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The Islander - Thursday 1st August 2002

1st ASCENSION GIRL GUIDES

 

 

 

WE'RE OFF AT LAST !

We are taking our traditional food - yes FISH CAKES for the International tasting tent. We will also have an International Tent, which will have food, crafts, activities and much more to show from all over the world. The Guides of Ascension has put together a Project on the History of Ascension with photographs and drawings. Postcards, St. Helena & Ascension Stamps, Phonecards, a model of Ascension, Shells of Ascension displayed on a stand, a (dead) baby crab, pressed Hibiscus, Oleander & Bougainvillaea flowers. Also maps and leaflets on Ascension and the St. Helena Flag will be flown to representative our Islands.

Activities at camp will include watersports & swimming, climbing & archery and relaxation shown by Guides from around the world. I guess our relaxation is showing them how we 'chill out' on the beach or watching TV!!! We also have to produce a song, dance or a tradition from our Island or Country. We will show the world how we 'Saints' do the BOSTON. This is the only traditional dance we can think off other then Line Dancing.

Shops will be on site such as a tuck-shop and a souvenir shop but some of the trips while at camp involve shopping possibilities. There will be no facilities for washing clothes but we will get a shower each evening. Even a Jubilee Picnic has been arranged to celebrate the Queen's Golden Jubilee on the Sunday afternoon (27th July). The whole camp will turn red, white and blue and even VIPs are been invited to share this with us.

Here's an updated itinerary for you to follow our whereabouts:-

Fri 26th Jul Arrive at Brize
Sat 27th Jul Off to "Unity Camp" (1st Aug off to North Wales for one of our camp trips)
Sat 3rd Aug Back to Kinver Scout Camp, West Midlands (our Base)
Sun 4th Aug Arrive London 1 p.m. Accommodated at Baden Powell House
Mon 5th Aug Visit Guide CHQ, Buckingham Palace for Changing of Guards, London Eye
Tues 6th Aug Continue tour of London and River Cruise. Visit by Mr. Higgins
Wed 7th Aug Depart B-P House to Foxlease in the New Forest, (Hampshire)
Thurs 8th Aug Day trip to Isle of Wight
Fri 9th Aug Depart Foxlease to London then onto Kinver
Sat 10th Aug Visit Rock Houses
Sun 11th Aug Day trip to Stratford. Visit Huxley's Residence for snack and drink and then Warwick Castle
Mon 12th Aug Visit Black Country Museum. Canal Boat trip with the Fairhursts and Fr. Keith & Ginny. Visit Merryhill Shopping Centre for about 3 hours!!!!! Tues 13th Aug Trip to Cadbury World, chocolate factory with free samples and museum!
Wed 14th Aug Day at Drayton Manor Park
Thurs 15th Aug Pack in morning for Ascension. Visit Worcester City before Brize Norton.

Arriving Ascension we will need another 3 weeks to recuperate. Luckily the girls will still be on their school summer holidays.

WILL KEEP YOU UPDATED THROUGH THE ISLANDER

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News From St. Mary's:

PARISH CHURCH OF ST MARY THE VIRGIN.  ASCENSION ISLAND (Diocese of St. Helena) Church Warden: Mervyn Isaacs Church Warden: Cheryl Anthony

Dear All,

It was a huge shock for yours truly to be invited to say the prayers at the Leavers' Assembly up at the school last week. I was lucky, I only had about twenty-four hours notice, not enough time to get really worried. What on earth can she be scared about I hear you say. The thought of all of those people under five foot tall, they could have ignored me, talked to each other, or they could have walked out. They were brilliant, they all sat for over three quarters of an hour and clapped in all of the right places and listened when they should have. For someone who hasn't been into a school assembly for twenty something years it was a great experience, thank you for having me.

I also saw the guides off on their travels, Cheryl is planning on doing an article as she goes so I will not go on about the trip. I have a copy of the plan if anyone wants to know where they are. We continue to hold them in our prayers, that they will have a great and a safe trip. Did anyone else see the St. Helenian flag and athletes at the opening of the Commonwealth Games? I got all proud and emotional, does this mean I belong now?

How are they doing, does anyone know? We expected to be a small if happy band on Sunday with the guides and their leaders away. In fact we welcomed a chap who didn't give me his name, just said that he was "Church of Scotland". Not a problem, all are welcome at St. Mary's. We also welcomed a new family, the Yons, we pray that you feel welcomed and accepted by the family of the Church here on Ascension. It was also the morning to say goodbye to Juanita who has been with us from the Falkland Islands. We heard how Solomon asked for wisdom, that we can find wisdom in the Bible, when we do not know what to pray for we can leave it to the Holy Spirit who will use our very groans and our weaknesses. We realised that heaven is available to all of us as saints, through Jesus and that we are all to go out as seeds and yeast to effect the rest of the world.

I really need your help. I will be leaving early in November and have to find a new treasurer for the Church. I have resigned as of the 1st of September so that the new priest will not have to put up with two treasurers. The task is not a hard one. It takes about half an hour a week and one evening meeting a month. If you think you can help please let me know on 6415. Thanks.

There will be no family/parade service on the 4th because of the guides being away. Our service will be one of Eucharist in the one kind at 1030am, we look forward to seeing you there.

Yours in Christ

Jane

LETTERS

The Met Office Weather Report

Statistics for the week ending Monday 29th July 2002

	Max (deg C)	Min (deg C)	Rainfall (mm)
AIRHEAD	27.8	21.2	2.2
TRAVELLERS	26.0	18.7	4.8
RESIDENCY	24.1	16.3	4.7
GEORGETOWN	-	-	-
ST. HELENA	19.9	13.9	Trace
FALKLANDS	-	-	-
UK	32.0 Kent 28th	4.0 Surrey 22nd	36.6 Skye 28th

ASCENSION ISLAND: Just a few showery spells but a rather cool and cloudy week - as you would expect at this time of year.

UK: A fairly cool, cloudy start to the week but becoming generally very warm or hot by the weekend. As I write some thunderstorms breaking out over the southeast midlands heralding a change.

FALKLANDS: Unsettled right through the week with some rain and sleet at times.

POSITIVE PUBLIC MEETING ALLAYS ISLANDERS' FEARS ABOUT DEMOCRACY

Commentary by J. Brock (SARTMA)

A public meeting was held in the Saints' Club Cinema at 1845 on Monday, 29 July 2002. Chairing the meeting was Caz Yon (CY) and H.E. the Governor Mr. David Homllamby (DH) and His Honour the Administrator, Mr. Matthew Young (MY) were present. Approximately 70 people turned up to hear what Governor Hollamby had to say and to comment on it. The first part of the meeting consisted of a brief presentation by Governor Hollamby. For the first time ever, new ground was broken when a recording was made for transcription and publication.

DH: Good evening ladies and gentlemen and thanks for coming along tonight. I know it was difficult to agree upon a time but I hope as more people come they will join in at the point where we are.

What I really want to do this evening, because time is short - we set ourselves a time-table to bring democratic development to the Island - and we've got, really, until the 12th of August to decide what the two options are going to be on the ballot paper for the referendum. Now. I don't think any of us, if we can use the sense of people here tonight, other people on the Island, myself, or the Foreign Office, are very far apart. So, I don't want to spend the evening looking back. I very much want to look forward in order to bring this to a conclusion where we can more or less agree where we are going from here. Because, I think that is widely important at this time. I don't think we can let the people down and say we are not ready on the 12th of August, or we are not ready on the 22nd or 23rd for the vote. So, I know things have not gone perfectly since we started this whole process off. But I think enquiries and inquests into that are negative. Looking forward, in my view, is positive.

Now, Matt (MY) has been instrumental in working with me on a lot of this and the situation we are in tonight is that we are going to put up a suggestion of how we might move forward. And, if that is acceptable to the people at this public meeting tonight, it will be sent to the Foreign Office by Wednesday. The Foreign Office team that deals with the issues is currently in Washington (DC) on Ascension business, talking to the Americans about Wideawake Airport. They will be back in the office on Thursday, by when I'll be home (back in the UK) and we hope to come to a situation where we can quickly agree what will be available. Then, everything will come back to Ascension Island, Matt (MY) will hold further meetings to disseminate the detail of what's being proposed. That will be next week - so that we will by Monday week - the 12th of August - have everything ready on where we are going to go.

As you know from the feedback slips you returned, neither model "A" nor model "B," were acceptable to the majority of people - three quarters of the people - didn't want them but remember there are still some people who wanted "A" and some who wanted "B." Neither model "A" nor model "B," were acceptable as they stand. Even before I knew the outcome of this straw poll, I had been wracking my brains to find out what's missing from all of this - thinking about what was originally the proposal for the standing committee, which is model "C." And, you might ask why model "C" isn't put up against model "B." I can answer that question a bit later but I first want to go through with you my thought process as to why this wasn't working - what was missing. So, I thought very hard about Overseas Territories before they had a Ministerial form of Government. And, believe it or not, quite surprisingly, some like the Cayman Islands, have only had a Ministerial form of Government since I've been on St. Helena - only within the last three years. I wondered what they had - what does Tristan da Cunha have - because they've had an Island Council for many a long year. In fact, what does St. Helena have - what do some local authorities in Britain have? And the same answer always kept coming back to me. They all have a finance committee.

So, I started with where I could build a finance committee into the process because I think the two issues that were still outstanding were the voting - the members of the Island council - their voting rights - and the finance issue. So, if I could tackle those two, we might be looking at the light at the end of the tunnel. So, I started thinking about a finance committee and the more I thought about it, the finance committee has to be constituted from membership of the Island Council. It can't be anybody else. You can't have anybody else involved in the finance issue other than people who have been elected to the Island council and that gave me an idea about where we go forward from here so rather than explain any further, I am going to ask Matt (MY) to assist me with the clip chart. And, I am going to put up, first of all, the headings, where I think we might have a resolution and then we will try and fit in a bit of detail.

We are going to get away from "A, B, and C" all together but I am going to try and adopt as much of "C" as I can into the process. And, then tell you why I think this may work with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, rather than the pure option "C" as it stood.

The issues we are going to look at in this option are the composition of the Island council, the voting rights within the Island council, how legislation is handled, the scope, the powers and the responsibility of the Island council, the issue of finance and finally, the last one, the joint consultative committee. Now, this is one of the options and I hope this will be set against what is already published as "B" in the last ballot.

On composition, I would like you to see how much of "C" comes out of this. We start out composition with the Governor, or in his absence, the Administrator will preside. Now, that was in the "C" paper. I think we are all agreed that there should be seven elected members with the Governor having the power to appoint up to two additional members. We qualified that because the appointed members have to bring something to the party. And, the appointed members, in our view, would either be from the business community or possess particular skills that we would use to assist the Island council in its deliberations. None of this is different from "C" at the moment. The Director of Financial Services will be on the Island Council, as would the Attorney General. The composition - Governor on his absence - Administrator to preside - seven elected members always gives - no matter who is away on leave - always gives the elected members the majority - the Director of Financial Services - and the Attorney General.

If I can turn to voting, the suggestion I will make is that with the exception of the Attorney General, all members elected and not elected, will have a vote. Advice from the Governor will be on the basis of majority voting. The Governor shall normally act in total accordance with the advice given to him by the Island council except in respect of principles laid down in Sections 11 and 12 of the Constitution (of St. Helena). You are all familiar with section 12, you are all familiar with special responsibilities. Section 11 - we can get printed copies of Section 11 of the Constitution. What it's about, basically, are those occasions when the Governor does not consult Executive Council or the Island council. And, these are usually emergency circumstances such as when the Governor receives direct instructions from the Foreign Secretary, from the British Government when a situation has arisen that's so urgent he has to act first and explain later on to the council why he had to take that sore of action. There are emergency situations but in most cases, the Governor shall act in accordance with the advice of the Island council. And, that's the key principle here. As I said, Section 12 are the special responsibilities. I am leaving aside finance for now because I've got this finance committee idea to put to you. And, the Foreign Office, all through the correspondence, have said that the Governor would also retain responsibility for ensuring the over-all good governance of Ascension Island. And, that's common to all territories - Governors have the responsibility to ensure good governance, whether it's Bermuda, who is the richest and most advanced constitutionally, or whether it's Tristan da Cunha. It's there in all the Constitutions, in all the Island Councils and Legislation. It's a common theme that FCO lawyers insist upon.

I can turn next to legislation. The Island council will consider and provide input into draft legislation but legislative powers will remain with the Governor. Only the Governor, under section 27 of the Constitution, can actually legislate. In other words, whatever comes up from the Island council, through the Administrator, to the Attorney General, who will put it into a legal form to send it to the Governor. It's not anything to do with the St. Helena Government or EXCO there. I will be entirely acting as Governor of Ascension. The inputs will be there from the Island council and they will make proposals themselves, they will go through the normal process but ultimately I would have to legislate using the Office of the Attorney General to put the legislation into force.

The next section I would like to look at is on the scope, the powers and the responsibilities of the Island council. I am trying to make this straight forward because I think we need to break this down to the administrative part of it, the legislative part of it, and the financial part of it. And, the key document in Ascension Island Government at the moment, is the strategic plan, which is not very well developed. There is plenty of opportunity for the people of Ascension Island to put input into the strategic plan. It is not as advanced as I would like it to be but that's for other reasons. So, using that as the key document, I would suggest that the Island council advises and informs the Administrator and assists with the development of a strategic plan for Ascension Island. And, everything should be encapsulated in that strategic plan.

The Island Council should receive regular reports from the Administrator and monitor progress on the achievement of the objectives in the strategic plan. So, as it's developed, it has to be implemented and, if it's not being implemented, the Island council has the full right to call the Administrator to account as to why it's not being implemented.The Island council should receive from the Governor regular reports on matters covered by his special responsibilities as appropriate. If not always appropriate, we talk in terms of external affairs. There's nothing I really do on external affairs, so it's no good asking me that the next time I come here, what are you going to tell us about external affairs? They are governed by HMG in any case. So, as appropriate, receive reports from the Governor on matters covered by his special responsibilities. The Island council should also be consulted, as appropriate, by the Administrator on MOD and US Forces plans likely to impact on the island (repeated). The reason the Administrator has to consult the Island council is because he has the responsibility for dealing with the MOD because the relationship between the MOD and the Island is a matter for the British Government. And the matter for negotiating between the Administrator and the American Armed Forces is covered, as everybody knows, by treaty. So, that's why the Administrator is in the loop to report to the Island Council on matters as appropriate. And then, to consider proposals submitted through the Administrator from private sector organisations likely to impact on the Island. Now, these last two are very similar to what was in "C." And, they have taken out and put into language because you have to recognise the relationship where HMG is involved and where it is not. But those are very similar ideas to what was in the model "C."

Now, to the key one, and this is on finance. I would propose that a finance committee of the Island council is set up. Now, in Tristan, it is called a Finance and General Purposes Committee. In St. Helena, we call it the Finance and Development Policy Group. In many local government regimes in Britain, they call it the Finance and General Purposes and in the past, in the Cayman Islands and places like that, they had a Finance Committee. Let's just keep it short and call it the Finance Committee. And, this will be virtually a sub-committee of the Island council. And, I can explain that later if anybody wants to know why a sub-committee and not the full Island council? But the process will be that the finance committee of the Island council would be chaired by the Director of Financial Services and consisting of three elected members and the two appointed members, if there are any appointed members. We may decide sometime in the future that we really don't want any appointed members. But if there are appointed members, they would join the three elected members and they would be under the chairmanship of the Director of Financial Services. That finance committee will consider the draft estimates submitted by the Director of Financial Services. It's his responsibility to work with Heads of Departments, to work with the Agency, to draw up draft estimates. But before putting any further forward, he will put them to the finance committee of the Island council.

The finance committee itself, once they have had their deliberations and debate, will submit recommendations on the estimates to the whole Island council. Neither is out of the loop but there is a very good reason for having a sub-committee look at it first and then pass it on to the full committee. And, I will explain that in just a second. After the Island council has considered all the issues, the Administrator will submit the final draft estimates to the Governor for approval in accordance with financial legislation. And, this is what the parameters are: The finance committee and the Island council's deliberations will be conducted within a controlled environment, including, but not limited to the financial management ordinance, the maintenance reserves and a balanced budget, they are actually essential, and the financial and contract regulations. So, that all pieces of legislation and regulations that have already been passed by Ascension Island Government. So, they are the parameters. They are the only parameters. And, the final issue - the joint consultative committee - and this is lifted wholesale from model "C," and that, as you recall, it will be in the interests of both Ascension and St. Helena to develop joint practical arrangements to enable issues and services of common strategic importance, for example, economic development and tourism, to be developed and managed. This could take the form of a joint consultative council, which could comprise of elected representatives and officials from both Governments. Meetings could be held on a scheduled, at least, annual basis, alternating between the Islands, with a result of the deliberations feeding into the various AIG and SHG bodies. This would be a voluntary arrangement, entirely taken from the steering committee's proposals. So, I think what we have done is to get the best out of the steering committee's proposals and substitute the best into what was originally a model "A." And, after discussion, if we can agree this, it will then form option 1 on the ballot paper and option 2 would be model "B," which was the intra Island council and Island Council, which has already been published. So, there is no hidden agenda to anybody.

That's where I am coming from at the moment and I do think the creation of this finance committee as a sub-committee to the Island council is the key to moving forward on the finance issue.

With that, I am happy to take questions.

Question No. 1 by Mr. Gordon McHugh: Could you tell me why you are quoting Section 12 of the Constitution when Ascension doesn't appear to have a constitution?

DH: You are asking why this reference to Section 12 of the Constitution? The St. Helena Constitution also carries the dependencies. The guardian of the Constitution is the Attorney General. The Attorney General is accredited here, he's accredited to St. Helena. He is also accredited to Tristan da Cunha. He has given an opinion - a legal opinion - that Section 12 itself - does not directly apply. That's why we are looking at moving finance out, for instance. That's why we are not including shipping, which would be a nonsense here. What he has said, though, is that the principles of Section 12 apply to all three Islands. And, that's the Attorney General's view.

Question No. 2 by Lawson Henry: what I'd like to ask you - in this proposal, you didn't make any mention of the two very important components of the council that you are proposing. And, that is health and education. Would you explain to us how health and education, which takes up a large proportion of our tax money - who do you propose should run or be in charge of those items.

DH: As you know, Lawson, we brought Service Level Agreements between the Health Department - it's officials in the Health Department - it's not the Health Committee. The Service Level Agreement between the Two Boats School and the Education Department. It is a very minimum agreement and basically what happens is if the Doctor needs a bit of help - Ivy Elleck and the Health Department there - I talked to David Higgins today - if he's looking for a bit of assistance - and that's what it's down to. They turn to the heads of those two departments on St. Helena for assistance. If they can provide that help, there is a fee for it. But the actual running of the budget of the public hospital here and Two Boats School will be part of the budget process which will be decided by the Island council - not by anybody else - through that finance committee I mentioned. It's your money and it's only right that the Island council would decide on the budgets and they would argue that during the process of putting the draft estimates through. Matthew (MY) Do you want to add anything?

MY: Just to supplement what the Governor has said, if you refer back to what was said on the responsibilities of the Island council, with reference to the strategic plan. The strategic plan covers everything including health and education and all the other services. So, in fact, the Island council, through that process, will deliberate on health and education issues along with other departmental issues and, as part of the strategic plan, clearly, an important element of that is finance. And, the Governor, again, has already explained the mechanism to be whereby the financing of these services along with other essential Island Government services would be tackled. So, none of the departments are mentioned but it's all inclusive in the over all planning of Ascension, which, as I say, is within the strategic plan and also in reference to the estimates.

Question No. 3 by Jane Randells: When are we going to get our fishing money back

DH: Fishing licences are actually zero at the moment, so if you want the fishing licences back - there is no money coming into the ex chequer at St. Helena - I think there is one boat out there at the moment - one Korean boat and the Koreans have told us - basically we have lost the Koreans and the Japanese - why they are not taking up licences. They are two-fold. The first and foremost is there is not much fishing in either of the waters to interest them. They have had to downsize their fleets both in Japan and in Korea and they are concentrating on those parts of the world and are going where the fish are more plentiful. So, we are really not talking about anything at the moment in terms of fishing licences. But, if you look at the St. Helena strategic plan, it is envisaged in that, that when Ascension Island actually becomes a functioning democracy then the fishing licences will obviously revert to Ascension Island. I know it's the view of the Attorney General that licence money should come to Ascension Island.

Supplementary by Mrs. Randells: Can you tell us how much we would have made if we had our own licensing regime?

DH: I can't really answer that because I am not really a finance man. I think you can go back in previous financial years, can you?

MY: The answer is no. Perhaps I will elaborate just a wee bit. This goes back a number of years to a DFID settlement in relation to the funding of St. Helena Government. The past, again, is the past. What the future holds remains to be seen. As the Governor has said, revenue is zero at the moment and therefore I think what is important is, again, because it is such an important issue in relation to the economic development of the Island. This, I am sure, would be an issue which would be dealt with by the joint consultative committee between the two Islands. And, I think that is clearly a matter for discussion in the future.

Question No. 4 by Stephen Fowler (Cable & Wireless): When the model is chosen, you will be its nominative head. Do you feel it would be helpful if you were to spend more time on the Island during the year, say, put aside two or three weeks, perhaps when you could spend time finding out what people think and liasing with AIG? I think it's fair to say, certainly in the case of yourself, and the last Governor, the only time that we really saw him was when he slept over just passing through to catch the Tri-star to the UK and back again.

DH: To the best of my ability, I will answer that. Yes, in principle. I don't think I would be letting the side down if I said that the previous Governor did not like living on St. Helena. I came from a background where I'd worked on the Caribbean Overseas Territories and Bermuda and London for three years, so I knew what being a Governor was all about. And, the only briefing I had from John White, who was then the Head of the Overseas Territories Department, was to spend more time on St. Helena and at least pretend you like it there. I have no problem with the second bit because I do like it there.

Now, what has been happening recently is that I came here, first of all, on a second visit in October 1999. There was supposed to be various meetings taking place - the O. T. team were flying out to meet me. It was a 36-hour shuttle when the RMS turned around and went back to St. Helena. Unfortunately, the RAF let the London team down. There was no meeting. The Administrator of the time had no 'plan "B," no meeting had been set up with any of the other organisations and couldn't be set up at short notice. So, therefore, within about six hours, I was back on the ship kicking my heels until we sailed.

So, there's no reason why we can't spend more time here. I came through here in April on my way to the Governor's Conference and, if people recall, I did a similar visit last year. I was quite prepared to come back through in May but unfortunately, I couldn't tie up the shipping schedule and get back to St. Helena in time for the 21st of May Celebrations. And, I really felt I ought to be on St. Helena for those.

I would like to spend more time here but it really depends on the shipping schedules to a large extent and also what is going on, on St. Helena. And, believe me, there's a hell of a lot going on at the moment about the air access issue that is fundamental to the Island and to its future. There's a lot of intensive work on that. We've got other issues. We've got DIFID coming out in September for another round of negotiations on the aid budget. A lot of work will have to be put into that. When I am actually able to return again in September, again, I'm coming through the Cape just to get back on time, and to talk to DIFID before they even get to the Island because some of the things need to be thrashed out in advance.

You've got to recall that St. Helena has a population of 5100 people. Nearly all of them are Saints. We've got about 700 Saints on this Island so I can't easily say that I've got to spend a proportional part of my time on St. Helena and on Ascension. It simply doesn't work that way. I have to try and manage my time as best as possible. Now, I already work a six day week on St. Helena and, in theory, I would see one opportunity right away and that is when we have these joint meetings, I would certainly want to come along and sit in the chair, hopefully, between the representatives of the two Islands and chair those meetings.

So, I will try and spend more time here but we also have an Administrative Post. It's a post that is key to the future of the Island. And, his job, above all else, as we saw from some of this stuff we are putting up today, is to report and reflect on what the people of the Island want. And, if he can't do that job, then he's not (inaudible) as people. I can assure you that the new Administrator that is coming in will very much be a 'listening man' and will be reporting back quite regularly and not just about missing Sooty Terns.

Question No. 5 by Lawson Henry: I'd just like to ask you a few more questions, Governor, whilst I've got the opportunity. The first one is regarding the composition of the proposed finance committee. And, I note that it is made up of - if my arithmetic is right - it is to be made up of six people - three elected and three not elected. And, I'd like to propose that the composition be four elected and three appointed.

DH: Lawson, I can see no problem with that. Let me tell you the reason why we wouldn't have the full Island council turning itself into a finance committee. That is because of the rules that exist. We look in the Tristan Ordinance - there are rules for qualification for the Council and disqualification. And, basically, if anybody works in public office and that would include, I think, perhaps the Agency as well, they would be disbarred from membership of the committee unless they have been given special dispensation by the Governor under the ordinance. I don't want to disbar anybody, even those who work for AIG or work for the Agency. What I would expect, though, as currently happens with Council on St. Helena: if something is being discussed which affects your direct work, you have to declare an interest and leave the room - leave it for others to decide. But, I think by having a smaller sub-committee - the finance committee - we can avoid that potential conflict of interest. So, anybody who is involved in the Agency like yourself or someone in AIG, wouldn't have to sit on that finance committee, then there would be no conflict of interest but they would be permitted to sit on the full Island Council and come into the loop to discuss the rest of the finances and only have to step aside when their particular organisation is involved. Matt (MY) do you see any problem with the fourth elected member? I currently see no problem.

MY: (Affirms by shaking head)

Question Number 6 by Gordon McHugh (GMH): About these organisations from outside -I don't want to use the microphone because there is too much feed-back - about the organisations, if they make a profit here and they take the profits from their organisation out of the Island - money generated on the Island to St. Helena, for example, one organisation that makes its money here and ships it back to St. Helena.

DH: I really don't know what organisation you are talking about. I mean, the taxation money that's raised here - can I just finish - from currently, the people that work on the Island - is fully spent on this Island. It isn't spent anywhere else. Are you talking about people not allowed to send their own personal money back to families on St. Helena?

GMH: No. I am talking about outside organisations - Companies - that make a huge profit here and ship it back to their home country or Island.

DH: Such as?

GMH: Shelco

DH: Shelco - I don't think they have any plans to come here. If you are worried about investment - I'm not an expert in investment - unless you can show the investor a potential profit, he's not going to come to this Island, or St. Helena, or anywhere else. There's no such thing as a free lunch on this. If you want inward investors coming from a foreign community, you must allow them, after they have paid their taxes, to repatriate their profits to wherever their base it.

GMH: Something else is jobs for those in St. Helena or here - the jobs won't go to residents here.

DH: Jobs and tax money. I mean, there will be corporate taxation here, won't there?

GMH: Not if it goes to St. Helena.

DH: Nothing goes to St. Helena. If an organisation comes here and makes a profit and it's based in Bermuda, then presumably it exports its money to where its headquarters is. It doesn't send anything back to St. Helena.

GMH: What about tax on their profits?

DH: Everything that is raised in tax from the three points of taxation stays here and organisations would have to pay tax as well on their earnings. But if you try to block organisations from making a profit and taking it back to wherever they come from, they won't come in the first place.

GMH: You can stipulate that when an organisation comes to the Island, for tourism, for example that they leave 51% of their profits here.

DH: I'm not sure that, that is the way forward for this Island. You've got a very small population here and you haven't really got a tourism industry as such. It needs to be developed. If you are going to start by telling potential investors that they've got to leave 51% of their profits on the Island, I don't think you are going to get people who want to come and put their money in here. You've got to encourage investment by having an open as possible policy on the Island to encourage people to come in the first place. It's no good limiting them in advance because they just won't come. There's plenty of other small islands in the world where they can go.

GMH: So, you are quite happy with the foreign nationals who want to come and buy some property?

DH: What happens in many of the territories - and we've checked up on this because we are facing this problem on St. Helena because, as you know, they want to build villas. Villas are not unknown to these developments. What they do - there are a number of issues that have to be addressed first and they often include the villa owner - apart from checking them for everything you can about their bona fides and everything else - they often have to make a contribution to the exchequer. For example, if the Sultan of Brunei wanted to come here and build a bit on St. Helena or Ascension Island - he would be expected under most of the rules in the Overseas Territories, to make a contribution to the exchequer. So, I think those sort of individuals you can tap into more easily when the companies you are trying to attract bring in their investment, would want, obviously, to generate the profits they can.

Question No. 7 by Geoff Jones (Cable & Wireless): When the Governor was talking about the financial committee, in particular, he referred to several clauses in the Constitution, etc. I think it would be very useful if AIG were to publish these as part of publicity running up to the vote, particularly because a lot of the Islanders here are not familiar with the St. Helena Constitution. It would involve publication of what the rules are. It would be helpful.

DH: Geoff, I entirely agree. I mean, the only sections are Section 11 - we can't make copies of the whole Constitution - believe me, it's a very difficult document to find your way around - and the sections I referred to - Sections 11 and 12 of the Constitution - and its not their direct application that is the rule. It's the Attorney General's judgement that they apply in principle. So we can easily make available copies of Section 11 and Section 12 and even publish it. I think, Matt, you are planning to publish the proxy voting form. We can publish that with the Islander as well, so I fully accept your suggestion. No problem.

Supplementary by Geoff Jones: Would you have be able to tell us what is the Attorney General's view?

DH: Well, the Attorney General has already given that view. If you read the leaflet that came out he had it written in there that the principles apply. He has already given that view. He was consulted on that.

Question No. 8 by Lawson Henry: I just want to ask a question about the advisory council. What would be the application of the advisory council and I don't mean the Governor's special responsibilities in this where the Governor acts other than his special responsibilities against that wiser council, right? You mentioned before previously, quite rightly, that you would have to report back to the Secretary of State. Now, I would like to propose that there should also be a route for the council, if they feel strongly enough, that the Governor, as elected members going against that advice, there ought to be some sort of route or clause that they, likewise, can address the Secretary of State, or alternatively we have some sort of arbitration to actually bail out any dispute. I think you will accept that what's been happening here is that people are very aware that they want their elected members to run Ascension - not officials. I would like people who actually are going to live here to be doing that. I think I would find it very difficult for a Governor not to act on our elected members' advice when, in actual fact, they don't live here and we have no course - only the Governor's. I think it should be a two-way street.

DH: Lawson, I'm afraid it's one of these areas that there is not enough knowledge around in the still extent of something that's called 'Colonial Regulations.' And to some extent, they need updating and they need to be merged with what else has been developed in terms of codes and whatever else. And, there is an exercise in London to bring this together. But, one of the Colonial Regulations gives any citizen of any territory the right to petition the Secretary of State, in other words, to complain. What they have to do is they write the complaint and it goes through the Governor's Office to ensure that there is nothing amiss that it is just the complaint coming through. But, the Governor is obliged to send that complaint direct to the Secretary of State under Colonial Regulations. Now, I can tell you one Councillor, who's not here, has tried to use that mechanism a half a dozen times. Every time on St. Helena, I applied my obligation and passed the complaint to the Secretary of State. So, it's every citizen - not just elected members - that has the right to petition the Secretary of State on any issue in which they want to complain about regardless of the Governor's view about the decision or anything. So, it's not just a position where the Governor has to report himself if he runs against the rules but if Island Councillors or if members of the public are unhappy, they have the right of petition to the Secretary of State through the Governor's Office. In fact, as you recall, there's a little post box outside the Savings Bank on St. Helena and that's precisely one of the reasons it's there so they can put their petitions in to the Secretary of State.

Supplementary by Lawson Henry: I am pleased to hear you say that and know that the system will be updated because we are in a position here, if we are going to complain about the Governor, we have got to complain to the Governor about the Governor. And, I am aware of the regulations you are talking about, which give you an opportunity to comment on a report that somebody's complaining about.

DH: I agree but I did not write the regulations.

The Governor's comments as to why nobody put up model "C"

I am really surprised that nobody's actually raised why model "C" wasn't included in the leaflet, with me, because it is a valid question to have asked. So, I'm going to offer an explanation as to why, rather than me being wandering off and after I am gone wondering why didn't they ask that particular question.

It's basically because the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has looked at model "C" and whereas they would be prepared to give the Island council a wide span of control, they would, at the same time, constrain you by checks and balances which would negate the effort in the first place to have given you the wide span of control. Some of the drafts I have seen, terms like veto were there, terms like referral back to Council - I don't think that works, frankly. I think it sets up an immediate divide or a running sore between the elected representatives of the Island and the Governor. I don't really want that. I don't think any of us want that. I honestly believe that by having the Island council and its finance sub-committee working through the system, we can come up with a much better system of governance on the Island because, as Michael Bradley said, to you, I believe on one occasion, "Any Governor, or Administrator for that matter, who ignores the wishes of the elected representatives, will be in a pretty sorry condition by the time London is finished with him. But, it was in London they said they supposed they could go for option "C" but we would have to put all these checks and balances in which would be totally negative. I think we would rather look at a co-operative way of going forward with the Island council being part of the system, pushing it out, pushing the recommendations on, rather than the other way around. I also believe - my honest belief - is that model "C" as it stands will be divisive between Saints and non Saints on this Island. There were some comments added to the feedback slips and one comment stopped me particularly strongly. I have taken a copy of it and I will just read it out now.

"Saints must be recognised as equal and not treated as the poor relation. Option "C" would mean that UK people would dominate. So, I believe that option "C" would be divisive among the people of this Island." I believe it would also be a great divide between the Governor and the elected representatives and I don't want that. I really want to work with the elected representatives to do the best by the Island. And, that's why I don't think it's a good idea to promote option "C" to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and its lawyers, who would add all sorts of controls to make the whole exercise quite negative. That's my reasoning.

MY: Could I just say a few words about where we go from here? It will be extremely important over the next days, weeks and few months to actually continue this dialogue. The first important event is scheduled for the 22nd and 23rd of August. That's the referendum. As the Governor has said, clearly we will finalise the two options, which we have gone into in some detail tonight, as quickly as possible. And, maybe, if some people have additional questions to ask on the detail, just to be absolutely certain what it might entail, how it is going to work, and so on, and, therefore, between now and then, I personally would like to see some mechanism whereby I can talk to the representatives of the people and make sure, as far as possible, everybody on the Island understands before, hopefully, there is a 100% turn-out on the vote on the 22nd - 23rd of August. It obviously thereafter goes into a different process which is for you folks to select or rather lobby people that you would want to represent you on the council. The other aspect, which, I think needs mentioning as well, which is linked with this, is the voting process, which, clearly, we have already started preparing a voters' list. Proxy votes have already been mentioned. So, there is quite a lot of work to be done between now and the 22nd of August to get this in place. And again, it would be extremely useful if we could have some mechanism for a regular dialogue to take that forward.

Now, what we had in the past is the Administrator's forum. That has existed in the past. Nobody has actually put it to death as yet. So, that is one possibility. The other possibility is to re-approach the members who formed the Steering Committee to continue, albeit in a different role. So, really, I think I am asking you what you feel is the appropriate mechanism because we can't, for every occasion, call a public meeting, obviously. And that we do need a representative smaller group to discuss all these issues. So, I would be very happy to receive comments, suggestions, from yourselves tonight.

Question No. 9 by Lawson Henry: When will you be publishing the proposals that the Governor made tonight, specifically in relation to the finance committee, so people who were not here will be given the opportunity to look at it?

DH: The short answer is yes. The only reason I haven't made 100 copies of this piece of paper is because the Foreign Office have not seen it yet. And, I don't want anybody saying afterwards the Governor came, the Governor made his proposal, now he's left and somebody has reneged on it and you trying to work it out and being suspicious about what's going on. So what I'm hoping is this will arrive on the desks on Wednesday, the team from London get back on Thursday. If they can agree it, by next week, I think we should then publish it. That's if London move quick enough.

I just would like to add one thing to what Matt (MY) was saying. You are probably tired of the tone of my voice by now in any case, but there were complaints. Stephen got in touch with me, Lawson got in touch with me about the straw poll and the feedback slips and how badly that was handled. We had discussed it. Matt (MY) and Adam are already working on things like the voting register and everything else. That will be cleared with all the organisations to make sure that nothing has been missed.

And, then, we will be getting some ballot boxes up from St. Helena - three of them - so there will be five altogether, put in areas where people can actually vote on the 22nd and the 23rd. It means that if they can't get into Georgetown, they can do it at Two Boats and somewhere else. But, ultimately, we are going to adopt the policy that exists with Ethel Yon and her team on St. Helena. We will do it similar here with local people, including the JPs, if there are any around to help us. We will bring in all the ballot boxes from all the different areas where votes have taken place and we will probably bring them here - probably the best place to bring them. It will be a Friday night - we are not going to want people come crashing out of the bar over here but I think Matt (MY) will probably ask for half a dozen or so members of the public who can actually witness the ballots being counted. And, you would have a clear, open and transparent system and, again, being a Friday night, the results will be communicated to the Acting Governor, John Styles, who will be on Island and to the Foreign Office, who will be in touch with me. And, fortunately, again, just before the Islander goes to press, the next Monday or Tuesday and everything will be published on that Tuesday. But the key thing is the votes will be counted in the presence of members of the public.

Question No. 10 by Mrs. Jane Randells (JR): Did I miss something?

DH: I was talking about a referendum at the end of August as to which way the Island wants to go - either option 1 or option 2. Then, once that's decided the Attorney General will spend September drawing up - lets suppose that the Island council wins - drawing up an Island council ordinance which would be the legislation which covers the election. And, the election would take place in October - before the end on 31st of October.

JR: I thought that was what those chits were that we did last week, was it? Or was it a few weeks ago?

DH: No. That was looking at the two models that, shall we say, at the time were on offer. We have taken into account that the majority of people who have returned those slips didn't want either model - 75%. So we are adjusting the options now. We are leaving "B" as it is. We are calling that "Option 2." What we have agreed tonight is an "Option 1" which gives an Island council made up of a majority of elected members and prominence in the finance area and the voting and everything else. So, there will be a brand new option plus model "B" which we optioned to the referendum at the end of August and elections in the month of October. I don't think a date has been set for those.

Comment by Mrs. Iva Henry: I don't have a question but I would just like to comment that I think one of the reasons why no one asked about option "C" is because I think we have accepted that you have recognised the views of the people in terms of their need to have a say in the finances of the Island. And, through this sort of co-operation we hope that there will be something that everybody can sign up to. And, I thank you for that. DH: Thank-you, Iva. I'm glad that's been recognised because I did want to find a solution. In fact, I put the proposal to the FCO about an Island council having a finance sub-committee on the 11th of July. So, to some extent, I have been having some sleepless nights trying to work nit out. There was something missing in my mind and, with my experience, I should have been able to find the missing link. And, I think this proposal does find the missing link and does give recognition to the Steering Committee's proposal, much of which was very good. But, if you let it go forward as it was, you would have controls slapped on the end of it which wouldn't have helped. So, I think this is the way forward and I hope we can go forward with an equal operation from now on.

Question No. 11 by Johnny Clingham: What would happen if people look at the option when you leave here, and we don't like the 'option 1' as you so call it?

DH: I think it will still be adjustable. I tried to make it as fair and balanced as possible but if you can see any fault lines in it, my suggestion is that you put in suggestions to amend it rather than try and develop another option. As mush of it is taken from the original model "C," whole chunks of it are taken from model "C," the composition, the voting, dropping the Attorney General from the voting - as only people on Island would have voting - I don't get a vote as Governor. I don't get a vote in Executive Council - because it's the Councillors who advise me and I have to accept their advice - so much of it is taken from very good sources including the Steering Committee's own proposal. If you suddenly decide you don't like what they were saying, or there is something else you don't like, then get in quick to Matt (MY) and tell him what you think is wrong with it.

The meeting was called to a close just before 2000. As an added note, SARTMA did ask Gordon McHugh to clarify some of his points as the microphone did not pick up his voice. His main concern was that outside organisations would come to the Island and buy up property at an inflated price. This would jack up house prices generally and price Saints, who traditionally earn less money, out of the land and housing market.

(100X Transcription Service)

SCHOOL PAGE

www.ais.co.ac/school/

Hello from Two Boats School

The term has now ended at school and the school re-opens for the new school year on Monday 9th September.

The last week at school saw a number of events. Each sector of the school had an end of term outing - the Lower School to Garden Cottage, the Middle School to Ashpit and the Secondary School to English Bay.

The Lower School also held their Splash Gala at the Georgetown Pool and the children really enjoyed the afternoon. The House trophy was won by Beale House with 37 points closely followed by Connelly with 33 points. The trophy was presented on Thursday at the Assembly.

Last Tuesday the Year 6 pupils who are to join the Secondary School in September had an induction day to introduce them to the subjects they will be doing in September and to the teachers who will be teaching them. In the evening an opportunity was given to the parents of those pupils to meet Mrs Maggott at school to go over all the practices and procedures the children will follow in the Secondary School.

On Thursday the Leavers' Assembly was held in school. It was well attended by parents and below is a list of those who received awards. We were pleased to welcome to the school Geoffrey and Wendy Fairhurst, Matt Young, Major Jeffery Fason from the Base, Lawson Henry, Dr. Robyn Reed and PC Sandra Crowie, all of whom had agreed to present the awards.

Musical items were organised and played by Marianne Leo and Isabel Andrews together with four students, Dayna Benjamin, Teri Nichols, Kirsty Anthony and Vetannie Morton. Jane Randells brought the Assembly to a conclusion with closing prayers.

The term ended on Friday lunch time after a group of secondary pupils had spent time removing rubbish from Hannays Beach, the beach that the school has adopted for the year.

I would like to wish a happy holiday to all and I look forward to resuming our weekly contribution to the Islander in September.

David Higgins

TWO BOATS SCHOOL AWARDS JULY 2002

Dear Editor,

I'm writing in the hope that you might consider including an article regarding Miss Jodi Joshua and her work experience placement this week with Serco Fire Service at the Airhead. Included is a picture of Jodi and the Serco Fire Crew outside the Fire Training Simulator.

Jodi (age 15) from Two Boats School has spent this week learning all the aspects of working with an active fire service and we are all agreed on how impressed we are with her dedication and enthusiasm. So much so, that the Station Fire Officer, Steve Woolaston, authorised her, after thorough training and under stringent supervision, to be the youngest and only female so far to experience the 400 degrees Fahrenheit temperatures reached in the "Hot House" Fire Training Simulator. Wearing full protective clothing and a breathing apparatus set, brave Jodi, accompanied by the fire crew, stayed inside the red hot metal container for 20 minutes and tackled the inferno with a water hose until it was under control and extinguished. She then participated in the cooling down of the simulator and after use servicing of all the equipment used. We can envisage a promising future should Jodi choose to become a fire-fighter, so much so, that we are all concerned about our jobs being safe in a few years time!

Thankyou,

Gavin Haynes
Fire-fighter
Serco Fire Service.

Hash Trash

Hash number: 912

Location: Muddy puddle in the car park near the NASA site

Hash Hare: Thunderthighs, Fit Guy, Wannabe.

This weeks hounds: Skipper, Tit Pecker, Mama 3 Bones, Bonehead, Yeti, Private Benjamin, Uncle Fester, 60 watt, Miss Trunchbull, Limp sausage, Billy Graham, The Major, Josie, David, Marianne.

As the masses assembled somewhere in a cloud near the NASA site, it was hard to tell exactly where we were. Then it started raining…not the most inspiring start to a hash ever. TT indicated the on-on and we set off into the gloom assuring each other that it won't last and that the views at this end of the island are worth the wait.

As we headed down we dropped below the clouds and Weather Post loomed head of us. A search for the true trail spread the runners and walkers but it wasn't to be up. Down to a circle at the start of the descent to Spire Beach a few uneasy glances were cast down…no, they wouldn't. Would they? They didn't…and White Horse was the next lump of rock in our sights.

From a circle at the foot of White Horse we were warned about steep drops and the on-on was given where few had been before - along the goat walk track at the foot of White Horse. Despite some reservations all made it safely to the end and were rewarded with great views of Spire Beach, Letterbox and Boatswainbird Island confirming our earlier confidence. The final on-on led to the letterbox at Louie's Ledge where a back arrow caused the pack to retrace our steps to the beginning.

Back to the base where a picket line formed around the BBQ except for 60 Watt who must be centrally heated (you would have thought that having no insulation on his head wouldn't help).

Thanks for a great hash guys.

TP

Next weeks hash… Bonehead from 'on the North-east Bay road about 100 metres before the turnoff to the Turners beach hut'. Hope that makes sense.

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