The Hon. Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, KBE, Chief Minister The Hon. Justin Lewis, CBE, QC, Attorney-General The Hon. Ratu E. T. T. Cakobau, CBE, OBE (Mil), MC, ED, Minister of Labour The Hon. Vijay R. Singh, Minister for Commerce, Industry and Co-operatives The Hon. C. A. Stinson, OBE, Minister for Communications, Works and Tourism The Hon. D. W. Brown, MBE, Minister for Natural Resources The Hon. J. Mavoa, Minister for Social Services The Hon. K. S. Reddy, Assistant Minister for Social Services The Hon. Ratu G. K. Cakobau, OBE, Minister for Fijian Affairs and Local Government The Hon. W. M. Barrett, Minister of Finance Mr R. T. Sanders, Secretary to the Council of Ministers MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL Speaker: The Hon. R. G. Q. Kermode The Hon. Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, KBE, Chief Minister The Hon. Justin Lewis, CBE, QC, Attorney-General Hon. The Ratu E. T. T. Cakobau, CBE, OBE (Mil.), MC, ED, Minister for Labour The Hon. D. W. Brown, MBE, Minister for Natural Resources The Hon. J. Mavoa, Minister for Social Services The Hon. Ratu G. K. Cakobau, OBE, Minister for Fijian Affairs and Local Government The Hon. Ratu D. Toganivalu, Assistant Minister, Chief Minister's Office Co-operatives The Hon. P. D. Naqasima, Assistant Minister for Communications, The Hon. J. B. Naisara, Assistant Minister for Natural Resources CIVIL ESTABLISHMENT Governor of Fiji: His Excellency Sir Robert Foster, KCMG OFFICE OF THE CHIEF MINISTER Commissioner for Rural Development: Public Relations Officer: A. Rawnsley OFFICE OF THE CHIEF SECRETARY Establishment Officer: V. D. Prasad Commissioner, Northern Division: R. D. Commissioner, Central Division: J. R. Commissioner, Eastern Division: J. B. Takala Commissioner of Police: R. T. M. Henry, Government Printer: J. C. Butler Fiji Government Representative in Australia: CROWN LAW OFFICE Attorney-General: Justin Lewis, CBE, CQC MINISTRY OF FINANCE Secretary for Finance: R. V. Cole Deputy Secretary (Finance and Treasury): Deputy Secretary (Economic and Develop- Chief Accountant: D. B. Walcot READING LIST Controller of Government Supplies: R. H. MINISTRY OF FIJIAN AFFAIRS AND Secretary, Fijian Affairs and Local Govern- MINISTRY OF NATURAL RESOURCES Director of Agriculture: C. Walker MINISTRY OF SOCIAL SERVICES Controller of Prisons: W. H. Morgan, Chief Social Development Officer: S. Lal MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS, Secretary for Communications, Works and Controller of Transport and Civil Aviation: Director of Works: J. P. Barron Director of Marine: Captain P. G. Hough MINISTRY OF LABOUR Secretary and Commissioner of Labour: MINISTRY OF COMMERCE, INDUSTRY AND Secretary for Commerce & Industry: W. W. A. Miller Secretary and Registrar of Co-operatives: AUDIT DEPARTMENT Director: K. A. W. Johnson, OBE JUDICIARY Chief Justice: Sir Clifford Hammett Puisne Judges: R. Knox-Mawer; M. Tikaram DERRICK, R. A. The Fiji Islands. Government Printer, Suva, Revised edition, 1957. FURNAS, J. C. Anatomy of Paradise. Gollancz, London, 1950. BELSHAW, Professor Cyril S. Under the Ivi Tree. Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1964. BURNS, Sir Alan. Fiji. H.M. Stationery Office, London, 1963. Handbook of Fiji, 1965, edited and compiled by Judy Tudor. Pacific Publications Pty Ltd, Sydney. DERRICK, R. A. A History of Fiji, which deals with the period up to 1874. LEGGE, J. D. Britain in Fiji, 1858-1880. Macmillan, London, 1958. MILNER, G. B. Fijian Grammar. Government Printer, Suva, 1956. SNOW, P. A. A Bibliography of Fiji, Tonga and Rotuma. University of THOMSON, Basil. The Fijians. Heineman, London, 1908. T THE GAMBIA HE GAMBIA lies on the West Coast of Africa and is wholly bounded on the landward side by Senegal. It consists of a rectangle 70 miles long and 30 miles broad covering the mouth of the Gambia River and the land on either side and a stripe of land 10 kilometres wide on each side of the river above this, extending, if measured in a straight line, for approximately 130 miles. The lower 290 miles of the Gambia river flow through the country from east to west. The Gambia lies between latitudes 13° and 14° N., and between longitudes 14° and 17° W., and occupies 4,003 square miles including river area. The principal feature of The Gambia is the river, one of the finest waterways in Africa. Quite large ocean-going vessels of 26 feet draught can enter the port of Bathurst and smaller ocean-going vessels of 17 feet draught can sail 150 miles up-stream of Kuntaur. The Gambia enjoys a cool, dry season from November until April, with temperatures which may fall as low as 58°F, but for the rest of the year it is hot and humid with mid-day temperatures as high as 110°F in Upper River Division. There is a rainy season from July to October; annual rainfall averages 45 inches a year at Yundum airport, 40 inches at Bathurst and 35 inches at Georgetown. The Gambia is divided into five divisions-Upper River Division, MacCarthy Island Division, Lower River Division, Western Division and North Bank Division. In addition Bathurst on the Island of St Mary, known also as Banjul Island, has its own form of local government and at the time of independence acquired city status. The Divisions are divided into Districts. The administrative headquarters of the Divisions, at each of which is a Divisional Commissioner, are at Basse, Georgetown, Mansa Konko, Brikama and Kerewan respectively. There is an Assistant Divisional Commissioner for the North bank section of Lower River Division at Kerewan. The growth of representative local government is fostered by the creation of Area Councils, of which there are six covering The Gambia. The first complete census of the population of The Gambia was held in April 1963 and gave the following figures: In 1963 24,412 births and 13,288 deaths were registered. The population consists of a number of tribes, the most important of these being the Mandingo (128,807); Fula (42,723); Woloff (40,805); Jola (22,046); and Serahuli (21,318). In Bathurst the largest element is that of the Woloffs numbering 11,311. An influential community is that of the Akus (2,974), descended from detribalized Africans liberated in the early nineteenth century during the campaign against the slave trade. The official language is English and all State education, both at primary and secondary level, is in English, but each tribe has its own language. The principal vernacular languages are Mandinka and Woloff. There are numerous Muslim schools in which Arabic is taught for the better understanding of the Koran. The Christian Mission schools are Anglican, Methodist and Roman Catholic. There are relatively few Christians outside the Bathurst area, and in the Provinces there are large numbers of Muslims and some sections of the population retain their original animist beliefs. There are 94 Primary Schools with an enrolment figure, for the 1969/70 school year, of 16,867, of whom 11,853 were boys and 5,014 were girls. Primary education is free, but is not compulsory. Secondary education is provided by three Senior Secondary Schools in Bathurst and one in Georgetown, with an enrolment of 1,442, of whom 412 were girls; by 15 Junior Secondary Schools providing education up to Form 4. There were 2,967 pupils, of whom 685 were girls. There is a Teachers' Training College in Yundum with 136 students of whom 107 were men and 29 women, and a Vocational Training Centre in Bathurst. Literacy rate is not known: in English it is estimated at 15 per cent; in Arabic 20 per cent. The principal sea port is at Bathurst with two Government-owned wharves for ocean-going vessels and a number of private jetties used mainly for the river trade. In 1969, 307 ocean-going ships, trawlers and yachts of a net registered tonnage of 734,841 tons called there. Bathurst airport is at Yundum, 17 miles away from the town. The main runway is now 7,300 feet long. Internal communications are by road and river. There are 730 miles of motorable roads, of which 330 rank as all-season. There is no railway. Gambia Airways is a handling agency but owns no aircraft. Bathurst port is served principally by ships of Elder Dempster Lines and other lines of the West African Shipping Conference (Palm Line, Guinea Gulf, Hoegh Line and Nigeria and Ghana national lines). Airlines flying scheduled services to Yundum airport are British United Airways, Ghana/Nigeria Airways pool service and Air Senegal. The Gambian Broadcasting Service opened on 1st May 1962 and is known as Radio Gambia. Well over 90 per cent of exports from The Gambia consists of groundnut products. The following table shows the exports during 1968/69: Imports in 1968/69 were valued at £9,268,673. The total exports for 1969/70 were valued at £7,381,000 and imports at £9,332,000. In addition to groundnuts, Gambia farmers grow sorghum, millet and rice, the latter having now superseded millet in most of The Gambia as the principal crop for local consumption. The Government financial year runs from July to June. The budget of the 1969/70 financial year proposed an expenditure of £3.6m. and revenue of £3·1m., the balance to be made up by surpluses from the 1968/69 account. The Development Programme to cover the four years from 1st July 1967 to 30th June 1971 proposes expenditure of up to £5 million, of which aid from Britain will account for £3.2 million in the form of an interest-free loan repayable over 25 years. In the Development Programme emphasis is being laid on agriculture and communications. The estimates for 1970/71 are: expenditure £4,038,350; revenue £3,793,100. The Gambia Government contributes towards the following Commonwealth Institutions: The Rothamstead Experimental Station The Commonwealth Agricultural Bureau and Associated Activities. The Committee of Information Phytosanitary Convention The Commonwealth Forestry Association The International African Migratory Locust Organisation The West African Institute of Oil Palm Research The United Nations Desert Locust Project The Tropical Diseases Bureau The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine The British Leprosy Relief Association The British Tuberculosis Association The Commonwealth Broadcasting Conference The Gambia's National Day is on 18th February, Independence Day. HISTORY The banks of the Gambia River have been inhabited for many centuries and a number of stone circles of ancient origin exist, but there is insufficient archaeological or written evidence to throw much light on the early history of the country. During the fifth to eighth centuries A.D. most of the Sene-Gambian area was part of the empire of Ghana, whose rulers were of the Serahuli tribe, still strongly represented in The Gambia, and had their seat north of the Upper Niger (not in the country now known as 'Ghana', of which only a small sector was an outlying part of the empire). The Ghana empire was gradually superseded by the kingdom of the Songhais, based on the bend of the Niger south of Timbuktu. The Songhai rulers were also of the Serahuli tribe. They became Muslims and vigorously promoted Islam. About the thirteenth century A.D. tribes of Mandingo and Susus from the Futa Jallon plateau of Guinea shook off Songhai rule and established themselves in what is now Mali, from Bamako to Timbuktu. They assumed overlordship over the whole Gambia basin. What is now The Gambia was then probably mainly inhabited by Woloffs on the north bank and by Jolas on the south bank. The Mali rulers' names, Keita and Sonko, are still prominent names among Gambian Mandingos. The Mali empire declined by about A.D. 1500 and its Mandingo leaders retired to their former lands in Futa Jallon, but they held influence over Gambia as recently as the early eighteenth century. Later in that century the area was |