Brother Leak was born in 1942 in Castlemaine Victoria. He joined the Marist Brothers Teaching Order in 1960 and was appointed to Papua New Guinea in 1974. He taught 1974 - 79 at St Xavier's High School in the East Sepik province; 1980-82 at Wabag High School in the Enga province; 1985-92 at St Joseph's Rigu on Bougainville. 1993 at Gizo in the Solomon Islands.
He is now teaching at Red Bend Catholic College in Forbes after teaching for thirteen years at Assumption College Kilmore.

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Basil Shaw BA, BEd, DPE (Qld), MA (Ed., London), PhD, completed his biography of Michael Somare as a PhD dissertation in the Division of Humanities, Griffith University, Queensland.

A study of traditional leadership in Papua New Guinean societies provides the conceptual framework for Basil Shaw’s, Somare: A Political Biography of the First Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea. His study examines Somare’s life from his birth in the Murik Lakes in the Mandated Territory of New Guinea in 1936 to his loss of the prime ministership of Papua New Guinea in 1985.

The study is presented in two parts. The first part, Chapters 1-4, establishes a need for a biography of Somare and identifies three major objectives: firstly, to review the material in Somare’s autobiography, Sana, which covers the period to 1975, and to add to it where possible; secondly, to update Somare’s life to 1985, when he lost the prime ministership for the second time, and thirdly to explore the relationship between traditional leadership and contemporary political leadership at the national level.

The second part of the study, Chapters 5 to 10, is the political biography proper. The early chapters focus on the developmental stages of Somare’s life, showing how the leadership characteristics of oratory, effective communication, negotiating ability and the determination to retain power function in the National Parliament. The latter chapters of this part of the dissertation examine the difficulties that Somare and others faced in the introduction of the Westminster system of government into Papua New Guinea. The challengers whom Somare has faced as a political leader, and the issues which deprived him of government in 1980 and 1985, are also examined. (From Basil Shaw’s ‘Abstract’.)

In the most industrial country in Oceania, labour unions are quite strong and active, and at times their strikes become militant and political, pushing politicians to complain or listen, for example, on the issue of favoring local hiring that was inscribed in both the Noumea Accord and the organic laws that followed (nc, 18 Oct 2007). Faced with rising living costs, they also want their share of the proceeds from economic development, so the minimum monthly wage was raised in January to 120,000 Pacific francs, or about us$1,200 (nc, 8 Jan 2007). Mining unions noted the rising price of nickel and demanded a corresponding increase in wages, and those in various support or service sectors felt likewise. But social dialogue between workers and employers has all too often not gone smoothly in New Caledonia, leading to roadblocks with burning tires and work stoppages without enough action by the State, positive or negative (nc, 4 Sep, 2 Oct, 9 Oct 2007). France too has its powerful labor unions who strike militantly, but in late 2007 Sarkozy battled transporters over pension reforms, while a thousand people marched in Noumea against “terrorism” by local unions (BBC News, 13 Nov 2007; nc, 12 Nov 2007). For example, USTKE, which Estrosi had criticized, blocked the local cement industry and urban bus company for months—along with other strikes to support favoring local hiring and protecting workers fired for union activities—and in October USTKE called a general strike because the police had intervened (nc, 13 Oct 2007). After testing the waters in the presidential and legislative elections by backing Bove and then its own candidates, respectively, USTKE defied appeals by the FLNKS not to divide the Kanak vote and formed its own Labor Party in November, with support from metropolitan Trotskyists, dedicating itself to independence, anti-globalization, and revolutionary socialism (nc, 16 Nov 2007). It remained one of the two largest unions, as labor leaders compete for membership using dramatic strikes to attract support (nc, 12 April 2007). From David Chappell, “Political review: New Caledonia”, The Contemporary Pacific 12.2 (2000) 515-520.
After a decade, in 2007, USTKE started a new series of Combat Ouvrier, again as a monthly, renumbering from No.1. No.8, Feb 2008, up to No.27, Nov 2010, are available on the web at: http://ustke.org/pdf.html.

Combat Ouvrier, Nos.1-43, 45-49, 51-54, 1992-2001, published monthly.
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Bob Langdon, the first executive officer of the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau, 1968-1984, established his reputation as a Pacific Specialist with the publication of his history of Tahiti, <i>Island of Love</i>, in London in 1959. As a journalist with the <i>Pacific Islands Monthly (PIM)</i>, 1962-67, he travelled extensively in the Islands on assignments producing investigative articles, many on obscure aspects of Pacific history. It was in the <i>PIM</i>, too, that Bob first published his account of the marooned Spanish sailors on Amanu in the Tuamotu Islands. This discovery became the basis of his studies of European castaways in the Pacific Islands, prior to Captain Cook, which appeared in his books, <i>The Lost Caravel</i> (1975) and <i>The Lost Caravel Re-explored</i> (1988), and in his many articles published in scholarly journals.

The first volume of Langdon’s autobiography, <i>Every Goose a Swan: An Australian Autobiography</i> (Sydney, Farm Cove Press, 1995) takes the reader up to 1959 when, as a journalist in Adelaide, Langdon was attracted by an advertisement for a ‘Journalist-printer wanted for Polynesian islands’.

Volumes 2, of Langdon’s autobiography, Ts., 107pp., Chs.46-65, and Epilogue, gives an account of Langdon’s work as a journalist on the <i>Pacific Islands Monthly</i>, his recruitment to the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau by Harry Maude, his experiences at the Australian National University, his expeditions to the Pacific islands, his work for the Australian government’s South Pacific Cultures Fund, and his pusuit of his unorthodox views on the migration of the Pacific Islanders.

Vanua Scope, an independent French language weekly, was edited by Patrick Antoine Delcoite, Port Vila, Vanuatu.

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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>