continuing a direct shipping service from Great Britain, originally started by the Royal Mail Line in 1968. Grand Turk Island has a number of metalled roads including one from end to end of the island. There are airstrips on Salt Cay, Providenciales, North Caicos and Middle Caicos. Turks and Caicos Airways operate a twice daily service to all islands, and three flights per week to Haiti and Port Au Prince, plus charters anywhere in the Caribbean. Mackay International Inc. operate a twice-weekly scheduled passenger service to Miami. South Caicos has a number of minor roads and a road network was provided during 1967 in Providenciales, 1969 in North Caicos and in 1970 in Middle Caicos. Air mail is received and despatched via Miami, twice weekly. Surface mail from all parts of the world is routed via the U.S. arriving at regular threeweekly intervals from Miami, Florida. Outgoing surface mail is irregular. Cable and Wireless (West Indies) Limited provide internal and international Cable telephones, telex and telegraph services. (A 300 line automatic telephone exchange is operating in Grand Turk and a 100 line in South Caicos). Systems are planned for Providenciales and other Islands. The company also operates telephones and telegraph services with ships at sea, using the call sign VSI. The establishment of an Island Broadcasting Service is under active consideration and in partial operation. There is a 20-bed cottage hospital of modern design at Grand Turk, together with a dental clinic. Medical Officers are stationed at Grand Turk and at Cockburn Harbour on South Caicos. There is a clinic at Cockburn Harbour, a maternity clinic in the charge of a midwife at Bottle Creek on North Caicos, a clinic in the charge of a qualified nurse on Providenciales and a clinic nurse at Salt Cay. Expenditure on medical services in 1972 was US$146,989. There is practically no agriculture carried on in Turks Islands and South Caicos, but in the rest of the Caicos Islands corn, beans and other crops are normally grown in sufficient quantity to satisfy local needs. Sisal production ceased in 1968 owing to poor crops and export difficulties. In the past the principal occupation of the population of the Turks Islands group and of South Caicos was the production of salt by solar evaporation. However, because of difficulties in finding markets, the operations on Grand Turk and South Caicos were closed down at the end of 1964. Operations continue on a reduced scale on Salt Cay. Fisheries have continued to be of great economic importance and crawfish has become the chief export industry of the islands. In the 1971/72 season 643,120 lbs of Lobster were exported with a return to the fishermen of approximately JS881,973. In 1972, 174,355 dried and frozen Conch meats were exported with a return of J $4,615. In 1972 34,000 shells were exported to the United States at a satisfactory price. 2,235 tons of salt were exported for net proceeds of J$7,546. Government revenue in 1972 was J$84,679, 46, and expenditure under the Turks and Caicos Development Plan during the year 1972 was J$2,345,046-69. The islands were discovered in 1512 by Juan Ponce de Leon while on a voyage from Puerto Rico. At the time of their discovery the islands were apparently uninhabited. The first European occupation was by Bermudians who, beginning at least as early as 1678, came regularly for salt about March, remaining until around November when the salt raking season was over. They sometimes stayed throughout the year. The Caicos Islands were settled by Loyalist planters from the Southern States of America after the War of Independence. After the abolition of slavery in 1838 the planters left the islands, their former slaves remaining in possession. In the meantime the islands were placed under the Bahamas Government, but in 1848 in answer to a petition from the inhabitants a separate charter was granted divorcing them from the control of the Bahamas; this provided for an elective Legislative Board and a President administering the Government. After a period of severe financial stringency, the Legislative Council in 1873 petitioned Her Majesty that the islands might be annexed to the Colony of Jamaica and from 1874 to July 1959 they were one of its dependencies. An Order in Council of 1873, which annexed the islands to Jamaica, made provision for the constitution of a Legislative Board for the Turks and Caicos Islands. The Commissioner was ex-officio President of the Board, which had full legislative and budgetary powers, but ordinances required the assent of the Governor of Jamaica before becoming law. Laws passed by the Legislature of Jamaica did not apply to the Dependency unless they were made applicable in express terms. On 20th February 1958 royal assent was given to the Cayman Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands Act, 1958, by which Her Majesty was empowered to make provision by Order-in-Council for the government of the Cayman Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands. On 25th February 1966 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh in the course of the royal tour of the West Indies visited Grand Turk and South Caicos; this was the first occasion that a reigning monarch had visited the islands. CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT The Turks and Caicos Islands (Constitution) Order in Council 1959, provided for a new constitution which was brought into operation on 4th July 1959. Under it the office of Governor of the Islands was constituted (the Governor of Jamaica was also Governor of the Islands) and the office of Commissioner replaced by the office of Administrator. The former Legislative Board was replaced by a Legislative Assembly consisting of the Administrator as President, two or three official members appointed by the Governor, two or three nominated non-official members appointed by the Governor and nine members elected on a constituency basis by universal adult suffrage; and an Executive Council was introduced consisting of the Administrator, two official members, one nominated member and two elected members (elected by the nominated and elected members of the Assembly from among the elected members of the Assembly). On 6th August 1962, when Jamaica attained independence at the wish of the local inhabitants, the Islands became a Crown Colony and the post of Governor was abolished. A new Constitution then came into force, basically the same as that of 1959, but with the powers formerly exercised by the Governor to be exercised by the Administrator. In 1964 talks were held between representatives of the Government of the United Kingdom, the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands concerning a closer association between the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands. As a result of these talks the Turks and Caicos Islands (Constitution) Order in Council 1965 (which came into operation on 5th November 1965) provides that the Governor of the Bahamas shall be also Governor of the Turks and Caicos Islands. The office of Administrator, Turks and Caicos Islands, remains in being. On 18th June 1969 a new Constitution came into force which provided for an Administrator and a State Council. The State Council consists of a Speaker, three official members, not less than two, nor more than three nominated members and nine elected members. The Council sits in public under its Speaker when dealing with legislation and in private under the Administrator when dealing with executive matters. However, in the light of the independence of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, there was a constitutional advancement which transferred the powers previously held by the Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Bahamas Islands to the Governor, a Supreme Court and a Court of Appeal of the Turks and Caicos Islands. The constitution of the State Council was altered by the inclusion of the Chief Secretary and Financial Secretary in place of the Treasurer and one additional official member. The Constitution (Amendment) Order 1973 came into operation on 25th April, 1973. LAND POLICY On Grand Turk and South Caicos Islands much of the land is privately owned, but Crown Land is also available. On the other islands the majority of land is owned by the Crown. The purchase of private land, which is not controlled in any way, is subject to personal negotiation. A system of registration of land ownership carrying a Government guarantee of the authenticity of title, has been instituted so that title and interests in land are certain and known. The present policy in respect of Crown Land is not to part with freehold title until an agreed amount of permanent improvement has taken place. Such land will therefore be issued on a conditional purchase lease in the first instance. The conditions are phased over a number of years, usually about five, except in the case of a very large scale development scheme when a longer period would be granted. In any case some progress must be shown within two years. The Government would bind itself to grant freehold title at the end of the period if the agreed development had taken place. If no development takes place within the stipulated period the land would revert automatically to the Crown. An applicant for Crown Land should give, in some detail, his proposals for development, and the area or areas required, together with details of his financial backing. It is very necessary that all applicants for land or their agents should visit any site proposed before submitting detailed proposals as in some cases only enquiries made locally would reveal whether the site was suitable for development. STATE COUNCIL 3 Official Members 2 Nominated Members GOVERNMENT The Governor: His Excellency A. G. Mitchell, DFM SECRETARIES TO GOVERNMENT Chief Secretary: W. W. Hutton, OBE Assistant Secretaries: R. N. Robinson (General); D. J. Freeman (Establishment); S. Garland (acting) (Social Services) HEADS OF DEPARTMENT District Commissioner: Caicos Islands: A. G. Malcolm JUDICIARY Magistrate (also acts as Judge of Supreme Court, Registrar of Deeds): M. Jennings READING LIST PUSEY, Rev. J. H. Handbook of the Turks and Caicos Islands. Kingston, TATEM, W. R. Report on the Hurricanes of 1926 and 1928. London, Turks and Caicos Islands (Constitution) Order-in-Council, 1969, H.M.S.O. Turks and Caicos Islands Report, 1965 and 1966. H.M.S.O., London, April 1968. S.O. No. 58.1.46.66. WESTERN PACIFIC HIGH COMMISSION (Administrative headquarters: Honiara, British Solomon Islands Protectorate) T HE office of High Commissioner for the Western Pacific was created by the Western Pacific Order in Council in 1877. In the past, the High Commissioner's responsibility extended over all islands in the Western Pacific administered by the United Kingdom, but in recent years it has been limited to the British Solomon Islands Protectorate, the Condominium of the New Hebrides and the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony. For many years the posts of High Commissioner for the Western Pacific and Governor of Fiji were held conjointly but in 1953 they were separated. The High Commissioner thereafter established his headquarters at Honiara and assumed the direct administration of the Protectorate. With effect from 1st January 1972, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony was separated from the Western Pacific High Commission. The New Hebrides followed with effect from 1st December 1973. The British Solomon Islands Protectorate is now the only territory coming within the jurisdiction of the Western Pacific High Commissioner and constitutional changes already proposed for the Protectorate, which are likely to redesignate the High Commissioner as Governor, are likely also to see the end of the High Commission itself. The High Court of the Western Pacific was constituted by the Western Pacific (Courts) Order in Council 1961. The Court has jurisdiction in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony and the New Hebrides. The Court is a superior court of record and has all the jurisdiction which is vested in the High Court of Justice in England subject to the provisions of the Order in Council. Appeals from the decisions of the Court are to the Fiji Court of Appeal. The Court consists of a Chief Justice, one Puisne Judge and a Senior Magistrate. The Chief Justice lives in the Solomon Islands and there is a Puisne Judge in the New Hebrides and a Senior Magistrate in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. CIVIL ESTABLISHMENT (as at 31st December 1973) HIGH COMMISSIONER: Mr Donald Cumyn Collin Luddington, CMG SECRETARIAT Chief Secretary: T. Russell, CBE JUDICIARY Chief Justice: Sir Jocelyn Bodilly, VRD |