HISTORY University of the West Indies College Hospital Commission in Canada for the East Caribbean Regional Meteorological Service Regional Development Agency Montserrat was discovered in November 1493 by Christopher Columbus, on his second voyage to the New World. The serrated profile of the island reminded him of the locale of the Abbey of Montserrat in the Spanish highlands near Barcelona. Thus the island was named, but never colonised, by Spain. In 1632 Sir Thomas Warner sent a group of English and Irish from overcrowded St Christopher to settle on Montserrat. Further Irish immigrants arrived during the century from Virginia, driven out because of their religion. They grew tobacco, an important commodity then. Indigo was their second product, then came cotton and later sugar. Through the years the planters were much harrassed by French and Carib Indian raids. The island was stormed and taken by the French in 1664, and again in 1667, but was restored to England in 1668 by the Peace of Breda. In 1671 the Leeward Islands were separated from Barbados and put under the rule of a Captain-General and Commander-in-Chief. In 1678 Sir William Stapleton, Captain-General and Commander-in-Chief of the Leeward Islands, recorded the population of Montserrat as: The first slaves from Africa arrived in Montserrat in 1644; 14 years later they numbered 1,092, as shown above, and were to reach as many as 9,500 in 1805, at which time the European population had dropped to 1,000. The French under Cassard with 3,000 men raided Montserrat in 1712. They burned and pillaged to the extent of £203,500 damage, for which a special clause was inserted into the Treaty of Utrecht. The last capture of Montserrat by the French was in 1782, when de Bouillé took most of the Leewards, but it was restored to England in 1783 by the Treaty of Versailles. During the Napoleonic Wars a French fleet under LaGrange attacked the Leewards in 1805 and demanded ransom, of which Montserrat paid £7,500. On 1st August 1834 slavery was abolished. The planters of Montserrat were paid compensation of £103,556 for 6,401 slaves. Added to the cessation of slavery and the apprentice system, the falling price of sugar in the late 19th century did much to discourage planters, who found it very difficult to run estates profitably; Montserrat's rugged topography and a shortage of capital made it equally difficult to modernise estate agriculture. Between 1890 and 1936 Montserrat's economy had, in addition, to sustain a series of devastating earthquakes and hurricanes. All these factors combined to cause the demise of estate agriculture. In 1857 Joseph Sturge, of Birmingham, England, formed the progenitor of the Montserrat Company Ltd., which bought abandoned estates, planted limes and made Montserrat lime juice famous. This company did much to upgrade the prosperity of the island. They sold plots of land to the peasants, in the conviction that a settled people makes the soundest community. Much of Montserrat today is owned by smallholders. In the 1870s the company also endowed and operated a school for the children of workers, which lasted until 1932. Education had become compulsory in 1892, but not until 1944 did the Government become wholly responsible for primary education, which previously had been provided by church and private schools with the aid of grants from the National Society in England. The Anglican Church was disestablished in January 1875, and received no more financial aid from the Government. The three main sects were, and still are, Anglican, Roman Catholic and Methodist. The Leeward Islands Act of 1871 inaugurated the Federal Colony of the Leeward Islands, including the Presidencies of the British Virgins, St Christopher, Nevis and Anguilla, Antigua, Montserrat and Dominica. Each Presidency was headed by a Commissioner or Administrator who was responsible to the Governor of the Federal Colony of the Leeward Islands. Since 1960 the Administrator has become Her Majesty's representative in Montserrat. Cabinet government was introduced in Montserrat on the 16th August 1960. The Federation of the Leeward Islands was abolished on 1st January 1960 to make way for an independent Federation of the West Indies, which had been created on the 3rd January 1958 and which comprised all British West Indian territories including Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. This Federation was short-lived as by 1962 Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago had become independent and the dissolution of the Federation started. From this date an attempt was made to form a smaller federation of the Leeward and Windward Islands and Barbados but this was abandoned in 1966. Since 1963 real estate development and tourism have done much to aid the island's economy. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II visited the territory in February 1966, the first reigning monarch ever to do so. CONSTITUTION Following decisions taken at a Constitutional Conference in London in June 1959, a new constitution came into force on 1st January 1960. The Constitution provides for the execution of government through an Administrator who is appointed by Her Majesty The Queen, an Executive Council and a Legislative Council. The Executive Council has the general control and direction of the government of the Territory. It is presided over by the Administrator and there are two ex-officio members, the principal law officer (Attorney-General) and the Financial Secretary, and four unofficial members (the Chief Minister, two other Ministers and a Member without Portfolio). The three Ministers are appointed from the elected members of the Legislative Council and the other unofficial member is appointed from either the elected or nominated members of the Legislative Council. The Administrator appoints as Chief Minister the member of the Legislative Council who, in his judgement, is most likely to command a majority in the Legislative Council. The other unofficial members of Executive Council are appointed by the Administrator on the advice of the Chief Minister. Ministers are assigned responsibility for any Government business (including financial matters) except criminal proceedings, internal security, the audit of public accounts and the public service. The Legislative Council is presided over by the Administrator and comprises, besides the Administrator, two official members, seven elected members and one nominated unofficial member. There is a Deputy President elected from within the Council. Elections are by universal adult suffrage. The appointment, dismissal and disciplinary control of public officers is vested in the Administrator in his discretion, acting after consultation with an advisory Public Service Commission. LAND POLICY Under the Landholding Control Ordinance No. 9 of 1966 it is obligatory for all non-Montserratians to obtain a licence from the Government before they obtain any interest in land in the Colony. Licences will not be withheld from any Commonwealth citizen who had entered into binding contracts to purchase land prior to the enactment of the Ordinance. GOVERNMENT EXECUTIVE COUNCIL The Administrator (President): His Honour Dennis Raleigh Gibbs, CMG, CVO, DSO Chief Minister, Minister of Finance and Minister of Trade and Production: Minister of Social Services: The Hon. B. W. Edwards Minister of Communications and Works: The Hon. P. A. Bramble LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL President: His Honour the Administrator Official Members: The Attorney-General; The Financial Secretary Hon. W. H. Bramble (Windward District); Hon. B. W. Edwards (Eastern District); ASPINALL, Sir A. Pocket Guide to the West Indies. Methuen, 1954. BAKER, E. C. A Guide to Records in the Leeward Islands. Basil Blackwell, BURNS, Sir Alan. History of the British West Indies. Allen and Unwin, 1954. O'LOUGHLIN, C. The Economy of Montserrat; a national accounts study, PARRY, J. H. and SHERLOCK, P. M. A short history of the West Indies. 2nd STARKEY, O. P. Commercial Geography of Montserrat. Bloomington, The West Indies and Caribbean Year Book. Thomas Skinner. Montserrat: Official report, 1965-66. H.M. Stationery Office, London. T PITCAIRN ISLANDS GROUP (HE small, volcanic island of Pitcairn (1·75 square miles) is situated in the Pacific Ocean (25° 04′ S.; 130° 06′ W.) roughly mid-way between Panama and New Zealand and 1,350 miles east-south-east of Tahiti. It is a rugged island rising to 1,100 feet and even at Bounty Bay, the only landing-place, access from the sea is difficult. The climate is equable. Mean monthly temperatures vary from 19°C (66°F) in August to 24°C (75°F) in February; the average annual rainfall is 80 inches, fairly evenly spread throughout the year. Moderate easterly winds predominate with short east to south-east gales occurring between April and September. The early history of Pitcairn is uncertain but archaeological remains prove it was inhabited by Polynesians some six hundred years ago, at least for short periods. Modern history began with its discovery by Carteret in 1767, and its occupation by Fletcher Christian and nine of the Bounty mutineers, accompanied by twelve Tahitian women and six men, in 1790. Although an American vessel called at the island in 1808 it was not until the visit of H.M.S. Briton and H.M.S. Tagus in 1814 that the story of the Pitcairn settlement became widely known. The first decade had been marked by jealousies and violence and by 1800 the only adult male survivor was John Adams, who guided and led the small community until his death in 1829. In 1814 the population numbered 40; and by 1831 it had increased to 86 of whom 79 were born on the island. Concern for the future led to evacuation to Tahiti in 1831 but within six months the Pitcairners were back home, less seventeen who had died during the absence. In 1856 the population had reached 194 and the island was again abandoned, a new home having been provided by the British Government on Norfolk Island off the east coast of Australia. By 1864, however, forty-three Pitcairners had found their way back and since then the island has been permanently settled, the population reaching a peak of 233 in 1937. In the last twenty years there has been steady emigration to New Zealand and the population is now less than 100. Pitcairn is a British settlement under the British Settlements Act 1887, but the islanders count their recognition as a colony from 1838 when Captain Elliott of H.M.S. Fly gave them a constitution with universal adult suffrage and a code of law. In 1893 a parliamentary form of government was adopted and in 1898 the island was brought under the jurisdiction of the High Commissioner for the Western Pacific in Suva, which for the next twenty years was exercised through the British Consul in Tahiti. A further change in the constitution in 1904 restored the simpler pattern of 1838 which was retained as the basis for the wider reforms of 1940. In 1952, the Pitcairn Order in Council transferred responsibility for administration to the person of the Governor of Fiji following the separation of the offices of Governor and High Commissioner. The Local Government Ordinance of 1964 constitutes a Council of ten members of whom four are elected, five are nominated (three by the elected members and two by the Governor) and one is an ex officio member, the Island Secretary. The Council is presided over by the Island Magistrate who is elected triennially. All other members hold office for one year. Liaison between the Governor and Council is effected by a Commissioner in the South Pacific Office in Suva. Land is held under a system of family ownership. based upon the original division of the island by Fletcher Christian and his companions. Alienation to foreigners is not forbidden by law but, as a general rule, the only rights to pass are to their descendants by marriage to a Pitcairn Islander. The control of entry for the purposes of settlement further protects the customary tenure of land. New Zealand decimal currency, which was introduced on 10th July 1967, is in everyday use. There is no taxation and revenue is mainly derived from the sale of postage stamps. Revenue in 1968-69 was approximately $NZ88,324, including a development grant of £3,000 from Britain, and expenditure was $NZ76,264. Development works have largely been concentrated on telecommunications, power supply, improvements to the boat harbour at Bounty Bay and tractors for roadworks and transportation. Free primary education is provided on the island under the direction of a qualified schoolteacher seconded by the New Zealand Department of Education. Scholarships provided by the Pitcairn Island Government are available for children to receive post primary education or specialist training in other fields in Fiji or elsewhere. A trained nurse, usually the wife of the Pastor, looks after the general health of the community, assisted by surgeons of passing ships when necessary. Government meets two-thirds of transport and hospital costs if a |