(Palau District)
HEADQUARTERS OF THE GOVERNOR, WESTERN CAROLINES,
AND OF THE CIVIL ADMINISTRATOR, PALAU DISTRICT (ON KOROR)
Commander C. M- Hardison, U.S. Navy, is Governor, Western Carolines,
and Civil Administrator, Palau District, and has served in that capacity
for 1, months.
Ae
He has attended a seminar in civil administration.
Administrative program.
(a)
Self-government.
Forms of self-government vary in the islands of the
Palau District that were inspected.
Election of a chief,
magistrate (who also may be the chief) and secretary, each
with a salary paid from local taxes, is becoming prevalent in
the larger communities (municipalities). In addition, a
council, justice court, and police official(s) hold office
in municipalities. Whenever smaller communities exist within a municipality, there is a headman who deals directly with
the chief or magistrate of the municipality.
There is no regional council for the entire Palau District. Certain factors tend toward such a council. For
example, the Palau District includes the former Yap district.
The leading chiefs of Yap Island had affiliations with the
islands near Yap and the atolls to the eastward of Yap which
amounted to near-domination. Assignment of the former Yap
district to the Palau District, combined with a "youth move-
ment" on Yap Island, apparently has resulted in greater
efforts at cooperation by the Yapese and a widened horizon
for them. (See page 87, Tab As) Another factor is the establishment on 1 July 1948 of 16 municipalities in the Palau
Islands in place of the one that existed for those Islands
prior thereto.
It is too early to give considered comment on
the eventual effects of this changee
One result has been a
greater voice by each municipality in its ovm affairs.
How-
REPRODUCED FROM HOLDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES
ever, there has been a strong, organized native movement to
revert to a single municipality for the Palaus, with a Palau
Congress again acting as a legislative body. Zventually, the
tendencies noted above, together with exchanges of ideas made
possible during the regular and frequent liaison with the
Civil Administrator and his representatives, may lead to some
form of regional council for the Palau District.
Finances and budgets on the islands inspected in the
Palau District were satisfactory.
On the larger, more popu-
lated islands, there is a growing appreciation of the need
for sound finances in government. The small, more remote
islands inspected appeared to require more advisory assistance
from Civad representatives.
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