Noumea set to get Senate

Press, 23 November 1983, Page 10

Noumea set to get Senate

NZPA-AFP Noumea The French Government is expected to disclose details of a draft constitution for New Caledonia this week, to take effect during a transitional period leading to self-determination for the South Pacific territory.

The French Minister for Overseas Territories, Mr Georges Lemoine, in a speech to the territorial Assembly tomorrow, is expected to announce the creation of a Senate, mainly representing the original Melanesian inhabitants of the island. The Senate would be elected by indirect vote from six regions into which the territory would be divided, said informed sources. Mr Lemoine, who arrived in Noumea on Sunday, is holding talks this week with representatives of various political groups. But the anti-independence R.P.C.R. Party, a GajjHist

group which controls the Noumea municipality, boycotted the talks. The R.P.C.R. leader, Jacques Lafleur, complained that the party had not recently been consulted by the Government.

Noumea has been calm since Mr Lemoine’s arrival, with no sign of the tension which flared during his previous visit in May. A deomstration called by the Right-wing Caledonian Front was only sparsely attended. In advance of Mr Lemoine’s speech to the territorial Assembly, the New Caledonian Independence Front last week published its own draft constitution calling for independence in 1985.

No date has been fixed by the French authorities for a vote on self-determination, but there have been indications from sources close to Mr Lemoine that 1989 would be the earliest possible date

for such a vote. One of the key issues to be resolved was the composition of the electorate that would vote in an eventual referendum on independence, said observers. The Independence Front, wants the vote to be restricted to people born in New Caledonia or having one parent born in the territory.

The demand is likely to be rejected by the French, Government, although the authorities would agree to exclusion of temporary residents from the ballot, said informed sources. The population of New Caledonia is only 140,000. An official estimate in 1980 was that the population consisted of Melanesian (43.33 per cent), Europeans (35.65 per cent), other Pacific islanders (12.6 per cent), others 8.4 per cent—half of these being Indonesians.

Some political observers that even a vote

limited to those born in New Caledonia would not necessarily favour independence since the Melanesians were not unanimous on this option. After the collapse of the nickel boom in the 19705, the economy of New Caledonia has become increasinly dependent on subsidies from France. Observers said that any withdrawal of French financial support after independence would result in a decline of living standards.

French officials have warned of the danger of violence in New Caledonia if no consensus is reached on self-determination. French settlers on cattle stations are fiercely attached to the land where they have lived for generations. Many of these settlers are descended from transported convicts and politcal exiles shipped to New Caledonia during the niney