South Pacific Commission

The seventeenth session of the South Pacific Commission was held under the chairmanship of Mr. C. G. R. McKay, Senior Commissioner for New Zealand, at its headquarters in Noumea from October 19 to November 6, 1957. The Commission decided to concentrate on a limited number of activities, work on projects in active partnership with island administrations, and seek increasing aid from other international organizations and bodies interested in Pacific progress, thus giving effect to the conclusions of the review conference held by its members in Canberra in May 1957 to study its first ten years of progress and to suggest broad lines for its future work. The Commission selected the following specific subjects for concentrated effort in its three main fields of activity: in economic development, fisheries, pests and diseases of plants and animals (especially the rhinoceros beetle), and plant introduction; in health, health education, nutrition and diet, and mosquito-borne diseases; and in social development, literature promotion, education, and aided self-help.