Pacific Islands
pp. 59-60 · Read in the full issue
America’S Big Science Plans For The
Activities In Micronesia Will Tie In With Developments In South Pacific
THE transfer to the care of the United States of the archipelagoes of Marshall, Caroline and Mariana Islands (formerly controlled by Japan under a League of Nations Mandate, but now held by America as a Trust Territory of the United Nations) is likely to have a/ marked effect upon administrative systems in the Pacific Islands generally.
The United States is putting huge funds behind its plans for research, co ordination of scientific knowledge and co-ordination of administration in con nection with the Pacific Islands generally.
Some indication of what is afoot is given by the following article by Mr.
Harold J. Coolidge (Secretary of the Pacific Science Board) in the August issue of the “Far Eastern Survey.” It will be seen that these plans and activities already link up with South Pacific admin istrations, through the South Pacific Com mission and the forthcoming Seventh Pacific Science Congress in New Zealand.
THE Pacific Science Board of the National Research Council “has been established to aid the scientists of America who wish to engage in scientific investigations for which there is a need in the Pacific area, to advise govern mental and other agencies on scientific matters pertaining to the Pacific, and to further international co-operation in the field of Pacific Science.”
During its first eighteen months under
the chairmanship of Knowles A. Ryerson, of the College of Agriculture, University of California, the Board has engaged in a number of activities in the field of inter national relations.
Its major activity has been to assist the administrative authorities of the TrustTSStor? (Navy De to too1d“ ng theh of the problems of the area through a two-year project, the Co-ordinated In vestigation of Micronesian Anthropology (CIMA), involving the selection and dispatch to the islands of forty-two specialists, including four linguists, three
geographers, and thirty-five anthropol ogists, from twenty universities and museums in this country and from the University of Sydney. This project is supported by grants from the Viking Fund, the Office of Naval Research, par ticipating institutions, and private sources.
Through the Insect Control Committee and a special grant from the Office of Naval Research, seven entomologists have been engaged not only in field research
on insect pests in the Trust area but also in collecting beneficial parasites in Malaya, Java, and East Africa to help control the giant African snail, the rhinoceros beetle (Oryctes), and the coconut beetle (Brontispa). Parasites have been flown from Java and Zanzibar to the islands as part of this control programme. Scientific institutions in the Philippines, Malaya, Java, Kenya, and Zanzibar have co-operated.
The Board aided in the establishment of the Institut Francais d’Oceanie at Noumea, which is housed in former Ameri can Army and Navy buildings equipped with surplus property donated for the purpose by the United States Govern ment. Arrangements were made for Dr. j. t. Buchholz, an American botanist, and his wife to carry out research from that base for several months on conifers of New Caledonia.
The Board’s advice has been requested on a variety of subjects by Colonel Schenck, Chief of the Natural Resources Section of SCAB in Japan. Dr. Bartlett, the chairman of the Committee on the Philippines, visited Manila and helped in the re-establishment of the Research Council there. Plans have been actively furthered for conservation in the Pacific, and two conferences—in Honolulu and Washington—have been held on conser vation in Micronesia in order to crystallise recommendations to the administrative authorities of the Trust Territory.
Under the Fulbright Act the sum of 43 million dollars will become available over the next twenty years in seven Pacific countries. A part of the sum can be de voted to research, and the Board is trying to arouse interest among United States scientists in projects taking advantage of this allocation.
The United States Department of State has requested the Board’s advice in cer tain matters relating to the South Pacific Commission. Dr. Douglas L. Oliver has been appointed special assistant to the Chief of the Office of Far Eastern Affairs to deal with Pacific Islands matters.
Plan Pacific Science Congress
THE Board has co-operated with the Royal Society of New Zealand in planning for American participation in the Seventh Pacific Science Congress, which will meet in New Zealand in Feb ruary, 1949.
The draft programme of the Congress was submitted to 120 American scientists for comment, and their replies were for warded to New Zealand.
Since the National Research Council is the official adhering agency in the United States to the Pacific Science Association, the Board sent invitations in May to 750 scientists, institutions, societies, and gov ernment agencies with information about the Congress. As of June 10, 1948, seventy-three replies showed positive in terest, and forty-three of these indicated a desire to participate.
THE Pacific Science Board has an active office in Honolulu in quarters pro vided by the Trustees of the Bishop Museum. This office has been directed by Edwin H. Bryan, Jr., the Board’s Honolulu Officer for the past ten months.
The Board also has a West Coast Ad visory Committee of twenty-one scientists in widely scattered fields.
A new Committee on the Oceanography of the Pacific, under the chairmanship of Dr. Thomas G. Thompson, of the Uni versity of Washington, has been estab lished recently and held its first meet ing on June 19 at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.
The Board also held a symposium on Micronesia at the Berkeley meeting of the Pacific Division of the American As sociation for the Advancement qf Science on June 22, followed by a meeting of its West Coast Advisory Committee.
The Board hopes that, as a result of the meetings of the Seventh Pacific Science Congress, various United Nation agency plans, UNESCO plans, South Pacific Commission plans, and those re commended by the Pacific Science Confer ence (Washington, 1946) may be effectively integrated so as to achieve maximum benefits to the Pacific areas concerned.
It is expected that the Board will con tinue its assistance with conservation and research activities in the Trust Territory.
Greater emphasis is to be placed on the encouragement of oceanographic and fisheries research; field studies on heart disease, cancer, and diabetes are to be initiated in the islands: and the field station and fellowship programmes of the Pacific War Memorial are to be given every encouragement.