Colony

Native Co-Operatives In G. And E.

Connection With Government Trade Scheme

T'HERE has been much curiosity concerning the operation of the Government Trade Schemes in the Solomons and the Gilbert and . Ellice Colony—organisations brought into being by the British Socialist Govern ment to take the places of the private trading and shipping enterprises dis placed by the Jap invasion and not officially encouraged to return. The New Guinea counterpart (established by the Australian Socialist Govern ment) is the Production Control Board.

The following article, by Mr. W. G.

Alexander, appears in the June issue of “Corona,” the new journal of the Colonial Office. It shows, in an interesting and authoritative way, the connection between the G. & E. Trade Scheme, and the Native Co-operatives.

I WRITE this short account from the remarkable little Colony of the Gil bert and Ellice Islands, whose thirty seven coral islands, amounting to a land area of about one hundred and fifty square miles only, lie scattered around more than a million square miles of the Pacific Ocean southwards and westwards of Hawaii. The Colony is comprised of the Gilbert, Ellice and Phoenix Groups and the individual islands of Fanning, Wash ington, Christmas and Ocean. About

4.500 Polynesian Ellice Islanders and 31.500 Gilbertese of mixed Micronesian race inhabit these low lying, palm covered isles.

It is ridiculous, but true, to state that the colony doubles its land area at low tide and one has to keep a wary eye on the atom bomb experiments for, should the sea rise double its normal six foot tide, I imagine well over 90 per cent, of the land would be inundated.

The first trading ships came sailing into this quiet back-water of the Pacific in about 1850, and by 1870 several firms were competing for the trade. The principal exports are phosphates from Ocean Island and sun-dried copra from all other in habited islands.

In 1926, Mr. D, G. Kennedy started the first co-operative society at Vaitupu in the Ellice Group and under his guidance this society flourished. In 1931, Mr. H. E.

Maude, having visited the Ellice Group on census duties and having been im pressed by the Vaitupu society, started two societies at Beru in the Gilberts. By 1934 there were 34 societies in the Gil berts. This rapid development is indica tive of the eagerness of the people to handle their own trading affairs, and also of the peculiar suitability of the co-opera tive form of trading for a people living in small isolated communities, whose traditional custom contains so many co operative principles.

I hasten to add at this point that the Gilbertese are extreme individualists in respect of any matter which is not ac

cepted as being of great importance to the island or the family and, on entering a new realm of experience such as co operative trading, they were extremely distrustful of anyone who was handling for them a matter which they did not completely understand.

The result is that every society is sub ject to the constant critical interest of every member, a healthy factor, but one

which in the early stages results in a tendency to pitch out the committee or the staff over the slightest misunder standing. Mr. Maude records an early problem with his first two societies, whose committees kept demanding to see their capital in cash despite explanations as to the work of the capital in buying goods and produce, and he further mentions the more recent case of a manager who got himself reinstated in his job because he had taken the precaution of burying all the society’s books on a lonely beach without being observed. rpHE start of the Co-operative trading movement was so simple that it did not occur to the people to start dif ferent societies for different purposes.

The original societies were retail societies, which retailed goods to their members only, at prices about 10 per cent, above what they paid to the trading companies.

The people’s money in these islands is copra, so copra was accepted from mem bers at a price about 10/- per ton less than that at which it was passed on to the trading firms. Thus, from the very start, the societies performed the func tions of both retail and producers’ Mar keting societies.

Now, many other functions are being added and societies can be seen financ ing schools or purchases of land; market ing handicrafts, marine produce, firewood, charcoal or building materials; providing land or water transport, entertainment, sports meetings, supplies of drinking water, caretakership of land or making improve ments to harbours and channels. In other words they set out to cater for every requirement of their community.

Until 1940 co-operative societies were restricted to trading with their own members. From 1940 to 1947 only five societies managed to afford the trading licence to enable them to trade outside their membership. In 1947 legislation was enacted which cancelled the membership limit of 200 for a society and inaugurated specially reduced licence fees for regis tered co-operative societies.

THE co-operative movement suffered a setback during the period of the war between the Allies and Japan, and peace found the colony devoid of trading firms, other than the British Phosphate Commissioners at Ocean Island and Messrs. Burns, Philp (South Seas) Ltd., with their plantations at Fanning and Washington Islands. The Resident Com missioner, assisted by his staff, particu larly Mr. Dickes and Mr. Wernham, at tempted to revive the people’s co-opera tive movement through the instrument of a Government Trade Scheme, which had a monopoly of copra exports from all islands of the colony except Fanning, Washington and Christmas.

Two difficulties arose at once.* Firstly, for reasons of rehabilitation of the civilian population, the Government and its Trade Scheme could not wait for co-oper ative societies to be formed. They found it necessary to send out cargoes at once on credit. Secondly, the staff, capital and shipping were insufficient to cater for the many small pre-war co-operatives At first, only one agency on each island could be serviced and that agency had perforce to receive cargo and ship copra from only one point. The most reliable trader or Island government official on each island was appointed as agent, ex cept on a few islands where there had been but one society pre-war and that society had survived the war period.

The Colony government officers on tour then attempted to arrange committees and create co-operative societies out of the agencies. The part-time help from busy government officers achieved very little. The people were not free to have as many societies as they wanted dealing directly with the Trade Scheme. Only a few societies had any capital, most of

them trading purely on credit. Conse quently the superimposed post-war trad ing system was regarded as belonging throughout to the Government. The pre-war co-operative movement had been created by the people, with the help of individual government officers. They had fought against many difficulties and the Societies were their own.

IWAS therefore told to find a Gilbertese clerk and, after fixing up the legal aspects, to set about visiting the islands, starting in the Gilbert Group, and to build up the co-operative trading in the way the people wanted, with their own capital, control and representation.

I was also to investigate any trading pos sibilities other than copra and cargo, and to see about the development of the Trade Scheme into a Co-operative Wholesale Society.

The Trade Scheme is now the Colony Wholesale Society with an advisory com mittee of elected representatives, as an intermediate stage to becoming a Co operative Wholesale Society at a later date.

The Handicrafts Co-operative Whole sale Society deals with an ever-increasing volume of handicrafts, sea shells, marine products, coir twine, pandanus mats and native building materials.

I am a family man, and constant travelling in ships the size of match

boxes or sardine tins is not my forte, but the work is interesting and the masters of the ships and the people are most con siderate. Progress is slow; but in two years we have one wholesale society and sixteen qther co-operative societies formed and registered. Of troubles we have our share, but development is steady and heartening. It is easy to arouse some en thusiasm in the people for their co-opera tives.

On arrival at an island I forget my sea sickness and plunge head-long into meet ings with the ‘Old Men’ or body of wise men. After some discussion they decide what they want and then I start to help them to achieve it. A committee having oeen elected in the villages, the members arrive and a staff is chosen. One society arranged for village lawyers to attend committee meetings to check up on com mittee meetings!

I then go through all the stages of ob taining land and drawing-up leases; building trading stations; obtaining equipment; starting books and share cer tificates; teaching and supervising all work; demonstrating procedure at com mittee and general meetings; discussing labour rates and conditions, laws and bye laws, and talking with the people in their homes and village meeting houses, to ensure that everything has public ap proval and to obtain suggestions.

Being the only Colony government officer on the island there are prisoners to be interviewed, courts to be attended, and assistance to be given on all prob lems of the people in between times. I find that I need from three to six weeks to start each society and then I may have to watch that the children do not break their new toy. , Whatever I may have said to them on my first visit, many will have failed to understand “Capital” and “profit.” The former is apt to be collected enthusiastically and put into bags at the back of the safe until

there is no cash in circulation on the island; the latter is vainly searched for in books and in cash. The manager will have much more copra tohteboSftffi in the sheds, as the ship will have left a little each time and he will not V know the shrinkage. The committee will hav^ fined the Mission Band for not playing at the s P° r ts when asked to do so. Hand!? crafts will have been eaten by rats. Copra or coir twine will have been bought damn and sold dry. Shark fins will have been tached. 1

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