"Excitingly Busy

Internal Air Service Planned

Year" Ahead

For G.E.I.C.

A start is to be made on the construction of airfields in the outer islands of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony this year so that an internal air service can be inaugurated in the

Colony.

THE new airfields will be at Buta ritari, Abemama, Tabiteuea, Arorae and Nanumea. They will be operational within four years.

At present, the only islands in the Colony with airstrips are Tarawa (one of the 16 islands in the Gilberts) and Funafuti (one of the nine islands in the Ellice Group). Tarawa and Funafuti are linked with Suva and Nadi, Fiji, by a weekly Fiji Airways service.

The GEIC Resident Commissioner, Mr. V. J. Andersen, announced the plan for the outer islands airstrips in a New Year radio message to the Colony and at a public meeting at Ocean Island on December 29. He predicted that 1966 would be “an excitingly busy year”.

In his radio broadcast he said that other projects planned for 1966 were: • The opening of a local govern ment training school which, in turn, will lead to the reorganisation of island councils and courts. • A general stepping up of medical and educational developments. • An intensive island by island drive to improve coconut groves. • The announcement of a new constitution for the Colony. • The establishment of a merchant marine school to increase overseas employment opportunities for local men, and the arrival of at least one new 79 ft vessel to join the Govern ment fleet. • A Colony-wide family planning drive. • An investigation of the prospect of establishing a tourist industry. • The completion of a review of civil service salaries. (But civil servants should “not expect the moon” from this, as the economy of the Colony could not stand a major rise in salaries). • The completion of negotiations on phosphate revenues.

Reviewing achievements in 1965,

Mr. Andersen said he had been im pressed by a “noticeable quickening of development”.

He went on: “The period has seen a series of causeways constructed on North Tarawa and one on Makin, the starting of the plant introduction and livestock improvement project, the coming into being of two organised political parties, a start made on constructing medical staff quarters in permanent materials on outer islands, the completion of a handsome new teacher training col lege building which will permit the training of more teachers for outer island primary schools, and the im provement of the air service between Fiji and Tarawa to a weekly schedule instead of a fortnightly one.

Additions

“Considerable additions have been made to senior levels in the Educa tion Department; a volunteer Adult and Social Education Officer assumed duty; with the assistance of the Royal Engineers, a start has been made on disposing of live ammunition on Betio; and an increased number of volunteers from the United Kingdom with a wide range of skills have come to work in the Colony.

“Projects from earlier years have continued into 1966, the more im portant ones being the coconut im provement campaign, overseas medi cal training, our own nurses’ training scheme at Bikenibeu, the dredging of Betio harbour, improvements to telecommunications facilities, and overseas secondary and tertiary education.

“This latter scheme is beginning to have effect and in addition to scholars at secondary schools overseas we now have two undegraduates at universities and one at a metropolitan training college.

“I am very glad that it has proved possible to bring all students and trainees who have been overseas for more than two years home for a short holiday this year.”

Mr. Andersen said that all islands in the Colony had had above-average rainfalls in 1965, which, in a Colony noted for its droughts, boded well for a good copra year in 1966.

However, there had been “two major black spots” in 1965. One was the failure of those concerned to complete negotiations for increased revenue from the export of Ocean Island phosphate.

The second was the Administra tion’s failure to recruit and retain anything like the number of over seas officers for whom there were posts in the Colony.

Educational developments had also suffered some delays through lack of staff; the Colony had been without a surveyor for its only survey post throughout the year; no agricultural officers were at post until the second half of the year; and there was no substantive Commissioner of Works for much of the time.

Mr. Andersen added that the GEIC had not had much overseas pub licity since Sir Arthur Grimble’s books, A Pattern of Islands and Re turn to the Islands, appeared, but a recent visit from a BBC Television team, preparing material for a pro gramme called Tonight, should make many more people aware of it.

In addition, Dr. and Mrs. Morey, with the aid of CD&W Funds, had visited the Colony and were prepar ing what would certainly be an at tractive film on its islands, its activi ties and its people.

Mr. Andersen.