DEVELOPMENT OF CHATHAMS

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25936, 17 October 1949, Page 8

DEVELOPMENT OF CHATHAMS

NEW OFFICER TO BE APPOINTED

INCREASED GOVERNMENT ACTIVITY

The Government is advertising for applicants for the new post of Resident Commissioner at the Chatham Islands, the appointee to act as liaison officer for the Government departments concerned with the social and economic advancement of the islands. According to the advertisement he will be responsible for the administration of justice and will “have an understanding of rural problems and ability to handle land development and afforestation schemes.”

“There is increased activity by the Government in the Chathams,” said the Minister of Education (Mr T. H. McCombs), in whose electorate of Lyttelton the islands lie, when asked to comment on the advertisement last evening. Mr McCombs said the Government was seeking someone “who could transform the Chathams if he was the right man.” Recent developments in the islands by the Rehabilitation, Lands, Maori Affairs, Education. Public Works, Post and Telegraph, and other departments, and the State Advances Corporation had made it necessary for some central authority to be appointed to act as liaison officer between the Government and the departments, Mr McCombs said. In the first place there was a need for a Resident Magistrate, as the former Resident Magistrate, Mr Ryan Holmes, died recently, and his post had not been filled.

Some of the best property in the Chathams had been made available for the rehabilitation of returned servicemen. numbering about eight, said Mr McCombs. A total of 22 miles of metalled road had been constructed in the last two years, and not a great deal remained to be done. Before that there were no roads in the islands. “Development of Maori and other lands by the use of lime will play an increasingly important part in the life of the islands, and we want a man who combines the other duties with some knowledge of land development. Production can be doubled, and as production grows so will communications with the islands be improved, and better amenities provided for the residents,” said Mr McCombs. The advertisement states that the maximum salary for the appointee will be £847 a year, with a free sevenroomed house and four acres of land. The estimated population of the Chatham Islands, which are 467 miles east of Lyttelton, is about 700, including about 330 Maoris.