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Salient: Victoria University Students' Paper. Vol. 27, No. 13. 1964.

Strong Support For Cook Islands Party..

Strong Support For Cook Islands Party...

Who is the key man in the Cook Islands, the politician who will lead the Islands into self-government next year? There is now little doubt that the man is Albert Henry, leader of the only political party in the Islands and until last March an expatriate In New Zealand. A Salient interviewer spoke to him during his recent visit to Wellington.

Asked to explain how he became involved in Cook Islands politics, he said that there had been considerable misunderstanding and ignorance about the new Constitution, due to come into effect after the April elections in 1965. He had been asked to return to the Islands to clear this up, and went back in early March. The people then wanted him to stay there and go into politics. "So I thought the best thing to do would be to form a party and see what kind of support I would get," he said.

HIS Cook Islands' Party had a membership of 2300 in Raratonga alone when he left, and it could well be 3000 by now, he said. "I would say it had the support of at least 75 per cent of the population."

Henry Ineligible?

There is a snag. Under a 1958 regulation passed by the Islands' Assembly a person absent from the Islands for more than 3 years loses his right to vote or stand for election. This provision has been incorporated in the draft Constitution, to be presented to the electors in April. Thus in the present situation Albert Henry will be ineligible in the forthcoming elections—but he emphasised that he did not regard this as a serious obstacle.

As leader of a Cook IslandsNew Zealand Society deputation to the New Zealand Parliament Select Committee on Island Territories. Which was to consider the draft Constitution, he would be petitioning for the removal of the clause. In Raratonga at present, he said, a petition with 2000 signatures was being presented to the Assembly asking for the repeal of the three-year regulation. Should these fail. Henry indicated, his party had a stooge standing by who would fill in for him until the party had removed the clause from the draft Constitution after the April elections. The stooge would then resign, forcing a by-election at which Henry would be eligible to stand.

He agreed with the view that the Cook Islanders as a whole were not ready for self-government. But he pointed out that the new Constitution had generated tremendous enthusiasm and that many good people who had previously not offered their services were now coming forward.

What place would arikis have in the government if his party came to power? "The place of the ariki is in his tribe, on his marae." said Henry. "We do not approve of arikis being in parliament purely through their position. If they want to stand, that is all right; but no arikis will stand because that would mean climbing down."

Land Tenure Problem

As Albert Henry saw it the most pressing problem facing the Islands was that of land tenure. Economic development was being held up because of interminable legal squabbles over the land titles. The policy of his party was to reconstruct Polynesian society within the settlement or tribe in an effort gradually to straighten out land ownership problems. Mangaia, he said, was the only island that had maintained the traditional structure of society, and it had never had land trouble. At present a big pineapple planting scheme was being carried out there, without the bickering over titles and claims which marked other attempts at agricultural development.

It was a policy of putting the ariki back on his marae, of reestablishing the traditional structure of society and communal property holdings in an effort to bring order back to the tribe and settlement and to make economic development possible. It was something, said Henry, that legal-minded people would not understand. "The present system is making the Islander an individualist," he said: "because of that, they are poor."

Other policy points he mentioned were:

Planning—"Economic and agricultural development must be based on good planning—and it has not been like that in the past. Planning must go side by side with a solution to the land tenure problem."

Marketing—"I am not against enterprises, I am not against trade, but I am against monopolising trade as at present."

Entry restrictions—"Our party is opposed to restrictions on entry for political reasons. We will have nothing to hide. The New Zealand Government gives every Cook Islander freedom to come to New Zealand, and I see no reason why the Cook Islands' Government should not do the same." Education—"It has reached a high standard but I consider it is one-sided at present. In 5-10 years time under the present system the Cook Islands would be full of clerks and schoolteachers. I would like to see agricultural and technical schools opened right away."

NZ Government subsidy—"The subsidy has increased in the past 20 years from less than £40,000 to more than £lm. The party wants to work to reduce it, to make the Islands an asset rather than a liability."

Employment—"There is no unemployment. But at present it is easier to work for a store or the Government than to work on a plantation, so the land is being neglected. It is the plan of the party to encourage people to go back on the land and re-establish themselves."

Educated Leadership

Albert Henry spoke also of the type of people who were leading the Cook Islands Party. The Deputy Leader, he said, was a doctor, the Secretary a primary school headmaster, and one of the executive members held an MA in economics, while women members included the President of the Women's Institute. At present, he said, all prospective candidates were Maoris, but there were many European members in the party and "one or two we would like to see as candidates."

And the ultimate goal of his party? "The time will come when we will have to choose between gradual integration and gradual full independence—but we do not know at present. The first three years will give an indication of how we are going."