A Copra Board is responsible for all purchases of copra and sales overseas. Internal purchases are made through the agency of the co-operative societies. Most imports and sales of retail goods are handled by the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Development Authority—a statutory organisation-and by the co-operatives. The volume of private trading as such is small. The principal ports are at Betio Islet (Tarawa), and Ocean Island. Small ships of up to 10 feet draught may enter the harbour at Betio, whilst larger vessels drawing up to 28 feet anchor in the lagoon and are serviced by barges. At Ocean Island there is a cantilever through which phosphate is loaded, and barge and boat loading facilities are also provided by the British Phosphate Commissioners. Vessels of up to 30 feet draught can enter the lagoon at Funafuti, while at Christmas Island vessels anchor or lie at buoys outside the lagoon. During 1972 a total of 99 overseas vessels, including yachts, called at ports in the territory. There are two airports, located at Tarawa and Funafuti, used for scheduled overseas commercial flights. The airport at Christmas Island is now only used for emergency landings or by military aircraft. The aerodrome at Canton Island has now been closed and all facilities and personnel have been withdrawn. A weekly service every Wednesday and a fortnighly Service every Sunday from Suva, Fiji, to Tarawa via Nadi and Funafuti is operated with HS 748 aircraft by Air Pacific Ltd. Air Nauru now operate a fortnightly flight from Nauru to Tarawa using a Fokker jet aircraft. Airfields for an internal service have been completed at Abemama, Tabiteuea and Butaritari in the Gilbert Islands, and the service, operated by Air Pacific with a Heron Mark II Aircraft, commenced in July 1969. The Gilbert and Ellice Islands Broadcasting Service (call sign VSZ1) transmits daily in the medium wave band from 0630 to 0800 hours GMT, 1200 to 1400 and 1800 to 2130 hours GMT. The morning programmes are devoted mainly to light music, a news relay and record requests. Broadcasts in the evening period are in English, Gilbertese and Ellice. A Development Plan for 1973-1976 has been approved and includes provision for capital expenditure in excess of $A2,000,000 per annum over the three-year period. The plan will be financed almost entirely by development aid from the United Kingdom, under the Overseas Aid Scheme, from allocations from local revenue or from reserves, by funds provided by international agencies (WHO, UNICEF, and UNDAP), and by funds provided by technical assistance programmes of the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. Income tax is levied on chargeable income on a sliding scale rising from 4 cents per $1 on the first $200 to 50 cents per $1 on income over $12,600. No super tax is payable. Companies pay 22 per cent. on all chargeable income. Island Councils have a wide range of rating powers and also levy a landowners tax (based on area and fertility), licence fees and other dues. Import duties, tax on phosphates and export duties on copra are the other main sources of revenue. In 1972 there were about 14,000 children receiving primary education. Thirtyeight primary schools are maintained from Government and local government funds. At Tarawa the Government maintains a co-educational boarding school with an enrolment of 243 boys and 128 girls, and a Teachers' Training College with 27 male and 31 female students. HISTORY The Gilbertese, who are a Micronesian people, appear to have two separate stories about the origin of their race which, although interwoven by the passage of time and the handing down of verbal traditions, are easily distinguishable. The earlier of the two tells of a creator, Nareau, and a pantheon of gods and goddesses created by him from the void. This tradition appears to have become interwoven with a 'Tree of Life' myth, based upon Samoa, with stories of a cannibal race practising skull-worship on the sacred mountain of Maungatabu. The Tree had its own pantheon of heroes and heroines and they, as well as those of the Nareau creation story, are the sub-deities of Gilbertese traditional beliefs. These stories tell of civil disturbances in Samoa; of the breaking of the 'Tree of Life' and the disposal of its people to the Gilbert Islands; and of their meeting there with a people of similar ancestry. They create the impression that the Gilbertese believe their islands to have been inhabited before their arrival from Nipe by a people holding related traditions. Efforts to trace any substantial reference to the Samoan deity Tangaroa have been unsuccessful. This seems to indicate that the disposal preceded his rise to pre-eminence in Samoan religion, which would place the migration to the Gilbert Islands somewhere between A.D. 1000 and 1300. The settlement of the Ellice Islands is no better authenticated than that of the Gilberts. The people and the language are both Polynesian, the latter showing Tonga and Niuean, as well as Samoan, affinities. Tradition speaks of Samoa as the original home but the stories do not appear to have as much detail as those of the Gilberts and it is probable that the islands were settled accidentally by parties drifting westwards from Samoa or adjacent island groups before the south-east trade wind. Curiously enough, some of the heroes of the Gilbertese pantheon appear in Ellice stories and, since Tangaroa receives scant mention, it is just possible that some at least of the Ellice settlers left Samoa at the same time as the Gilbertese and took with them their traditional stories. There are also stories of marauders from the Gilbert Islands and from Tonga. From the earliest days the Gilbertese have waged a dour fight against starvation. Their islands are infertile coral atolls, periodically ravaged by droughts, and the coconut is the ubiquitous provider, eked out by laboriously-cultivated coarse edible tubers, pandanus, and breadfruit. This simple subsistence agriculture has always been a grim task, one which made land the prize of love and war. But while this struggle went on ashore they were able, in their swift, wellconstructed canoes, to fish their lagoons and ocean shores, and their limited navigation served them well enough on their occasional inter-island voyages of depredation. From this background the cautious character of the people grew. The Ellice people, on islands little touched by drought, where vegetation, though limited, is far more luxuriant than in the Gilberts, show most of the delightful and carefree traits of the Polynesian race. Living on small islands they developed more of a communal spirit than the Gilbertese and, possibly because their populations were small, they appear to have lived a comparatively peaceful existence, except when marauders came to their shores. The European discovery of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands dates from the 16th century; it is thought that Christmas Island and Nonouti in the Gilbert group were sighted in 1537 by Grijalva's mutinous crew on their disastrous voyage across the Pacific to New Guinea, and it is probable that Mendana discovered Nui and Niulakita in the Ellice in 1568 and 1595 respectively. Quiros is thought to have discovered Butaritari in the Northern Gilberts in 1606. After the probable early Spanish sightings, further discovery had to await the latter part of the 18th century and the first quarter of the 19th century. After Captain Byron's visit to Nikunau, in H.M.S. Dolphin in 1765, the remaining 24 islands in the group were discovered largely as an unintended result of increasing commercial activity in the Pacific. The last islands to be discovered were, in the Ellice, Niutao and Vaitupu and, in the Gilberts, Onotoa and Beru in 1826. From the early days of their discovery until about 1870, the waters of the Gilbert Islands were a favourite sperm-whaling ground and the crews of these whalers occasionally deserted and settled ashore. One of the first Europeans to settle in the Gilbert Islands landed about 1837 and the number steadily grew. Trading ships began to visit the islands regularly from 1850 onwards. Although at first trade merely consisted of bartering curios for European luxuries, trade in coconut oil began about 1860 and in ten or twenty years gave way to the sale of copra. In 1900, by chance, Sir Albert Ellis noticed in a Sydney office a sample of rock from German-annexed Nauru and identified it as a piece of valuable phosphate. An expedition was speedily sent by the Pacific Islands Company to the neighbouring Ocean Island to see whether this island also contained the same rock. Although, by agreement with Germany, Ocean Island was at this time within the British sphere of influence, it had not yet been annexed. The representatives of the Pacific Islands Company discovered that the soil of Ocean Island was almost pure phosphate rock and they were able to obtain from the inhabitants a concession to mine it. Dr Hiram Bingham of the American Board of Foreign Missions landed at Abaiang in 1857 and began to spread Christianity through the Northern Gilbert Islands. The Reverend A. W. Murray of the London Missionary Society, from Samoa, visited the Ellice Islands in May 1865, placing Samoan pastors on the islands; the new faith was universally embraced and all aspects of island life not conforming with the strict tenets of these pastors were cast aside. In 1870 the Society carried Christianity northward and placed Samoan pastors at Arorae, Tamana, Onotoa and Beru. By agreement in 1917, the American Board withdrew from the Colony, handing over the cause of Protestant Christianity to the London Missionary Society. Roman Catholic missionaries landed in the Gilbert Islands in 1888, and Roman Catholicism has now spread to all the Gilberts except the two most southerly, Tamana and Arorae, which are still Protestant strongholds, and to Nanumea and Nui in the Ellice. In 1892, Captain Davis of H.M.S. Royalist, on behalf of Queen Victoria, proclaimed at Abemama a British protectorate in the Gilbert Islands. H.M.S. Royalist then visited other Gilbert Islands to raise the flag and Captain Davis was instructed to visit the Ellice Islands to ascertain the wishes of the inhabitants. After the latter had made it clear that they wanted British rule, Captain Gibson of H.M.S. Curacao was instructed to proceed to the Ellice Islands and to declare a protectorate. Captain Gibson visited each island where, after a special meeting at which the chief and people of the island had signified their assent, the British flag was hoisted. The headquarters of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Protectorate was established at Tarawa and district magistrates were assigned to the various islands. A simple code of laws was drawn up based on earlier mission legislation, and the councils of old men were transformed into native courts to administer them. With peace in the groups the people were gathered into orderly villages and an era dawned of simple administration through the Native Governments guided by a very small number of European officers. In 1915, after consultations and at the wish of the Native Governments, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands were annexed by an Order in Council which came into effect on 12th January 1916. From 1942 to 1943 the Gilbert Islands were occupied by the Japanese. The Administration established a temporary headquarters at Sydney, Australia, which was transferred to Funafuti when United States forces occupied the Ellice group. From there, the Government controlled a war-time administration over the Ellice, Phoenix and Line Islands until, in November 1943, the United States forces drove the Japanese from the Gilberts. Officers of the Administration accompanying the military forces set up headquarters on Tarawa. LAND POLICY Since 1917 the sale of land to non-natives has been prohibited and leases may not be taken out without the consent of the Governor. Before 1892 there were, of course, no legal restrictions on alienation and between 1892 and 1917 limited alienation was permitted. Fortunately, in the Gilbert and Ellice groups there was no serious loss of land to the islanders during these periods. An insignificant area now remains alienated. Most of this is owned by Missions and is used for social purposes. Fanning and Washington Islands (in the Line Group) are virtually the only freehold property and are operated as commercial copra plantations by a private company. Christmas Island is owned and worked as a copra plantation by the Government. CONSTITUTION The Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony came under the jurisdiction of the High Commissioner for the Western Pacific until 1 January 1972, when a Governor was appointed. An Order in Council in October 1971 withdrew the Colony from the High Commissioner's jurisdiction except for certain judicial matters. The steps towards the present system of Government began in 1963, when by an ordinance enacted by the High Commissioner, an Advisory Council was established whose function was to advise the then 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 1967 made 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 had 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 elected members. The Resident Commissioner presided over both the House and the Council. The elected members of the House selected from among their own members five members (one of whom was elected as Chief Elected Member) to the Governing Council. The House advised the Governing Council on proposed legislation and other public matters referred to it by the Council or raised by individual members of the House. In 1970 the next step of constitutional development was approved. The Gilbert and Ellice Islands Order 1970 made new provision for the government of the territory. It established a Legislative Council and Executive Council to replace the House of Representatives and Governing Council. The Legislative Council consists of 3 ex-officio members, 2 public service members and 28 elected members, elected under the principle of universal adult suffrage. The Executive Council comprises the ex-officio and public service members of the Legislative Council, a Leader of Government Business elected by members of the Legislative Council and 4 appointed members from the Legislative Council. In December 1973 the Legislative Council approved that the recommendation of a Select Committee that a ministerial system of government should be introduced in 1974, be forwarded to HMG. In November 1973, HMG announced that provided they were satisfied through a referendum that the majority Ellice opinion supported the separation of the Ellice Islands from the Gilbert Islands, they would take the necessary action to put the separation into effect. On all sixteen islands of the Gilbert group, and the eight permanently inhabited Ellice Islands, local governments have been established under the Local Government Ordinance, 1966, which provides the framework for a 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 Governor, 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. 30 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. EXECUTIVE COUNCIL |