Chathams Development

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32304, 23 May 1970, Page 10

Chathams Development

The latest complaints from the Chatham Islands about a delay in the shipping service and the consequent shortage of supplies on the islands are reminders of the uncertainty about the future of the Chathams. For too long the islands have provided cycles of discontent, despair, complaint, political pressure, bursts of official and Ministerial activity, and then a decline into apathy or a new round of discontent. The meat processing works in the islands is but one example. The supply of stock to the works failed when the energies of many islanders were diverted to crayfishing. Now the farmers do not know whether the works will survive and are understandably reluctant to increase the stock on their farms. Various studies have been made in the islands by Government departments. The Department of Agriculture, the Forest Service, the Ministry of Works, and the Department of Internal Affairs have all had officers examine prospects for development. The Fishing Industrv Board has surveyed fishing. None of these inquiries has produced a clear guide to future economic development: and the precarious economy drifts from one uncertainty to another. Indecision among the islanders themselves has undoubtedly helped to frustrate the efforts of those who have tried to help them. Transport between the islands and the mainland has long been a major problem for all concerned with the economy of the Chatham Islands. The Holm Shipping Company cannot assign a vessel exclusively to the Chathams service; but it is understandable that the islanders should want a scheduled shipping service so that they can organise their Imnorts and exports with reasonable assurance. Without this no industry on the islands can function efficiently. Vital as the shipping service is to the islands, no arrangement between the shipping companv and its customers, however amicable, will resolve the fundamental problem—that neither the Government nor the islanders themselves have a clear vision of a stable and prosperous future for the Chatham Islands.

Without co-operation on both sides, without the co-ordination of departmental inquiries and findings, and without strong leadership in the islands no such vision or workable plan of development will be obtained. The obstacles in the way of executing any plan of development will always be considerable. But in the absence of such a plan, and of a firm commitment to it on the part of the island population, problems and emergencies will be dealt with piecemeal as they arise, and fumbling and uncertainty will continue.