Pacific Islands Monthly

It's 1972, And The Old Order

Changeth In The Western Pacific

By Judy Tudor

The Western Pacific High Com mission, which Britain created by the Pacific Order in Council in 1877, loses one of the stars in its crown with the New Year when the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony becomes responsible direct to Whitehall and not to the High Commissioner in Honiara, BSIP. This happens from January.

The only WPHC territories left are the Solomons and the New Hebrides and doubtless the New Hebrides would be going it alone also if it were not for the fact that it is an Anglo-French Condominium. The pro tocol, which is the constitutional basis for the present government, has provided an effective barrier to most political progress ever since it came into operation in 1914.

Political reforms and advancement for the New Hebrides, which will give elected representatives a more positive voice in the affairs of the country, are in the works, but it is expected that it will be some time before they come into operation. Mean time, there is much discussion and negotiation beetween France and Brit ain, while the Advisory Council re mains just that.

Officials are always quick to point out in the New Hebrides that the administering powers rarely, if ever, fly in the face of Advisory Council wishes. Nonetheless, government by proclamation goes on—as, for ex ample, the added value tax on sub divided land which came into oper ation last August, before the coun cil had discussed it.

On the face of it, it seems incred ible that the condominium which has bright economic prospects, should have the form of government that it has, while the GEIC, which at the moment seems to have very dim economic prospects indeed, has a majority of elected members on its Legislative Council and an Executive Council on which elected members have semi-ministerial responsibilities.

Sir Michael Gass visited the GEIC as High Commissioner in early Dec

ember and addressed the Legislative Council. He took the opportunity to point out some of the changes that will come with the new set-up.

The colony will now be respon sible direct to the Foreign and Com monwealth Office, London; it will have a Governor of its own (Sir John Field has been Resident Com missioner, GEIC, since 1970); and the High Court of the Western Pacific will continue to include the colony in its jurisdiction.

But, according to Sir Michael, it will probably cost more for it to go it alone; it may not be so easy to recruit necessary overseas staff nor to arrange interchanges between staff in the colony and BSIP or New Heb rides. Finally, it has formidable econ omic problems—“especially the prob lems of maintaining standards of living and the social services they have learned to expect . . .”

Few people who know anything about the colony will disagree with Sir Michael on his assessment of the economic prospects. The colony has a phenomenally high birthrate, a present population of about 56,000 scattered over three dozen atolls whose total areas is 380 sq. miles and whose natural vegetation consists of coconuts and pandanus and little

else. Some post-war relief from pop ulation pressure was gained by mig rations to the Solomon Islands but this has ceased and is unlikely to be revived.

The economy at present is based largely on Ocean Island phosphate but this will be worked out in about eight years. In those eight years some other industry—increased copra production, fishing, tourism or some thing else—has to be developed to take the place of phosphate, if the colony is to maintain even its present population at its current standard of living.

There are no indications that this will be done in time, or even whether it will ever be physically possible.

During his December visit the High Commissioner announced that, along with its independence from WPHC. the GEIC was to gain more territory —the five British central and southern Line Islands of Malden, Starbuck.

Caroline, Vostock and Flint which have hitherto been administered dir ectly by the WPHC. (The Line Islands of Fanning, Washington and Christ mas are already administered as the Line Islands District by the GEIC).

The new possessions are regarded as generally useless coral atolls. All are now uninhabited although there are indications that some have been per manently inhabited at some time; most have been worked for guano.

Caroline, Vostock and Flint have also been worked for copra—generally by Tahiti interests in recent years. Mal den and Starbuck carry only stunted vegetation but at the time of Malden’s European discovery there were stone ruins which were believed to have been built by people from Manihiki.

The BSIP and the New Hebrides in January are to get a visit from Mr.

Anthony Kershaw, parliamentary Under-secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, who will look at “the needs and other interests of people there”. He will be in the BSIP January 5-11 and in the New Hebrides January 11-15.

Sir John Field, first GEIC Governor and last Resident Commissioner.