A further amendment to the Papua and New Guinea Act in October 1966 abolished the ten special electorates and replaced them with 15 regional electorates. Election as a Member representing a Regional Electorate is based on a minimum educational qualification of the Territory Intermediate Certificate, or equivalent. This provision first applied to the General Election for an enlarged House of Assembly of 94 members, 69 of whom were returned to open electorates by adult franchise, 15 were returned to regional electorates by adult franchise and 10 official members were nominated by the Minister on the Administrator's advice. This election, conducted from 17th February to 10th March 1968, returned 23 of the former M.H.A.'s who stood again, and 61 new members. The proportion of indigenous elected members increased by 10 per cent to its present 77 per cent of all elected members and three indigenous members were returned to the Regional electorates requiring the educational minimum. In June 1967 the House of Assembly Select Committee on Constitutional Development presented its final report which recommended a further advance towards quasi-executive government and was accepted by the Australian Parliament in October 1967. The Papua and New Guinea Act 1968, passed by the Australian Parliament in May 1968, updates the Papua and New Guinea Act 1949-1968, which enables the implementation of the recommendations of the Select Committee, including the new ministerial system and the replacement of the Administrator's Council by the Administrator's Executive Council. These provide for seven Ministerial Members and eight Assistant Ministerial Members both with functions appropriate to a department of the Papua and New Guinea Public Service. The Ministerial Members are to be joint leaders of their departments with the Permanent Head, and to represent it in the House of Assembly. The Assistant Ministerial Members are to represent their departments in the House of Assembly. The Administrator's Executive Council is to comprise the seven Ministerial Members, three Official Members, the Administrator and, at his discretion, possibly a twelfth Councillor chosen from the elected members who are not holding office as Ministerial Members. The Local Government Ordinance 1963-1967 provides that multi-racial councils may be established and continue in existence councils established under the repealed Native Local Government Councils Ordinance and Regulations. Provision is made for local government councils to be given a wider range of functions of a local nature and to have increased financial powers, including power to levy rates on land. The Ordinance provides also for the appointment of a Local Government Commissioner who is responsible for the administration of the Ordinance. The Commissioner for Local Government heads his Division of the Department of District Administration with Headquarters at Konedobu. One hundred of the 142 current Local Government Councils are multi-racial. Administrator of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea: D. O. Hay, CBE, SDO MACQUARIE ISLAND Macquarie Island lies some 1,000 miles to the south-east of Tasmania and has been a dependency of Tasmania since the 19th century. The island is without permanent inhabitants, but a base for meteorological and other research has been maintained there since 1948. THE ROSS DEPENDENCY (New Zealand) T HE Antarctic territory known as the Ross Dependency was brought within the jurisdiction of the New Zealand Government by Order in Council of 30th July 1923, under the British Settlements Act, 1887. It is defined as 'all the islands and territories between the 160th degree of east longitude and the 150th degree of west longitude which are situated south of the 60th degree of south latitude'. The land area is estimated at 160,000 square miles and permanent shelf ice at 130,000 square miles. There are no permanent inhabitants. Laws for the Dependency have been made by regulations promulgated by the Governor-General of New Zealand. Administrative powers are vested in the Governor-General of New Zealand, and Administrative Officers (commonly referred to as Administrators) have been appointed from time to time since 1923. Many famous explorers visited the area during the last century, including Sir James Ross, Captain R.F. Scott, RN, Sir Ernest Shackleton, Roald Amundsen and Richard E. Byrd. In the 1920s whaling was licensed by the New Zealand Government. Since then, however, the pelagic whaling expeditions have operated on the high seas. In recent years the territory has been visited by several British and American expeditions. The Dependency is now the scene of greater activity than ever before. Under the auspices of the International Geophysical Year a United States expedition re-activated a scientific station at 'Little America' and constructed an air strip on the bay ice at McMurdo Sound capable of taking heavy aircraft from New Zealand. A joint New Zealand-United States station is being operated at Cape Hallett. The New Zealand Antarctic Expedition established Scott Base on Ross Island in January 1957. The purpose of the Expedition was twofold: to take part in the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition and in the Antarctic Programme of the International Geophysical Year. In March 1958 the New Zealand Government appointed the Ross Dependency Research Committee to co-ordinate and supervise all New Zealand activity in the Dependency, with particular reference to the scientific and technical programme. It has since announced a programme of continuing research and exploration. EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY EAST AFRICAN GOVERNORS' CONFERENCE F OLLOWING a recommendation of a Parliamentary Commission which (visited East Africa in 1924 a Conference of Governors of the British East African territories was held in 1926, to discuss matters of mutual concern. It was decided that a permanent Conference Secretariat should be established at Nairobi and that Conferences should be held when necessary. Subsequently the Joint Select Committee on Closer Union in East Africa recommended that the machinery of the Governors' Conference should be increasingly used for ensuring continuous and effective co-operation and co-ordination in all matters of common interest to the East African territories. The Conference was placed in permanent session, to be convened whenever required, and it was decided that there should be annual meetings of the Governors of Kenya, Tanganyika and Uganda, attended, if desired, by the Governors of Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland and by the British Resident, Zanzibar. EAST AFRICA HIGH COMMISSION The East Africa High Commission replaced the East African Governors' Conference on 1st January 1948. The High Commission, consisting of the Governors of Kenya, Tanganyika and Uganda, was charged with the administration of certain services common to the three territories, e.g. the East African Railways and Harbour Administration, the East African Directorate of Civil Aviation, the East African Posts and Telegraphs Department, the East African Meteorological Department, etc. The East African Central Legislative Assembly was established in 1947, and in 1956 its membership was increased from 24 to 34. The High Commission had power to legislate, with the advice and consent of the Assembly, in respect of inter-territorial common services, and on any matter concerned with the peace, order and good government of the Territories. The establishment of the High Commission involved no change in the constitution or administrative responsibilities of the Governments of the three territories, which remained responsible for basic services such as administration, police, health, education, agriculture, forestry, labour, and housing public works. EAST AFRICAN COMMON SERVICES ORGANISATION At the Constitutional Conference in Dar es Salaam in March 1961 the Tanganyika Government expressed the wish to continue participation, after independence, in the common services provided by the East Africa High Commission, in a manner compatible with Tanganyika's independence. Arrangements to this end were worked out in talks, held in London in June 1961 and attended by delegates from Britain, Tanganyika, Kenya and Uganda, and of the East Africa High Commission, and by an observer from Zanzibar. It was agreed that, in the interests of all the Territories concerned, common services should continue to be provided on an East African basis, and that this should be secured, when Tanganyika became independent, by setting up a new organisation called the East African Common Services Organisation. Under the new organisation which came into being on 9th December 1961 Tanganyika, Uganda and Kenya |