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Editorial

Pacific Daily News

HAGATNA, Guam (Nov. 29) - In order to ensure the safety of our community, our police force must have the necessary resources, such as trained personnel, equipment and vehicles. But one of the most important tools of law enforcement is something the Guam Police Department lacks - a modern forensic laboratory.

A crime lab is integral to good police work. Crime lab personnel collect and examine evidence, and keep the chain of evidence secure until it's needed at trial, and they can do fingerprint, toxicological and DNA analysis -- all key parts of a criminal investigation.

In August of 2002, the Legislature overrode the governor's veto of Bill 283, which authorized the construction of a modern crime lab, but no real progress has been made in turning the forensics facility from simple legislation into physical reality.

It's important to note that a state-of-the-art forensic laboratory will not only improve public safety...

The Contemporary Pacific Vol. 16, No. 2, Fall 2004, 465-469

BOOK REVIEWS

Exploration & Exchange: A South Seas Anthology, 1680-1900, edited by Jonathan Lamb, Vanessa Smith, and Nicholas Thomas. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2000. ISBN cloth 0-226-46845-3; paper 0-226-46846-1; xxv + 359 pages, figures, maps, photographs, bibliography, index. Cloth, US$49.00; paper, US$18.00. 

Preserving the Self in the South Seas, 1680-1840, by Jonathan Lamb. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2001. ISBN cloth 0-226-46848-8; paper 0-226-46849-6; xii + 345 pages, photographs, bibliography, index. Cloth, US$52.00; paper, US$18.00. 

Exploration & Exchange brings together twenty-eight extracts from selected European or American authors writing about their encounters in the Pacific Ocean. The book is organized thematically and chronologically into three sections: the first contains explorer and adventurer narratives written between 1680 and 1783; the...

The Contemporary Pacific Vol. 16, No. 2, Fall 2004, pp. 370-381

Political Reviews

Karin Von Strokirch 

This year's review focuses on Australian policy toward the Pacific Islands, as there were important developments concerning Canberra's role in regional security and in the Pacific Islands Forum. Because Australia is the region's primary aid donor and leads in setting the political agenda, shifts in its national policy warrant careful consideration. In 2003 Australian Prime Minister John Howard took unprecedented interest in the region. He became much more assertive in pursuing Australia's agenda for the microstates, notably with regard to intervening in Solomon Islands, advocating good governance, and taking measures against terrorism. This review explores the shifts in rhetoric, policy, and processes, and weighs their impact for Australia's relations with the region. To establish the context for policy shifts, it is useful to begin by examining a recent, wide...

The Contemporary Pacific Vol. 16, No. 2, Fall 2004, pp. 383-393

Political Reviews

New Caledonia 

David Chappell 

For a nonelection year, 2003 proved to be an eventful one in New Caledonia. This was the 150 th anniversary of French annexation and also the fifth year of the landmark Noumea Accord peace agreement between pro-independence Kanak and loyalist French residents and their respective allies. French President Jacques Chirac visited, as did other metropolitan officials, to give assurances of State support for the ongoing processes of economic development and devolution of governing powers to the territory over the next fifteen years, and to encourage further negotiations to resolve lingering issues. It was a time to reflect on the results of the accord so far and to prepare for the 2004 provincial elections. The role of New Caledonia and other French Pacific territories as vehicles for French initiatives in the region, and the issue of Polynesian...