BSIP Called A “Tragic Mess”

Suva. Feb. 20

VAGUE whispers” that the situation in the British Solomon Islands Protec torate has reached such a pass that “the protectorate might conceivably be handed over to another British nation (presumably Australia)” are mentioned in a Fiji Times article by a writer with the pseudonym of “Caliban.”

Attacking the suggestion as “a humiliating admission of failure to re medy a situation which could have been remedied almost at the outset,” the writer says: “There is no proof that Aus tralia or anybody else could do better than Great Britain if only British sym pathy, tact and imaginative understand ing can be disinterred from miles of red tape fenced in with something like a Little Iron Curtain.”

After pointing out that through the years the Western Pacific High Commis sion, because of its traditional dislike of publicity, has “forfeited well-merited praise for excellent jobs it has done in some of its other territories,” the article alleges that Marching Rule is as strong in the Solomons to-day as at any time in its misguided history, and adds that an estimate of 500 Marching Rule prisoners held at Honiara indicates that Marching Rule is anything but a spent force.

Anti-British Trend DEALING with the anti-British aspects of Marching Rule, the article stresses ‘the splendid war record of the Solo mon Islanders, particularly during the Japanese occupation, and criticises the theory that the memory of American propaganda, generosity and armed might is still sufficiently potent to turn un hesitating, heroic loyalty into anti-British resentment.

“Since the war,” it continues, “it has been difficult to find a single effective attempt to restore British prestige in the right way. Wordy official platitudes spoken through an interpreter mean nothing—unless they count as a joke in the eyes of those they are meant to im press. Officialdom, sometimes well-mean ing but ineffectual —and sometimes

stupidly pompous and dictatorial —likewise helps not one whit, unless in the wrong direction. (There are one or two exceptions).”

The British administration returned after the war with taxes, talk and an almost total lack of imagination, the writer states, and quotes an unpublished decision of 1946 as support for the con tention: — “Through a flagrant example of sheer, almost unbelievable official stupidity, a proposal to send Solomon Islanders to the London Victory Parade was vetoed in the face of more enlightened opinions outside the Little Iron Curtain. The reasons for the veto were as futile as might be expected, and the fact that the Solomon Islanders had more than earned the honour of representation carried no weight in the long run. . . . Representa tion at London was denied to the British Solomon Islands Protectorate because of quibbles by officialdom.

Unlearned Lessons “'i¥/’0 RSE still, since that time not the Tf slightest effort has been made to bring the Solomons into the Empire family. Despite the lessons of the war, the post-war bureaucracy has continued grossly to under-rate the intelligence of the Solomon Islanders. . . .

“Other influences have unintentionally had a hand in creating the present muddle; the displacement of immemorial ideas and beliefs by settled government has been complicated by fantastic notions arising from ill-comprehended or totally misconstrued mission-teachings.

“Like other people who pick up odd ideas which cannot be digested without help, the Solomon Islanders are evolving a fantastic political creed. And no one can deny that they are staunchly faithful to it. . . . They deserve something better than the tragic mess into which so many of them have been allowed to get.”