PACIFIC ISLANDS

Taranaki Daily News, 13 October 1934, Page 8

PACIFIC ISLANDS

MULTIPLICITY OF CONTROL. MORE UNITY SUGGESTED. If a man standing on a certain Pacific island were injured by a spear thrown from a neighbouring island—the islands in question being so close as to make this almost possible—he would have to make his complaint to London by way of Suva, which would in turn communicate with Rabaul, through Canberra, the capital of Australia! This may sound fantastic, but it is true of the island of Bougainville, in the Northern Solomons, and of Shortland Island, in the Solomons, says a Sydney correspondent. Bougainville is part of the New Guinea mandated territory, and is responsible to Canberra, while Shortland is administered by the Dominions Office in London. Pointing out that there are I*. different administrations—British, Australian, American, French and Japanese—which control the various groups and territories of the central and south Pacific, the Pacific Islands Monthly discusses the need for an organisation which.will provide facilities for an exchange of opinions and experiences between them. As in the example quoted, these anomalies exist even in territories under the Union Jack. But there are many other examples. “Certain of the Cook Islands,” the article states, “are very close to certain of the. islands near Tahiti. But the Cook Islanders may address themselves on matters of inter-island import only to New Zealand; whereas people in Tahiti territory make their representations through Paris. There is only an imaginary line between Eastern and Western Samoa, but the official views of Western Samoa go to New Zealand, thence, perhaps, to London and Geneva, while the formal representations of Eastern Samoa must be conveyed to Washington.” The difficulty is aggravated by the trouble which has fallen on the copra industry, the one industry which is common to every island in the South Seas. Copra has, in the last four years, dropped in value in a way which has disturbed and dislocated the whole of the economic machinery of the Pacific. Much could be done, “if only some Government or some institution an official status could be induced to take the lead and organise unity of action between a few of the administrations interested in Pacific territories.” Although copra is the only common industry there are many other interests that are common to the islands. “If once unity of the copri industry were secured,” the article concludes, “cooperative effort might be possible in many other directions to their considerable mutual profit.”