Ordinances directly affecting native rights thus secured are not put into force until the Native Governments have been consulted.

The Resident Commissioner is the High Commissioner's representative in the territory, and has his headquarters at Tarawa, in the Gilbert Islands, where the principal departments of the Administration are located. By an ordinance enacted by the High Commissioner in 1963 an Advisory Council was established whose function was to advise the Resident Commissioner on matters relating to administration. The Advisory Council consisted of the Resident Commissioner as President, the Assistant Resident Commissioner as ex-officio Member, not more than four Official Members and not less than eight and not more than twelve Unofficial Members. The Gilbert and Ellice Islands Order in Council 1963 provided for an Executive Council consisting of the Assistant Resident Commissioner as ex-officio member, not more than three Official Members and not more than four Unofficial Members.

The Gilbert and Ellice Islands Order in Council 1967 made new provision for the government of the territory. It established a Governing Council consisting of: the Assistant Resident Commissioner and the Attorney-General, ex-officio; not more than three appointed members; and five elected members. The Governing Council replaced the Executive Council and has legislative as well as executive functions. The Order also established a House of Representatives consisting of the Assistant Resident Commissioner and the Attorney-General ex officio; up to five appointed members; and 23 members elected under the principle of universal adult suffrage throughout the main atolls of the Colony. The Resident Commissioner presides over both the House and the Council. The elected members of the House elect from among their own members five members (one of whom is elected as Chief Elected Member) to the Governing Council. The House advises the Governing Council on proposed legislation and other public matters referred to it by the Council or raised by individual members of the House.

On all sixteen islands of the Gilbert group, and the eight inhabited Ellice Islands, local governments have been established under the Local Government Ordinance, 1966, which provides the framework for a new policy aimed at developing local government authorities able to accept responsibility for and to finance the local services required at island level. These local governments, known as Island Councils, have power, subject to the approval of the Resident Commissioner, to make bye-laws concerning a wide range of subjects, and are charged with the duty of providing services for the general health, security and wellbeing of the inhabitants of the islands.

27 Island Courts have been constituted under the Island Courts Ordinance 1965, by which island magistrates are appointed to the benches of courts subordinate to Magistrates' Courts (Magistrates' Courts Ordinance 1963) but having limited jurisdiction in criminal and civil cases over all races. These courts replace the Native Courts formerly established under the Native Government Ordinance, and form a part of the main judicial system in the Territory.

GOVERNING COUNCIL

THE RESIDENT COMMISSIONER (President)

EX-OFFICIO:

Assistant Resident Commissioner; Attorney-General

CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN LINE ISLANDS

The five Central and Southern Line Islands do not form part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. They consist of Flint, Caroline, Vostock, Malden and Starbuck, and are administered direct by the High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, formerly under Article 6 of the Pacific Order in Council 1893 and more recently in accordance with instructions issued by the Secretary of State in 1903, under Article 4 of the Order in Council.

Flint Island (latitude 11° 26' S., longitude 151° 48′ W.) was discovered in 1801. Since 1872 it has been worked intermittently for guano and copra by various British companies under licence issued by the High Commissioner.

Caroline Island (10° S., 150° 14′ W.) was discovered in 1705 by Captain W. R. Broughton of H.M. Sloop Providence and it has been worked by various British companies since 1846.

Vostock Island (10° 06′ S., 152° 23′ W.) was discovered by Captain Bellingshausen in 1820 and has been worked sporadically by British companies for guano and copra since 1873. It is now unoccupied and unworked.

Malden Island (4° S., 155° W.) was discovered by Lord Byron, Captain of H.M.S. Blonde, in 1825. Its guano deposits were worked by an Australian company from approximately 1860 to 1927. It is now unoccupied and unworked. Starbuck Island (5° 35′ S., 155° 52′ W.) was discovered in 1823 by Captain Starbuck, of the whaler L'Aigle. It was first worked for guano by a British company during the 1860's. Attempts to plant coconuts on the island failed and since 1920 it has been unoccupied and unworked.

AUSTRALIAN EXTERNAL TERRITORIES

THE TERRITORY OF ASHMORE AND CARTIER ISLANDS

B

y Imperial Order in Council dated the 23rd July 1931 the Ashmore Islands (area approximately 60 sq. miles) known as the Middle, East and West Islands, and also Cartier Island (area approximately 17 sq. miles), situated in the Indian Ocean some 200 miles off the north-western coast of Australia (north of Broome), were placed under the authority of the Commonwealth.

Under the Ashmore and Cartier Islands Acceptance Act 1933, the islands were accepted by the Commonwealth under the name of the Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands as from the 10th May 1934. They were annexed to the Northern Territory of Australia in 1938 and all the laws of the Northern Territory, as far as they are applicable, apply to the Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands. The islands are uninhabited. An unmanned weather station is maintained by the Commonwealth Meteorological Bureau in the Ashmore group.

NORFOLK ISLAND

Norfolk Island, discovered by Captain Cook in 1774, is situated in latitude 29° 3′ 30′′ S. and longitude 167° 57′ 05′′ E. Its total area is 8,528 acres, the island being approximately 5 miles long and 3 miles wide. The coast line is 20 miles long and its form that of an irregular ellipse. Norfolk Island is of volcanic origin and its average elevation is in the vicinity of 350 feet with two peaks rising to slightly over 1,000 feet.

The island was first occupied in 1788 by the establishment of a small penal station as a branch settlement of that at Port Jackson, Australia. This existed with one short break until 1855. The descendants of the Bounty mutineers, having become too numerous to subsist on Pitcairn Island, were removed thence to Norfolk Island in 1856. The new community numbered 94 males and 100 females and were the descendants of the Bounty sailors and Tahitian women. There is no indigenous or native population on Norfolk Island and the inhabitants consist of the descendants of the Pitcairn islanders and settlers from Australia and New Zealand. At 30th June 1967 the estimated population was 1,509.

In 1856 Norfolk Island was created a distinct and separate settlement under the jurisdiction of the State of New South Wales, and in 1896 it was made a

dependency of that State. Under the Norfolk Island Act, 1913, it became a Territory of the Commonwealth of Australia. It is administered on behalf of the Commonwealth Government by an Administrator appointed by the GovernorGeneral of the Commonwealth of Australia. The Governor-General may make ordinances for the peace, order and good government of Norfolk Island. The Norfolk Island Act 1957-1966 provides for the establishment of a Norfolk Island Council which has the function of advising the Administrator on any matter affecting the peace, order and good government of the Territory. The powers of the Council are now provided by the Act. Under the Norfolk Island Council Ordinance 1960-67 the Council is formed of the Administrator as chairman and eight councillors who are elected for terms of two years. The first elections for the Council, reconstituted in 1964, were held on 1st July 1964, and elections were again held in July, 1966 and 1968.

Administrator: R. Marsh

THE AUSTRALIAN ANTARCTIC TERRITORY

By Order in Council of the 7th February 1933 that part of His Majesty's dominions in the Antarctic Seas which comprised all the islands and territories other than Adélie Terre (which is a French possession occupying an area between 142° and 136° of E. longitude) which are situated south of the 60th parallel of S. latitude and lying between the 160th and 45th meridians of E. longitude was placed under the authority of the Commonwealth of Australia. An Act was passed in June 1933 by the Commonwealth Parliament declaring acceptance of the territory, by the name of the Australian Antarctic Territory, as a territory under the authority of the Commonwealth Government, and the Order in Council was brought into operation on the 24th August 1936, by a Proclamation issued by the Governor-General on that date.

The part of Antarctica comprised within the Australian Antarctic Territory is, like the rest of the continent, without permanent inhabitants. Its area is estimated at 2,333,624 square miles of land and 29,251 square miles of ice shelf.

In February 1954 a base, name Mawson, was set up in Mac.Robertson Land for the conduct of meteorological and other research. A second Antarctic base, named Davis, was established in the Vestfold Hills area, some 400 miles east of Mawson in January 1957. Early in 1959 Australia assumed custody of the U.S. base at Wilkes on Budd Coast.A new Australian station is being constructed near Wilkes to replace that built in 1959.

Australia is a party to the Antarctic Treaty which was signed in Washington on 1st December 1959 and entered into force on 23rd June 1961.

HEARD ISLAND AND MCDONALD ISLANDS

The Heard Island and McDonald Islands Act 1953-1967 provides for the government of these islands as a Territory of the Commonwealth of Australia. The islands comprise all the islands and rocks lying within the area bounded by the parallels 52° 30′ and 53° South latitude and the meridians 72° and 74° 30' East longitude. They have been administered by the Commonwealth of Australia since December 1947 when an Australian station was set up on Heard Island. The station has not been manned since March 1955 but Australian expeditions have visited the Territory from time to time since then.

COCOS (KEELING) ISLANDS

The Cocos (Keeling) Islands, two separate groups of atolls comprising some 27 small coral islands with a total area of about 5 square miles, are situated in the Indian Ocean in latitude 12° 5' South and longitude 96° 53′ East. They lie some 1,720 miles north-west of Perth and 2,290 miles almost due west of Darwin, whilst Johannesburg is some 3,800 miles distant to the south-west, and Colombo is 1,400 miles to the north-west of the group. The population of the Territory at 30th June 1967 was estimated to be 631 comprising 151 Europeans and 480 Cocos Islanders.

The main islands of the Territory are West Island (the largest, about 6 miles from north to south) on which is the aerodrome and most of the European community, Home Island, the headquarters of the Clunies Ross Estate and on which the Cocos Islanders reside, Direction Island on which is situated the Cable Station and also the Department of Civil Aviation Marine Base, and Horsburgh Island. North Keeling Island, which forms part of the Territory, lies about 15 miles to the north of the main group and has no inhabitants.

The main group of atolls is low-lying, flat and thickly covered by coconut palms, and surrounds a lagoon which has a harbour in the northern part but which is extremely difficult for navigation.

The climate is equable and pleasant, being usually under the influence of the south-east trade winds for about three-quarters of the year. However, the winds vary at times and meteorological reports from the Territory are particularly valuable to those engaged in forecasting for the eastern Indian Ocean. The temperature varies between 21° and 32°C (70° and 90°F), the rainfall is moderate and there are occasional violent storms.

Qantas Empire Airways and South African Airways operated a regular service between Australia and Johannesburg, via Cocos and Mauritius, until April 1967 when with introduction of jet aircraft by both airlines on this service flights are now made direct between Perth and Mauritius overflying Cocos. There is a regular charter service once per fortnight by TAA and Ansett ANA aircraft between Perth and Cocos.

The telegraph cable station administered by Overseas Communications Commission (Australia) on Direction Island was closed down in August 1966 since which date communications between Cocos and Australia have been operated by the Administration.

HISTORY

The islands were discovered in 1609 by Captain William Keeling of the East India Company. The islands were uninhabited and remained so until 1826 when the first settlement was established on the main atoll by an Englishman, Alexander Hare, who quitted the islands in about 1831. In the meantime a second settlement was formed on the main atoll by John Clunies Ross, a Scottish seaman and adventurer, who landed with several boat-loads of Malay seamen. In 1857 the islands were annexed to the Crown and formally declared part of the British dominions, and in 1878 responsibility for their supervision was transferred from the Colonial Office to the Government of Ceylon and then, in 1886, to the Government of the Straits Settlements. By indenture in 1886 Queen Victoria granted the land comprised in the islands to John Clunies Ross in perpetuity. The head of the family had semi-official status as resident magistrate and representative of the Government. However, in 1946 when the islands became a dependency of the Colony of