Book Reviews

Round The Neglected Western Pacific

A long debate in the House of Lords on Britain’s colonial territories earlier this year was mostly notable for the ignorance the noble lords had of Britain’s islands in the Western Pacific. The honourable gentlemen were well at sea during the debate, but as painful as their performance was, those members of the British public interested enough to follow it, at least obtained more informa tion than they are ever likely to get from any speech in the House of Commons, where such odd exotica as the Western Pacific Islands simply don’t get mentioned at all.

Where else, then, can the British public learn about the British Solo mon Islands, the Condominium of the New Hebrides and the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony, without access to the Pacific Islands Year Book? Where, in fact, can the noble lords and politicians obtain their in formation?

These islands have been badly served in the way of up-to-date litera ture that is at the same time factual and readable. Or for that matter, any useful literature at all apart from oc casional magazine or newspaper articles.

Ask your local librarian for some thing on the Gilbert and Ellice and she’ll undoubtedly refer you to Grimble. For the New Hebrides you might get Tom Harrisson. For the Solomons she will probably look blank (or come up triumphant with Hector MacQuarrie’s Vouza).

Austin Coates’ Western Pacific Islands is thus destined to make everybody happy—peers, politicians, public and librarians. It’s as up-to date as we can expect a book to be in this quickly-changing region, it’s got facts mixed with travel talk, his tory, personalities, maps and pictures.

And we’re probably lucky to have it at all, because it just managed to sneak in as the final book in the Corona Library Series that series on dependent territories sponsored by the British Government to fill the gap between official Blue Books and

the writings of occasional visitors.

The Corona books were designed to be both authoritative and read able, and Western Pacific Islands is the 13th and last of them for the simple reason that the British col onial empire has ceased to exist. Hap pily, it is both authoritative and readable.

London-born Coates is an estab lished author, son of the composer Eric Coates. His book is a nicely balanced mixture of fact and per sonal observation, which avoids deep discussion of what might be serious matters of contention such as the

future of the New Hebrides as seen by British and French, or the pres ent attitude of the Banabans of Ocean Island to their bad royalty deal. In what, after all, is an official publi cation it’s probably too much to ex pect anything else, and in any case the omissions do not detract from the value of the story. Coates does very well what he set out to do.

Coates does not interpret history anew, but he selects the significant events and makes the reading of it painless. He adds some up-to-date history, such as his description of the work of, and his meeting with, Silas Eto, the Holy Mama (father), of the breakaway Christian Fellow ship Church of the Solomons, and he is perceptive in his observations on Islands life.

His perception will probably be missed by the lords and the poli ticians, but they should find his facts useful.—Sl.

(Western Pacific Islands. Her

Majesty’s Stationery Office, London, $1.50 in the UK).

Sunday morning in Vila, the con gregation, some in Mother Hubbards, gathering outside the Raton Memorial Church. Photo: Qantas.