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Hon. E. Harley Barnes
Hon. Richard M. Gorham, DFC
Hon. E. Stanley Ratteray
Hon. Hugh E. Richardson
Hon. Arthur D. O. Hodgson

Hon. Gilbert A. Cooper, CBE, ED, JP
Hon. Sir Baynard Dill, CBE
Hon. George O. Ratteray, CBE
Clerk: A. D. Eve

THE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY

Speaker: His Honour Lieut.-Col. The Hon. J. C. Astwood, CBE, ED, MCP
Deputy Speaker: E. W. P. Vesey, MCP

40 Elected Members

Clerk: S. C. Tatem

Sergeant-at-Arms: T. S. Weldon

(Members of the House of Assembly are designated MCP)

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

There are two municipalities-The City of Hamilton (incorporated 1793 and made a city by act of legislation in 1897) which is governed by a corporation: and the town of St George (incorporated 1797) one of the oldest settlements in the Western Hemisphere and the capital of Bermuda until 1815. Charges for dock facilities and water are the Hamilton corporation's main source of revenue but both governing bodies derive revenue from rents and municipal taxes.

HAMILTON

Mayor: The Worshipful G. A. Cooper, CBE, ED, JP

Secretary: H. A. Lesseur

ST GEORGE'S:

Mayor: The Worshipful N. R. Roberts, JP
Secretary: R. J. Pitcher

Parish vestries are elected annually for the administration of general parochial affairs of the Poor Law by the parishes of St George's, Hamilton, Smith's, Devonshire, Pembroke, Paget, Warwick, Southampton and Sandys. These vestries have authority to levy taxes and manage local affairs. They derive revenue from the collection of rates and from fees for liquor licences. The systems of law applicable in Bermuda are the common law, the doctrines of equity and all English Acts of general application which were in force on the 11th July 1612. These systems are subject to Acts passed in Bermuda since that date in any way altering, modifying or amending those laws or doctrines. The Public Acts and Statutory Instruments made thereunder were reprinted in 1964/5 and are now available in six loose-leaf volumes with a further volume containing tables and indices. There exists also an edition of private acts in two volumes. In this last respect it may be noted that all companies are formed by private Act of Parliament.

CIVIL ESTABLISHMENT

GOVERNOR AND COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF: The Rt Hon. Lord Martonmere, PC, KCMG
Aide-de-Camp: Lieutenant-Commander D. Blair

Chief Secretary: J. W. Sykes, CMG, CVO
Secretary to Executive Council: W. W.

Wallace, OBE, DSC

Financial Secretary: C. W. Kemfe, OBE
Permanent Secretary (Education):
Gascoigne

S.

Permanent Secretary (Health and Welfare):

J. B. Nichoson, OBE
Permanent Secretary (Labour and Immigra-
tion)/Labour Relations Officer: W. Pierston
Collector of Customs: R. L. Gauntlett, OBE
Auditor: (vacant)

Director of Agriculture and Fisheries: G. R.
Groves, OBE

Director of Civil Aviation: Wing Commander
E. M. Ware, DFC

Director of Education: D. J. Williams

Chief Medical Officer: S. M. Frazer, OBE
Chief Immigration Officer: C. E. Thompson
Law Officers: Attorney-General: J. C.
Summerfield, CBE, QC; Solicitor-General:
A. W. Sedgwick

Director of Marine and Ports Services:
(vacant)

Registrar of the Supreme Court: J. L.
Barrington-Jones, JP

READING LIST

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DYER, H. THORNLEY. The next twenty years: a report on the development plan for Bermuda, prepared for the Government of Bermuda. Hamilton, Bermuda Press, 1963.

FODOR'S GUIDE to the Caribbean, Bahamas and Bermuda, Newman Neame, annual.

LEFROY, J. H. Memorials of the Discovery and Early Settlement of the
Bermudas or Somers Islands, 1515-1687. 2 vols. Longmans, Green, 1877
and 1879.

WATSON, J. W., OLIVER, J. and FOGGO, C. H. A. Geography of Bermuda
Collins, 1965.

WILKINSON, H. C. The adventures of Bermuda: a history of the island from
its discovery until the dissolution of the Somers Islands Company in
1684. O.U.P., 1958

WILKINSON, H. C. Bermuda in the Old Empire, 1684-1784. O.U.P., 1950.

T

BRITISH ANTARCTIC TERRITORY

HE British Antarctic Territory was formed on the 3rd March 1962 and, with the exception of the island of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, consists of the area previously known as the Falkland Islands Dependencies. The territory lies between longitudes 20° and 80° W. and south of the 60th parallel S. latitude. Within these bounds lie the South Orkneys, the South Shetlands and the Antarctic Peninsula, together with all adjacent islands and the land mass extending to the South Pole.

The majority of the islands in the territory are wild and rugged with many glaciers. The Antarctic Peninsula is mountainous, the highest peak being Mount Andrew Jackson (13,700 feet). There is a snow-covered plateau which extends along the peninsula but declines from 7,000 feet in the south to about 4,000 feet in the north. The main continental area is covered by ice and fringed by floating ice shelves, generally about 800 feet thick. The territory has a rigorous polar climate.

The British population of the territory consists solely of male scientists and technicians who man the British Antarctic Survey scientific stations. During the winter of 1969 the total number was 85. In the summer months when relief personnel arrive, together with summer field workers, this figure may almost double. The exact number of other nationals working in the area is not known. There are no towns in the territory and scientific and field stations are situated on various islands and parts of the mainland.

Communications between the territory, the Falkland Islands and Britain are maintained by the British Antarctic Survey's Royal Research Ships, the John Biscoe and the Shackleton aided by the chartered m.v. Perla Dan. These ships operate only from November to May.

Between these months the Antarctic Bases are relieved, resupplied and restaffed. Radio communication for the passing of scientific and administrative data is linked between Antarctic Bases and the British Antarctic Survey Office in Stanley, Falkland Islands.

Until the year ended 30th June 1962 British Antarctic Territory finances were embodied in those of the Falkland Islands Dependencies. From 1st April 1967 responsibility for the British Antarctic Survey was transferred from the Commonwealth Office to the Ministry of Education and Science. The Survey and the territory were separately financed from 1st July 1967. The following table shows revenue and expenditure for the years 1967-69.

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The main island group of the South Shetlands was discovered and taken possession of by Captain W. Smith in 1819, whilst the South Orkney Islands owe their discovery to Captain G. Powell in 1821.

The Antarctic Peninsula was discovered in 1820 by Edward Bransfield, R.N., and taken into the possession of Great Britain by John Biscoe in 1832. The penetration of what is now known as the Weddell Sea and the final discovery of the continental land masses to the south and east of the Antarctic Peninsula can be attributed to many great explorers-Cook, Weddell, Ross and Bruce to name but a few. Many of the islands within the territory were used as temporary bases for the early sealing and whaling expeditions, but at Deception Island of the South Shetlands Islands Group a more permanent and more active whaling station was in operation from 1906 to 1931. During this time a magistrate was in permanent residence for the summer months.

In the 1943-44 season, under the code name of 'Operation Tabarin', the first of what are now known as the British Antarctic Survey bases were established at Deception Island and Port Lockroy. Since then the number of occupied stations has at times been as many as 12 but in recent years the number has been 6, each station being somewhat larger. In December 1967 Deception Island was temporarily evacuated because of a volcanic eruption. A second eruption in February 1969 partially destroyed the station, which has now been abandoned. Fossil Bluff has been established as a wintering station and is supplied entirely by air. The locations of the occupied stations are:

Signy Island-South Orkneys 60° 43′ S., 45° 36′ W.

Argentine Islands (Galindez Island)—West coast of Graham Land 65° 15′ S., 64° 16' W.

Adelaide Island-West coast of Graham Land 67° 46′ S., 68° 54′ W.
Fossil Bluff—George VI Sound 71° 20′ S., 68° 17′ W.

Halley Bay-Caird Coast 75° 31' S., 26° 38' W.

Stonington Island-Marguerite Bay 68° 11' S., 67° 00' W.

Other bases have been established, but are at present unoccupied; they are known as:

Base A-Port Lockroy, Wiencke Island, Palmer Archipelago.

Base B-Deception Island-South Shetlands 62° 59′ S., 60° 34′ W.

Base C-Cape Geddes, Laurie Island, South Orkneys.

Base D-Hope Bay, Trinity Peninsula.

Base G-Admiralty Bay, King George Island, South Shetlands.

Base J-Prospect Point, Graham Coast.

Base N-Anvers Island, Palmer Archipelago.

Base O-Danco Coast, Graham Land.

Base V-View Point, Duse Bay.

Base W-Detaille Island, Loubet Coast, Graham Land.

Base Y-Horseshoe Island, Marguerite Bay.

The territory is administered by the High Commissioner, resident in Stanley, Falkland Islands.

A Court of Appeal was set up on the 1st July 1965 for the purpose of hearing and determining appeals from the courts of the territory.

1962

HIGH COMMISSIONERS

Sir Edwin Arrowsmith, KCMG 1964 Sir Cosmo Haskard, KCMG, MBE

DIRECTOR, BRITISH ANTARCTIC SURVEY
Sir Vivian Fuchs

READING LIST

CHRISTIE, E. W. H. The Antarctic Problem. Allen & Unwin, 1951.
COLEMAN-COOKE, J. Discovery II in the Antarctic. Odhams Press, 1963.
DEBENHAM, F. Antarctica: the Story of a Continent. Herbert Jenkins, 1959.
PRIESTLEY, R. E. et al., Eds., Antarctic Research: A Review of British

Scientific Achievement in Antarctica. Foreword by H.R.H. The Duke
of Edinburgh. Butterworth, 1964.

BRITISH HONDURAS (BELIZE)

463

B

RITISH HONDURAS is situated on the east coast of Central America bounded on the north and part of the west by Mexico and by Guatemala on the remainder of the west and south. In length the country extends 174 miles from the Rio Hondo in the north to the Sarstoon River in the south. In breadth the widest part (Belize City to Benque Viejo del Carmen) is 68 miles. Its land area is about 8,866 square miles which includes a number of islets (known as cayes) lying off the coast.

The coastline is for the most part flat and swampy but the country rises gradually towards the interior. The Maya Mountains and the Cockscombs, which reach a height of 3,700 feet, form the backbone of the southern half of the territory. All of the Western (Cayo) District is hilly and includes the Mountain Pine Ridge most of which lies between 1,000 and 2,000 feet above sea level but rises in parts to around 3,000 feet. The northern districts are also hilly except towards the coast but contain considerable areas of low tableland. There are seventeen principal rivers, of which the Belize River is the most important. None is navigable by vessels over five feet draught and few for any distance.

The coastal waters are shallow for 10-20 miles to the east. This shallow sea is dotted with cayes and is bounded by a coral encrusted reef second only in size to the great barrier reef off the eastern coast of Australia. Three separate reef areas lie still further to the east and the most easterly islet is more than 60 miles to the east of Belize City.

The climate is sub-tropical and on the whole agreeable. In the capital, Belize City, the temperature averages 75°F from November to January and 81°F from May to September. The mean annual temperature is 79°F. Day temperatures often reach 90°F-96°F and night temperatures may very occasionally fall to the fifties. Most of the year the heat and humidity are tempered by sea breezes. This description applies with small variation along the whole coastal area. Inland, the day temperatures during the dry season tend to be higher, but drop considerably at night. Rainfall increases from north to south:

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There are two dry seasons, the main one from March to May and the other in August and September (called the Maugre Season).

British Honduras has been struck from time to time by hurricanes. In recent years: a hurricane struck Belize City on 10th September 1931, causing heavy loss of life and property; on 27th September 1955 hurricane ‘Janet' struck the northern part of the country completely destroying the town of Corozal and damaging dozens of villages in the Corozal and Orange Walk Districts; on 15th July 1960 hurricane 'Abby' struck the area of the Sittee River, south of Stann Creek, causing some damage to crops and dwellings; on 24th July 1961 hurricane 'Anna' wrought fairly extensive damage to crops and houses in the villages of Seine Bight

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