe, Rabaul, Kieta, Darwin. For: Rotterdam, Antwerp, Hamburg, Hull, Dunkirk, Le Havre.

Additional ports on enquiry.

Please contact our regional offices for further information: The Bank Line (Australasia) Pty Ltd Columbus Line Reederei GmbH Suite 801, 51 Pitt St, P.O. Box 1 667, Lae/Papua New Guinea.

Sydney, NSW, Australia 2000 Phone: 423466/423487/AH. 422481 Phone 251 6688 Telex 24063 Telex: Colline NE 441 71 The South Pacific Specialists for over 75 years

Out Of The Past

How They Killed Yamamoto The great admiral was the victim of an ingenious US plot.

By Larry Writer ADMIRAL ISORUKU Yamamoto’s brilliant masterminding of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour on December 7, 1941, made this great Commander in Chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet the man the Americans hated most. With their Pacific Battleship Fleet crippled and their pride in tatters, the US military chiefs resolved that Yamamoto would pay with his life if possible.

The Americans’ chance came on April 17, 1943, when a US interception post in the Aleutians picked up a cypher signal from Truk revealing that Admiral Yamamoto would be flying to Bougainville four days later to raise the morale of Japanese troops there.

The Commander in Chief of America’s Pacific Fleet, Admiral Chester Nimitz, conceived a plan to shoot down Yamamoto’s plane. However, because of the Japanese hero’s importance, the death plan had to be approved by the US Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox and President Roosevelt himself. Approval was granted.

Integral to the Americans’ plan was the fact that Yamamoto took immense pride in always being on time. The intelligence was that the great admiral, travelling in one of two camouflaged Betty bombers and guarded by six Zeke fighters, would make a one-night stopover at Rabaul then leave at precisely 6am to arrive at Kahili at exactly 9.45 am.

The airborne ambush would take place at 9.30 am, with the admiral just 50 kilometres from his destination. A group of 18 P-38 Lightning fighters from Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, would be employed; 12 to fly interference for the six that would attack the Japanese.

Yamamoto and his party left Rabaul right on time. With him in his jungle green bomber were his secretary, his surgeon, his air staff officer and a naval commander.

In the other bomber flew Yamamoto’s chief of staff, a paymaster and a communications officer.

At 9.30, when the American fighters fell on their prey, the bombers were flying about 600 metres above the dense jungle; the six Zekes were higher to afford protection. When the bombers saw the American P-38s hurtling in for the kill they dropped even lower and attempted to escape. But it was to no avail. Lieutenant Thomas Lanphier, in one of the attacking US fighters, singled out the lighter in colour of the two fleeing bombers. His hunch was right. It was Yamamoto’s. Lanphier powered through the Zekes, shooting one down, and fired both his cannon and machine guns at the bomber.

Admiral Yamamoto must have seen the right wing of his bomber shot clean through and would have felt his aircraft pitch violently. It crashed into the jungle and exploded in flames. The other bomber was also hit and fell in the sea. Theremaining Zekes fled in disarray.

When news of the ambush was known, Japanese troops were dispatched to the jungle. There they found Yamamoto’s charred body in the bomber’s wreckage.

They cremated the hero on a mountain peak, his ashes were flown to Truk, then transported by destroyer to Japan where Yamamoto was given a state funeral.

The death of the revered admiral dealt Japan a mighty blow. His demise signified that the tide of the war was turning.

The Americans rejoiced their precision plan was executed brilliantly and the man who plotted the attack on Pearl Harbour had been repaid in kind. The plan’s code name? Operation Vengeance.

The admiral’s shattered plane was left in the jungle where it crashed, and was rediscovered only a few years ago. Today the Papua New Guinea Government plans to facilitate access to the bomber, to construct amenities nearby and to promote a memorial to Admiral Yamamoto. □ Admiral Isoruka Yamamoto.

Left: The rear turret of Admiral Yamamoto’s crashed Betty bomber is today entwined with moss and jungle vines. Below: The fuselage and tailplane of the bomber, which fell near Kahili airfield, Bougainville. 58 PACIFIC ISLANDS MONTHLY APRIL 1988

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OVER 100 VICTORIES IN ’B7.

From the desert furnaces of the Middle East to the foothills of the Himalayas, from the barren Australian outback to European and American rally circuits, Mitsubishi vehicles tallied over 100 wins in competitive race and rally events all over the world.

Mitsubishi’s winning tradition continues.

When Mitsubishi Pajeros, Starions and Lancers racked up more than 100 victories in 1986, it was simply a good year for their racing. Now that they have done the same in 1987, they have started a tradition—a tradition of winning big, However, these high-performance passenger cars, GT sports cars and multi-purpose 4WD vehicles enter such events not for the sake of winning alone but to test their levels of performance, safety and reliability under the most demanding conditions that can be found.

Their high-tech performance features are being proved and improved each time they enter a race. But you're the real winner as the benefits get passed on to you.

In every corner of the globe, both professional drivers in competitive races and private owners on the highways alike, are part of the Mitsubishi winning tradition.

AMERICAN SAMOA: MORRIS SCANbSNJ SERVICE INC. P.O. Box 367, Pago Pago, Tel. 633-5520/AU SIR ALIA MITSUBISHI MOTORS AUSTRALIA LTD. Box 1284, South Road, <3>welly F&rfc, SoLth Australia 5042/Tjfef (08) 275.7223/FIJI: NIVIS MOTOR & MACHINERY CO.. LTD. G.P.O. Box 150, Suva, Tel. 383411/FRENCH POLYNESIA (TAHITI): Q ETS-BREDIN FRERES ET FILS P.0.80x 21, Papeete, Tahiti, Tel. 4-202-58/NEW CALEDONIA: SOCIETE D IMPORTATION D AUTO DU PACIFIQUE SUD S.A. B.P. 438 Rond /Point du Pacifique, Noumea, Tel 274144/NEW ZEALAND; MITSUBISHI MOTORS NEW ZEALAND LTD. Todd Park, Heriot Drive, Private Bag. Porirua, Tel. 370-109/NORFOLK ISLAND: BORRYS LTD. P O. Norfolk Island, Tel. 2114/PAPUA NEWGUINEA:TOBAPTY. LTD. P.O. Box 503, Port Moresby, Tel. 21-7874/SOLOMON ISLANDS: HARVEST LTD. G.fJb Box Tel. 30128/TONGA: SITANI MAPI CO., LTD. P.O. Box 83, Nuku ALOFA, Tel. 21 -044/VANUATU: SOCOMETRA B.P. 06 Route Port-Vita* Tel. 2314/WESTERN SAMOA; AM. MACDONALD HOLDINGS LTD. P.O. Box 576, Apia, Tel. 22022/SAIPAN/POHNPEI/MAJURO/KOSRAE/TRUK/YAP/ BELAU: MICRONESSIAN MOTORS, INC. 997 South Marine Drive, Tamuning, Guam 96911, Tel. 646-6827 MICM 61-IN i sT7=ir?jorsi AOVi wb| A MITSUBISHI MOTORS