The Fiji Constitutional Review Commission was established by His Excellency the President of Fiji, Ratu Sir Kamasese Mara, on 15 March 1995. The President appointed the Right Reverend Sir Paul Reeves as Chairman of the Commission and Mr Tomasi Rayalu Vakatora and Dr Brij Vilash Lal as its other members. Ms Alison Quentin-Baxter and Mr Jon Apted were later appointed as Counsel assisting the Commission along with Mr Walter Gibson Rigamoto as its Secretary. The Commission was appointed to review the Fiji Constitution and produce a report on 30 June 1996 (later extended to 30 September 1996) 'recommending constitutional arrangements which will meet the present and future needs of the people of Fiji and promote racial harmony, national unity and the economic and social advancement of all communities' (Reeves, Vakatora and Lal, 1996). The Commission was required to scrutinise the Constitution, facilitate the widest possible debate on constitutional matters and inquire into and ascertain public opinion on possible ways to improve the Constitution. These papers represent the written and oral submissions which individuals, groups and organisations made to the Commission. The Commission had two rounds of public hearings throughout Fiji. The first round started on 3 July 1995 and was completed on 9 August 1995. The second round of hearings started on 22 August 1995 and was completed on 10 October 1995. This title documents the hearings.

CONTENTS The papers are divided into eight volumes of written submissions from 3 July 1995 to 14 September 1995, with the eighth volume consisting of additional submissions received by the Commission between July 1995 and January 1996. The remainder of the contents consists of verbatim notes resulting from oral submissions made between 3 July 1995 and 19 September 1995.

Reel 1 Written Submissions, Vol. 1, Nos. 001001-005007, 3-6 Jul 1995
Reel 2 Written Submissions, Vol. 2, Nos. 006001-006060, 14 Jul-22 Aug 1995
Written Submissions, Vol. 3, Nos. 006058-006081, 22 Aug-28 Aug 1995
Reel 3 Written Submissions, Vol. 3, Nos. 006082-006089, 28 Aug-10 Oct 1995
Written Submissions, Vol. 4, Nos. 006090-006118, n.d.
Written Submissions, Vol. 5, Nos. 007001-007009, 12-13 Jul 1995
Reel 4 Written Submissions, Vol. 5, Nos. 007010-009014, 010001-010020, 12-20 Jul 1995
Written Submissions, Vol. 6, Nos. 011001-016026, 25-31 Jul 1995
Written Submissions, Vol. 7, Nos. 017001-022001A, 1 Aug-14 Sep 1995
Reel 5 Written Submissions, Vol. 7, Nos. 022002-023007, 14 Sep 1995
Written Submissions, Vol. 8, Nos. 024001-024090, Jul 1995-Jan 1996
Verbatim Notes, 3-10 Jul 1995
Reel 6 Verbatim Notes, 11 Jul – 3 Aug 1995
Reel 7 Verbatim Notes, 9 Aug - 12 Sep 1995
Reel 8 Verbatim Notes, 13 - 19 Sep 1995<P><b>See reel list for further details</b>

The correspondence, between missionaries in the field and the general secretary for foreign missions of the New Zealand Methodist Church, has been microfilmed as PMB 932 to 934.

Correspondence of the Rev. F.H. Hayman, 1923-32

Please see PMB 939

Correspondence of Rev. G.G. Carter<BR>Outwards, 1947-58<BR>Inwards, 1947-58

The Pacific Islands Monthly, a publication of Pacific Publications Pty Ltd, Sydney, first appeared in August 1930. Stuart Inder was co-editor from November 1957 to November 1964 and sole editor from then until October 1975, and again from October 1979 to April 1980. He was also the magazine's publisher from February 1972 until August 1980.

Inwards and outwards correspondence, mainly to and from the editor of the Pacific Islands Monthly, Stuart Inder. The correspondence is arranged alphabetically and appears on the microfilm as follows:<BR>Reel 1: A to Bentley<BR>Reel 2: Beresford to Carter<BR>Reel 3: Carter to Craib<BR>Reel 4: Craib to E<BR>Reel 5: F<BR>Reel 6: G<BR>Reel 7: H to Hoare<BR>Reel 7A: Hoare to Jones<BR>Reel 8: Jones to Lipton<BR>Reel 9: Lipton to McSwain<BR>Reel 10: Macassen to New Guinea Women's Club<BR>Reel 11: New Guinea Women's Club to Pont<BR>Reel 12: Pont to Rhoades<BR>Reel 13: Ri to Sexton<BR>Reel 14: Schackleton to Sy<BR>Reel 15: T to Vellacott Jones<BR>Reel 16: Vellacot Jones to Whonsbon-Aston<BR>Reel 17: Wight to Z

Rev A. Harry Voyce, and his wife Beryl, arrived in the Solomon Islands from New Zealand in 1926 to work as Methodist missionaries at Siwai, an inland area in the south of Bougainville Island. They left the Solomons in 1958.

Correspondence between Voyce and the general secretary for foreign missions of the New Zealand Methodist Church.
Correspondence - outwards (from Voyce), 1921-59
Correspondence - inwards, 1921-40 and 1952-59

O.F. Nelson (1884-1944), a leader of the Mau (Samoan National Movement), was the son of a Swedish sea captain and a Samoan woman of chiefly rank. He founded the firm of O.F. Nelson and Company Limited during World War I. After the New Zealanders occupied Western Samoa in 1914, Nelson's firm flourished and he became a prominent leader of the Samoan community. After Western Samoa was made a 'C' class mandate of the League of Nations in 1921 to be administered by New Zealand, Nelson organised resistance to New Zealand rule. In 1928 he was banished from Western Samoa for five years, during which period he lived in New Zealand.

Correspondence with H.E. Holland, Chairman of the New Zealand Labour Party, Nelson's wife Rosabel, and Mau leaders during Nelson's banishment from Samoa.

Reverend Charles Moore went to Tonga as a Methodist missionary in 1924. He spent four years in Ha'apai, followed by four years in Vava'u, and returned to Australia in 1932. The correspondence (85 items) chiefly consists of letters from the Rev. Rodger C.G. Page, president of the Tongan Conference of the Methodist Church. Other correspondents include Queen Salote Tupou and a number of other Tongans, whose letters are in the Tongan language. In addition there is a copy of a letter from the Rev. Shirley W. Baker, Premier of the Tongan Government, to the president of the Wesleyan Methodist Conference in Melbourne of 1888.

Metcalfe, a Methodist missionary in the Solomon Islands for 37 years, was born in Yorkshire in 1889. He served as a home missionary in Great Britain before moving to Victoria in 1914. He became a candidate for the Methodist ministry in 1916, and after being ordained was appointed to the Solomon Islands in 1920. After a brief period at Roviana, he was appointed to Choiseul as assistant to the Rev. V. LeC. Binet. Apart from four years at Teop, he remained on Choiseul until 1951. During the war, he served as a Coastwatcher. He was chairman of the Methodist Mission in the Solomons from 1951 until he retired to Australia in 1957. He died in 1970.

Correspondence between Metcalfe and the general secretary for foreign missions of the New Zealand Methodist Church.<BR>For other Metcalfe papers see also PMB 67, 68, 74-80, 82, 88 and 413.

Heinrich Schnee was an official of the German colonial government. He was acting governor of German New Guinea in April-July 1899 and acting governor of Western Samoa in 1902.

The descriptions used in the archives for the correspondence are as follows:<BR>Ministere Marine et Colonies - Monografia (5F 201) - Narrationes (5F 202) which include La Terre Australe de Saint-Esprit, a history of the Marist mission in the New Hebrides, published in 1912, and cuttings from Le Neo-Caledonien, 29/2/1888 relating to the New Hebrides, from Le Journal des Nouvelles-Hebrides, 26/10/1901 and La Quinzaine Coloniale, 25/5/1903; Epistolae Historia (5F 208) Mortui, listing the deaths of missionaries for 1852 and 1898-1931, with date of birth and place of death; SE 330 Relations, including an extract of Council Minutes for 5/10/1887, letters, a report by Fr Provincial on the New Hebrides mission 26/9/1913 (typescript 44pp.) and Visite aux Nouvelles-Hebrides 30 August - 4 November 1919 a report on mission stations and missionaries by J.B. Chevreuil; SE 418 Mgr Doucere, epistolae 1887-1919 (Continued on PMB 591)<BR>The correspondence is not in chronological order.

These papers comprise part of the records of the Vicariate of New Caledonia which are designated Oceania Nova Caledonia (ONC) in the Marist Archives. The ONC material fills four large filing cabinets which are listed as APM I ONC, APM II ONC, APM III ONC and AMP IV ONC. The ONC files are not as well organized as the other Pacific vicariates and they contain many unclassified and unnamed sections. Please also see PMB MS 161.

Papers from cabinet APM I ONC. A dossier of correspondence of Mgr Fernand Vitte.