8000 Eligible To Vote In Cook Islands

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30724, 13 April 1965, Page 8

8000 Eligible To Vote In Cook Islands

(By a N.Z.P.A. Staff Correspondent)

WELLINGTON, April 12

Eight thousand Cook Islanders, including a sprinkling of Europeans, are eligible to vote on April 20, thus taking the first step toward self-government.

Until now, the Cook Islands have been a New Zealand dependency. Constitutional changes now envisaged will, if adopted, give complete internal self-government.

In polling booths on most of the 15 volcanic or coral islands in the group the islanders will vote in members of a new Legislative Assembly. The Assembly, in its turn, is expected to adopt an 88clause constitution late in May which will provide the 20,000 islanders with the basis for their own up-to-date system of government. But in practical terms, the constitution’s adoption and utilisation are not expected to jolt the routine government of the sunny islands unduly—even though it contains two controversial clauses.

Discord arose over the inclusion of the two clauses during constitutional talks between the New Zealand Government and Cook Islands representatives last year. But the majority of the Cook Islands representatives—members of the present Legislative Assemblydecided on the inclusion of the clauses.

One clause says that an islander must have been resident in the Cooks for three years before accepting nomination as an assembly candidate, and the other states an islander must have been resident in the Cooks for a year before being enrolled as an elector. Petition Signed But almost 2300 Cook Islanders signed a petition—presented during the constitutional talks—protesting against the length of these qualifications and calling for them to be reduced to three months in each case. The petition was defeated by a vote of 16 to three when a count was taken among Island representatives at the talks.

However, New Zealand Territories Department officials feel they have not heard the last of the two clauses. It is believed they could still be politically embarrassing if Mr Albert Henry’s strong Cook Islands Party wins the election. One department spokesman said earlier this month that if the C.I.P. wins the majority in the assembly, it could avoid accepting the constitution until the clauses were amended —thus allowing Mr Henry to stand for an Assembly seat. Cannot Stand

Mr Henry—who has lived for some years in New Zealand—cannot stand as a candidate for the assembly as he has not fulfilled the threeyear residency clause. Generally speaking, acceptance of the constitution does not mean the whole political, economic and social structure of the Cook Islands will be shaken up and reorganised on a completely different basis. Its acceptance will legalise for the islanders a form of government which has existed since New Zealand annexed the island group 64 years ago.

The New Zealand Government will continue to remain responsible for the defence and external affairs of the Cooks but the Islanders themselves will become entirely responsible for their own internal self-government. The assembly alone will be able to authorise the spending of Government monies in the islands, and it will have the power to change or wipe out any law affecting them —laws made by earlier assemblies or by the New Zealand Parliament.

If the constitution is adopted, it can be changed only if two-thirds of the Legislative Assembly agrees to a change on two separate occasions at least ninety days apart. This period is laid down to ensure that before final alterations are made, the islanders have had a chance to become aware of the proposals and indicate to their assembly members how they feel about them. Special provisions have also been made governing the manner in which any change could be made from existing conditions under which Cook Islanders enjoy New Zealand citizenship and recognise the Queen as head of State. Similar provisions attach to any change from the New Zealand Government’s present responsibility for defence and external affairs, and to the

method of changing the con stitution itself.

To make alterations in any of these cases, two-thirds of the voting public will have to support the proposed change in addition to the two-thirds majority in the assembly.

Once the Cook Islanders achieve self-government, they will continue to be British subjects and New Zealand citizens. They will completely take over all services and departments established by the New Zealand government over the years, and the assembly will be responsible for making laws for the “peace, order and good government” of the islands. The Leader of Government Business in the Cook Islands will become Premier once the constitution is adopted, and he will select a team of four cabinet ministers.

The assembly will comprise 22 members elected by universal suffrage, and they will be elected from the following islands: Aitutaki and Manuae (three joint members), Atiu and Mangaia (two each) Manihiki, Mauke, Mitiaro, Penrhyn and Rakahanga (one each), Pukapuka and Nassau (one joint member), Rarotonga and Palmerston (nine joint members). A Council of State will represent the Queen. It will have three members—two arikis (high chiefs) chosen by other arikis for a term of four years, and the High Commissioner who will be New Zealand’s representative in the Cook Islands. The public service will be under the control of the Secretary of the Premier’s Department and will be independent of political control. The annual subsidy of the New Zealand Government to the Cook Islands is not covered by the constitution because it is a matter for the New Zealand Government. For the future, both the New Zealand Prime Minister (Mr Holyoake) and Leader of the Opposition (Mr 1 Nordmeyer) have said that New Zealand’s responsibility to provide financial aid will not be lessened after selfgovernment.