£22,000 for War Funds

Fine Effort of G. & E. People

THE Gilberts were the first Group of Pacific Islands to be entirely liber ated from the Japanese. It is signi ficant that the immediate reaction of the inhabitants to their practical experience of the “East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere’’ is to donate their savings in order to help to keep the Japanese away.

December “PIM” reported how G. & E. people had bought an aircraft tender for the Royal Navy. Subscriptions were still coming in in December and as a result there is now sufficient money to buy a second tender. This will be presented to the Royal Navy in the near future.

These gifts from the Gilbert and Ellice Islands represent only a part of the con tributions made by the people of the Col ony towards the war effort. Altogether nearly £A22,000 has been given. The natives qf Ocean Island early in the war gave £12;500 to' buy anti-aircraft guns.

European and native civilians of Fanning Island contributed £250 to buy a Fanning Island Mobile Canteen. European and native members of the Government Ser vice of the Colony gave another £398.

Nearly £1,600 has been given to the Bri tish Red Cross and to the St. John of Jerusalem Fund.

Considering the small population of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony and the fact that the average income of a Gil bertese family was estimated, before the war. to be about 30/- a year, the record of the Colony is a very fine one.