ABSTRACT
Labourers and residents of foreign settlements play little part in council affairs at the village level. Officially foreigners resident on village land are liable for taxation to the council controlling that land at the rate of the ward in which they live. A number of road workers, truck and grader drivers and party-goers from town often visit the villages for a few hours and cause havoc among the more susceptible women. Villagers have almost no control over such people except through the police and courts. Villagers and foreigners alike feel that the village meeting is the landowners’ tamaniak, and that they alone have the right to make decisions there. The councillor can also omit to draw to the attention of the compilers of the tax register the names of labourers and other foreigners who are theoretically liable. Parents and Citizens’ Associations support the schools in the area with labour, funds and fundraising activities.
