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Headlines:
Councillors reject ?implanted' theory; Farmers unite to launch inaugural group breeding scheme; Licence trouble; Status ceremonies planned.

Farmers unite to launch inaugural group breeding scheme

HOT on the heels of last month's Farmers Week, ten farmers have met to discuss the Falklands first group sheep breeding scheme. Robert and Lyndsey Short from Wine Glass Station, Terence and Sheila McPhee from Kingsford Valley, Michael and Donna Minnell from Mosside, Andrez and Alison Short from Swan Inlet, Mike Rendell from Bleaker Island and Ben Berntsen from Elephant Beach Farm (EBF) Ltd all met together to confirm their commitment to the scheme and to put questions to Andrez and Ben, who are soon to head to South Africa on a training trip. Absent from the meeting, but reportedly a whole-hearted part of the group, were Mike and Donna Evans from South Harbour and Spring Point. Plans were originally being made between Swan Inlet and Elephant Beach to set up a Dohne stud, with the former being the stud and the latter the base, however since the Farmers Week presentation by South African Barry Armstrong on group breeding, Ben said he and Andrez realised that, "...this is what we need to be doing as it would benefit a whole group of farmers." Ben thanked the organisers ofFarmers Week and those who gave presentations and held discussions, describing it as, "...the best Farmers Week I have been to since taking on Elephant Beach Farm." Picture : the first Falklands group breeders (left to right): Michael Minnell, Terence McPhee, Lyndsay Short, Sheila McPhee, Robert Short, Ben Berntsen, Mike Rendell, Alison Short, Andrez Short and Donna Minnell.

Councillors reject ?implanted' theory ?Argentine Observatory manipulated census figures for political ends'

THE Argentine Parliamentary Observatory, the committee tasked by Nestor Kirchner's government to forward their claim to the Falklands, says Britain is not entitled to assert self determination for Islanders since the population was "implanted". The rhetoric from the committee, which they say is based on Falklands census information, has been attacked by Councillors Mike Summers and Janet Robertson. According to Observatory member, Deputy Daniel Gallo, the results reflect, "...that the Islands population is not originate, which would obstruct Britain's claim that the current inhabitants of the Islands have a right to decide on the territory's sovereignty," the Buenos Aires magazine Perfilreported this week. The report indicates that, according to the 2001 Falklands census, of the total 2,971 Falklands inhabitants, 48% were born in Great Britain or Commonwealth members and only 45% originate from the Islands. The remaining 7% were born in other countries. However, Councillors Summers and Robertson dismissed the report's findings as "self-serving manipulation of statistics." In a statement released yesterday, they commented, "The analysis of demographic statistics presented lacks any kind of intellectual rigour, and is illustrative of the sort of shallow thinking that derives from the wish to interpret facts for self-serving political ends. There was no native, aboriginal or Indian population in the Falklands prior to the first British landing in the 17th Century. Everybody who has ever been here whether French, Dutch, British, Spanish or American was a settler or an immigrant." Contrary to recent assertions from Argentina, the councillors' said in their statement, "...the right to self determination is not the sole preserve of indigenous populations. The UN Covenant makes no reference to indigenous or native populations in any of its references to self determination." All the New World countries at some point in their history will have had more immigrants than natives, Councillors Summers and Robertson emphasised. "New Zealand, Australia, Canada, USA and most of South America, most particularly Argentina, are populated by immigrants, but nobody suggests that they are any less entitled to determine their own affairs. Author Jonathan Brown in his book A Brief History of Argentina(2004) says that in 1914 in Argentina 40.9% of landowners were foreign born, more than 75% of manufacturers and shopkeepers were "alien" and 62% of winegrowers were immigrants. "Indeed in terms of land ownership and occupation Argentine history does not make for very positive reading. The brutal and systematic slaughter of the native Indian population throughout Patagonia is the principal reason for the land ownership statistic. "Whilst Argentina shares this in common with virtually the whole of the Americas, it is an important fact that land ownership in the Islands, by contrast, has not been gained at the expense of any prehistoric populations." The two Councillors said that, like any modern democracy with a developing economy, the Falkland Islands operates a coherent immigration policy which is designed specifically to benefit the Islands economically, politically and socially. Attempts to undermine the universal concept of self determination through the manipulation of census statistics, they said, is futile, "...and has no place in mature consideration of the basic human rights of peoples." PN/MP

Licence trouble

THE crew of a Korean trawler discovered the consequences of not having sufficient life boat capacity when the ship called into collect a licence this week. On Tuesday morning, two Falklands fishery officers boarded the Pratidina 28in Port William to conduct a routine fishing licence inspection. One of the many requirements to be fulfilled prior to a licence being granted is for the vessel to have sufficient life raft capacity for all the crew on board, plus space for any Fisheries Department scientific observer. British registered fishing vessels have double the capacity. According to a spokesperson for the department, Pratidina 28failed this requirement in that it had a life raft capacity of 35. "The crew totalled 36 and if an observer had been placed onboard this would have brought the total to 37, a deficiency of two places. This was unacceptable and the fishing licence was not granted." In an effort to meet the Fishery Department's requirements, the vessel disembarked two crew to enable it to be granted a fishing licence.

Status ceremonies planned

CEREMONIES to bestow Falkland Islands status are to be introduced in the near future. Last month's meeting of Executive Council discussed the procedures involved in the granting of Falkland Islands Status and agreed that short ceremonies should be held, to be presided over by the Governor, at which status would be formally conferred on successful applicants. Status applications will in future be considered by Executive Council four times a year (in January, April, July and October), and the status ceremonies will normally take place within 30 days of the approval of applications by the Governor in Council. The move reflects a practice adopted by Britain in officially bestowing nationality upon people.

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