A Growing Reproach Upon British

British and French Administrators

SINCE the German colonial empire was destroyed in 1914-18, the South Pacific has become an Anglo-French lake. Within it is an assembly of 12 or 14 separate Territories, with a common pur pose and —with some exceptions in two archipelagoes —a common language. There has been a con siderable amount of what may be called “unification” in the past 25 years; and, if the Pacific Islands peoples and their European care takers are to survive against the growing threat of Asian infiltration, there will be a good deal more in the early future.

In these circumstances, it seems an unfortunate thing that there is no competent machinery for col lecting and putting on record the history of the Pacific Islands. It is 24 years since the Pacific Islands Monthly was established; and, in that period, we have seen a large quantity of priceless and irrecover able historical material simply dis appear into the grave with old Islands residents.

The little that is known about the Pacific Islands prior to the arrival of the Europeans nearly 200 years ago is already on record.

Since the Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch got in among the North Pacific Islands in the seventeenth century, and the English, French and Germans began to colonise the South Pacific Islands a hundred years later, there have been far reaching racial, social and political changes: and the students of the future surely will want to know all about them. The broad outlines have been chronicled; but there are huge gaps in the written details.

MUCH of what has happened in the South Pacific Islands is still within the memory of liv ing men and women. There are veterans living to-day in or around the Pacific who gladly would place their recollections of events and persons and trends on record, if only they were assured that the records would be safely stored and indexed, for the guidance of the generations to come.

In the words of the Scots song, we do not know where the Islands are going, or who will go with them; but, whatever the future, the people who will have the respon

sibility of leadership, and of writ ing history, will be helped by authentic data relating to what has happened in the past.

There are Historical Societies in most countries, and some famous repositories, like the Mitchell Library in Sydney, in the chief centres. But there is no Historical Society to collect the history of the Pacific Islands, and no place for storing the records. Why? Is it be cause, until recently, there was no organisation which accepted respon sibility over all the archipelagoes and Territories?

But now we have the South Pacific Commission. Its general purpose is to survey the social, economic and health conditions of all the Islands, and introduce some measure of co-ordination into Islands policy and administration.

With one further step, it could take care of the collection and storage of historical data.

WHATEVER the measures adopted, something should be done. On countless occasions in the past 25 years, we have been asked by ageing people if we can suggest some way in which they may effectively dispose of their written recollec tions of important events or trends in Pacific Islands affairs. Wherever possible, we have embodied some thing of their memories in the Pacific Islands Monthly; but, so far as a great mass of data is con cerned, we simply had to say, with profound regret, that we could not help. At this moment, we could name a dozen veterans —mostly educated men and trained observers —whose personal knowledge and ex perience of the Islands should be written down and stored before the years take their toll, and it is too late.

In Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and —we notice now with pleasure— in Papua-New Guinea, there are Historical Societies, or something akin thereto, each concerned with data relating to a particular Terri tory. What is needed is an organ isation to link up with all these bodies, and to join with them in bringing the data they collect, or at least an index of it, into a central place.

There is no part of the world richer in colourful history than the Pacific Islands. The ideal plan would be one to cover both the North and South Pacific. For this purpose, perhaps the Philippines should be included with Borneo and Indonesia as part of Asia; but un questionably, for historical records, Micronesia and Hawaii should some how be tied in with the South Pacific.

Why not a Pacific Islands His torical Society, with branches in each of the principal Territories,

and in Australia and New Zealand?

The branches need consist of no more than a small committee pre pared to give a few hours a year to a worthy object, with a secretary who would provide the active link between interested persons, with contributions of historical data, and the central repository. Noumea is not exactly a central place for the South Pacific; but it has become the Headquarters of the South Pacific Commission, and therefore the latter body might be able to provide in Noumea, for Pacific Islands historical data, a repository and a simple system of index. It would cost very little, and it would make provision for something urgently needed.

The lack of such machinery is a growing reproach upon the British and French officials who now are responsible for administration in the South Pacific Islands.