559 BRITISH SOLOMON ISLANDS PROTECTORATE The Solomon Islands were so named by the Spanish navigator Alvaro de Mendana following his discovery of the archipelago in 1568. The Protectorate consists of a double row of mountainous islands-the South Solomons situated between the parallels of 5° and 12° 30′ S. and the meridians of 155° and 170° E., and includes the islands of Guadalcanal, Malaita, San Cristobal, New Georgia, Santa Isabel, Choiseul, Mono (or Treasury), Shortlands, Vella Lavella, Ranongga, Gizo, Rendova, Kolombangara, Russell, Florida, and numerous small islands. The total land area is approximately 11,500 square miles. The highest mountain is Mount Popomanaseu (7,644 feet) on Guadalcanal. There are no navigable rivers. The climate is equatorial with small seasonal variations defined by the trade winds. The south-east season lasts from April to November when the minimum temperatures are recorded. The highest mean and maximum temperatures and the highest rainfall are, as a rule, recorded in the north-west season from November to April. The mean annual temperature at the capital, Honiara (Guadalcanal) is about 80°F. Annual rainfall varies from 63 to 95 inches. The first complete census was conducted in 1931 which gave the total population of all races as 91,409. Since then the enumeration of the population has been by sampling which in 1959 gave 117,620 Melanesians out of an estimated total population of 124,100. A growth rate of 1.5 to 2 per cent was predicted from 1959 to 1964, with a slightly higher rate thereafter. At the end of 1968, the total population was estimated at 148,000 made up of: Melanesians 138,720; Polynesians 5,420; Micronesians 2,000; Europeans 1,640; Chinese 660; Others 360. The largest concentration of population is in the capital, Honiara, and a census held in 1965 revealed that the town's population had risen to 6,684. The estimated population of Honiara at the end of 1968 was 8,000. Elsewhere population density varies greatly. The average figure for the Protectorate is 12.3 persons per square mile, but varies from 810 on Nupani to one on Vanikoro. A census Commissioner was formally appointed in September 1968 to prepare for a territory-wide census to be taken early in 1970. The official language is English in which language all teaching in registered schools is compulsory, but each tribe has its own language and there are numerous dialects. A form of English consisting of an English derived vocabulary based on a typically Melanesian syntax and known as Pidgin is fairly widespread and in some sort serves as a lingua franca. Primary education is largely in the hands of the churches. Education is not compulsory and fees are payable in the majority of schools. In general, it is Government policy to be responsible for technical education, secondary education, teacher training and further education overseas and to assist the churches and local councils in providing primary education. At the end of 1968 there were 415 registered schools, of which seven were secondary, and a small additional number of schools temporarily exempt from registration. There were two teachertraining colleges. There were 114 students engaged in overseas courses sponsored either by the Government or by international organisations. A Technical Institute opened in temporary premises at Honiara in January 1969. The British Government allocated £250,000 towards its establishment. 1968 was the first year of a five-year development programme set out in a Government White Paper on Education approved at the end of 1967. The principal endemic diseases are malaria and tuberculosis. The main Government medical institutions are the Central Hospital, Honiara (159 beds), where a School of Nursing is maintained, three District Hospitals, (total 232 beds), two Rural Hospitals (72 beds) and a Leprosarium (88 patients). There are three hospitals (275 beds), including a Leprosarium, operated by the Churches, who also maintain several centres providing a medical service ranging from first-aid treatment to in-patient hospital care. Following the completion of a malaria eradication pilot project in 1964, a combined Government/WHO pre-eradication programme commenced in January, 1965 and is planned to continue until the end of 1969, when it is intended that a full-scale eradication campaign should be started. This was outlined in a Malaria Eradication White Paper approved by the Legislative Council in November, 1968. At the end of 1968 the Central Tuberculosis Register recorded 1,477 cases, and the Central Leprosy Register 597 cases. The total labour force numbers about 12,500 workers. Principal occupations in 1968 were: Government employment (3,457); agriculture, mainly copra production (2,406); forestry (911); construction industry (906); manufacturing (729) and commerce (698). The main crop of the Solomon Islands is copra. Rice has become a major item of production. Small scale and to some extent experimental production of cocoa, sorghum and spices is carried out. The cattle population in 1968 was 10,000. After copra the main product is timber and there is a small local production of consumer goods such as biscuits and mineral waters. Other industries include the manufacture of plug, cake and twist tobacco, tyre retreading, the export of béches-de-mer and rattan furniture production. Exports of copra and timber over the three-year period 1966-68 were: Copra 1966 20,344 1,169,756 1967 24,434 2,843,238 1968 Copra is marketed through the B.S.I.P. Copra Board and timber by the companies holding licences. Small quantities of cocoa, marine shell, scrap metal, crocodile skins and gold are also exported. The total value of exports in 1968 was $5,299,972; the value of imports was $9,399,099. Two banks are in operation in the Solomons-the Commonwealth Banking Corporation of Australia and the Australia and New Zealand Bank Limited. There are three main ports: Honiara, the principal port, Gizo and Yandina. Other ports are used exclusively for the export of copra and timber and there are numerous landings throughout the islands used by local vessels. Honiara has a deep water berth 235 feet long with a minimum depth of 29 feet alongside, capable of taking vessels up to 650 feet in length. In 1968, 105 overseas vessels discharged or loaded at the port. Yandina has a steel and concrete wharf with 176 feet of face and a minimum depth of 20 feet alongside. Gizo has a jetty with a depth alongside of 9 feet. Sheltered anchorage is available there in 16 fathoms. Interisland sea transport is provided by private and Government vessels and at the end of 1968 a total of 159 vessels with a gross tonnage of 3,776 were under survey. Overseas air services are provided twice weekly by Trans-Australia Airlines and by Fiji Airways Limited, also on a twice-weekly basis. An internal air service is provided by Solomon Islands Airways Limited operating Baron aircraft. There are no railways. The road mileage in 1968 was 150. The General Post Office, which has a philatelic section, is situated in Honiara and there are five District sub-post offices. During 1968, 35 Postal Agencies in outlying areas were brought into operation. Internal and external aeradio services are maintained, there is a 24-hour shipping watch and in 1968 a volunteer weather-reporting service was introduced. The Solomon Islands Broadcasting Service, which is Government owned, broadcasts for 74 hours a week and includes a commercial advertising service. From mid-1969 the transmitters in simultaneous use are: VQO 1030 KHz 291m 5Kw; VQO4 3995 KHz 75m 5Kw; VQO7 7115 KHz 41m 5Kw. = The currency is Australian and interchangeable with sterling at £1 Stg. = SA 2.143. The main sources of internal revenue are import and export duties, income tax and sale of stamps. Important provisions designed to encourage investment in the territory-including in certain circumstances a tax holiday for pioneer industries are incorporated in the tax law. The budget is balanced by a grant-in-aid from the United Kingdom. A summary of revenue and expenditure for the years 1963-1969 is given in the following table: The following table shows the Retail Price Indices in the territory from 1960-1968: A fifth Development Plan (1968-70) continues the Fourth Development Plan (1965-68) and sets out development proposals in all main fields of Government activity. It envisages total expenditure of $7,929,900 from a variety of sources in the period covered. The stated objective of the Plan, as approved by Legislative Council, is to develop the natural and human resources of the Protectorate with the object of strengthening its economy to enable the standards of living of all sections of the community to be raised. Colonial Development and Welfare funds from Britain amount to $4,910,300 of the total funds allowed for the Plan. The breakdown of the Plan, which does not embrace projects in the private sector, is as follows: The origin of the present Melanesian inhabitants is uncertain. The era of European discovery opened in 1568 when Mendana sighted land at Santa Isabel. Mendana spent six months exploring in the group before returning to South America. Though he reported evidence of gold he was unable to produce proof and in consequence he lost favour in the Court and his achievements were belittled. Mendana however was convinced of the potential of the islands and partly to impress his countrymen called them the Isles of Solomon, in the hope that they would be connected with the source of King Solomon's wealth. In 1595 Mendana led another expedition to re-discover the archipelago. This time he did not reach the Solomons proper, but discovered the Santa Cruz Group. In Graciosa Bay he founded a short-lived colony which was totally abandoned soon after his death there. Tasman discovered Ontong Java in 1643, but for two centuries the main islands of the group remained lost to the sight of Europeans. It was not until 1767 that Carteret re-discovered what Mendana had seen. Thereafter, European explorers sailed through the Solomon Islands with increasing frequency-Bougainville in 1768, de Surville in 1769, Maurelle in 1781, Shortland in 1788 and d'Entrecasteaux in 1799. The European explorers, had however, still made no impression on the lives of the indigenous inhabitants. These lived in very small groups, most of them having an anarchical attitude to authority. Gradually, however, here and there, some powerful personality began to assert himself and to gain adherents from other groups of people. Succession and rule were matters of challenge, contest and victory, and life was a pattern of very small communities living in fear of each other; a pattern of internecine warfare, headhunting and cannibalism, lived in such exclusive isolation that even dialects had changed to an extent where adjacent villages had difficulty understanding each other. The pattern remained unaltered until regular visits by Europeans began in the nineteenth century. The inauguration of sugar plantations in Queensland and Fiji, the arrival of missionaries and traders and the more regular (even if very intermittent) patrols of naval ships began a new era. The overseas plantations needed labour and so the Solomons as well as other island groups, were combed for labour. Some of the recruiters used methods which shocked the outside world and in return provoked reprisals. Massacres of Europeans and natives steadily mounted until Great Britain, in an effort to stem the mounting tide of savagery, declared a Protectorate in 1893 over the Southern Solomons, comprising Guadalcanal, Savo, Malaita, San Cristobal and the New Georgia group. In 1898 and 1899 the islands of the Santa Cruz group were added to the Protectorate, and in 1900 the islands of the Shortland groups, Santa Isabel, Choiseul and Ontong Java were transferred by treaty from Germany to Great Britain. The copra industry began in 1908, three years after the last worker had been returned from the overseas plantations. The acreage under coconuts continued to expand until the price of copra fell in the early nineteen-twenties. The greater part of the copra produced was in the hands of companies, at least until the Japanese invasion in 1942. The copra industry made a special mark on social life in those parts of the Solomons which provided the labour for the plantations. Young men began to regard it as natural to go away for a couple of years at a time, to earn money and bring back trade goods for their family in the villages, and this became part of family life. The effect of the spread of Christianity and desire for gainful employment was to check inter-clan warfare and raids on other villages and islands. Missionary societies started schools and began to teach some of the boys various trades; efforts were also made to teach hygiene in the home and child welfare. The 1914-18 war had no effect on the islands, but in 1942 there came invasion, occupation by the Japanese, counter-attack and battle, air-raids, and finally occupation by United States and Allied forces. For nearly three years there had been a state of havoc, fear, and uncertainty, and added to this the revelation of material resources such as the Solomon Islanders had never seen before. The loyalty of the islanders was remarkable. Many joined the Defence Force, the combat unit of the Protectorate that took part in active battle, often in the spearhead of the attack where they were employed as guides, or in patrolling behind the enemy lines. They earned military distinction and a number of decorations. In the areas occupied by the enemy, Government headmen carried on, protecting British coast-watchers from |