Education is compulsory and free for all children between the ages of five and fifteen but power to exempt after the age of fourteen rests with the Education Officer. The standard of work at the Secondary Selective School is increasingly being geared to 'O' Level requirements of the London University General Certificate of Education. The literacy rate is 100 per cent. There is a free public library in Jamestown financed by the Government and managed by a committee, and a branch library in each country district. HISTORY The then uninhabited island of St Helena was discovered on 21st May 1502 by the Portuguese navigator João da Nova Castella, on his homeward voyag from India. He named it in honour of Saint Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine the Great, whose festival falls on that day in the Eastern Church calendar. The existence of the island appears to have remained unknown to other European nations until 1588 when it was visited by Captain Cavendish on ba return from a voyage round the world. Soon afterwards St Helena became a por. of call for ships of various nations voyaging between the East Indies and Europe In 1633 the Dutch formally annexed it but made no attempt to occupy it. In 1659 it was annexed and occupied on behalf of the East India Company but the first official authorisation of the Company's occupation occurs in a charter dated 1661. In January 1673 the Dutch seized the island but were driven out again in May by the English navy. A charter to occupy and govern St Helena was issued by Charles II to the East India Company in December 1673 and it remained under that company until April 1834 when it was brought under the direct government of the Crown by an Act of Parliament of 1833. Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled in St Helena from 1815 until his death in 1821. Longwood House, in which he lived, is an important Napoleonic museum; it is in the custody of the French Republic. CONSTITUTION An Order in Council and Royal Instructions of November 1966, which came into force on 1st January 1967, provided for: (1) a Legislative Council consisting of the Governor, two ex-officio members (the Government Secretary and the Treasurer) and twelve elected members; and (2) an Executive Council consisting of the Government Secretary and the Treasurer as ex-officio members and the chairmen of the Council Committees (all of whom must be members of the Legislative Council). The Governor presides at meetings of the Executive Council. Under this new constitution, Council Committees, a majority of whose members are members of the Legislative Council, have been appointed by the Governor and charged with executive powers and general oversight of depart ments of Government. General elections were held in February 1968, and in May 1972. LAND POLICY Individuals hold land either in fee simple or by lease. Immigrants require a licence to hold land. Crown land may be leased on conditions approved by the Governor. The Government farms approximately half the arable area, and either farms or controls some four-fifths of the grazing areas. Commonage grazing areas are made available by the Government to private stock owners on a per capita per mensem basis. GOVERNMENT EXECUTIVE COUNCIL The Governor (President) The Chairmen of the Council Committees LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL The Governor (President) 12 Elected Members Clerk of Councils: G. C. Lawrence CIVIL ESTABLISHMENT Governor and Commander-in-Chief: Sir T. Oates, CMG, OBE Treasurer and Collector of Customs: P. E. Aldous Education Officer: Clifford Huxtable Superintendent of Police and Gaol and Registrar, Supreme Court: F. Short Senior Medical Officer: J. S. Noakes, OBE Matron: Miss G. H. Sim, BEM JUDICIARY Chief Justice: Sir P. Watkin Williams Magistrate: E. J. Moss, CBE, MC Justices of the Peace: D. H. Thorpe; J. R. Charlton, MBE; F. I. Gough; ASCENSION The small island of Ascension lies in the South Atlantic (7° 56′ S., 14° 25′ W.) 703 miles north-west of St Helena. Its area is 34 square miles and the population at 31st December 1973 was 1,151, of whom 691 were St Helenians.* The island was discovered by the Portuguese on Ascension Day 1501. It was uninhabited until the arrival of Napoleon in St Helena in 1815, when a small British naval garrison was placed there. The island remained under the supervision of the British Admiralty until it was made a dependency of St Helena by Letters Patent in 1922 and came under the control of the Secretary of State for the Colonies. Ascension is a barren, rocky peak of purely volcanic origin, destitute of vegetation except for about ten acres around the top of the peak (2,870 feet), where Cable and Wireless Limited run a farm producing vegetables and fruit and permitting the maintenance of about 1,180 sheep, and 219 cattle and pigs. The island is famous for green turtles, which land there from December to May The majority of the remainder being expatriate personnel of Cable and Wireless Limited and the United States base. The population varies from time to time as it is largely determined by the employment offered by these two stations. to lay their eggs in the sand. It is also a breeding ground of the sooty tern, of wideawake, vast numbers of which settle on the island every eighth month to lay and hatch their eggs. In consequence, Ascension has sometimes been named 'Wideawake Island'. Other wild-life on the island includes feral donkeys, goats and cats, rabbits and partridges. All wild-life except rabbits and cats is protected by law. Shark, barracuda, tuna, bonito and other fish are plentiful in the surrounding ocean. Cable and Wireless Limited own and operate an important telecommunications station which connects the Dependency with St Helena, Sierra Leone, St Vincent, Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires, and through these places, over the Company's system, with all parts of the world. In 1942 the Government of the United States of America, by arrangement with the British Government, established an air base which became of considerable importance during the 1939-45 war. The United States Government subsequently re-occupied Wideawake Airfield under an agreement with the British Government in connection with the extension of the Long Range Proving Ground for guided missiles centred in Florida. A British Broadcasting Corporation relay station on the island was opened in 1966. Administrator: G. C. Guy, CMG, CVO, OBE TRISTAN DA CUNHA Tristan da Cunha is a small island in the South Atlantic Ocean, lying about midway between South America and South Africa. It is volcanic in origin and nearly circular in shape, covering an area of 38 square miles and rising in a cone to 6,760 feet. The climate is typically oceanic and temperate. Rainfall averages 66 inches per annum. Possession was taken of the island in 1816 during Napoleon's residence in St Helena, and a garrison was stationed there. When the garrison was withdrawn, three men, headed by Corporal William Glass, elected to remain and became the founders of the present settlement. Because of its position on a main sailing route the colony thrived until the 1880s, but with the replacement of sail by steam, the island ceased to occupy a position on a main shipping route and a period of decline set in. No regular shipping called and the islanders suffered at times from a shortage of food. Nevertheless, attempts to move the inhabitants to South Africa were unsuccessful. The islanders were engaged chiefly in fishing and agricultural pursuits. The United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel has maintained a missionary teacher on the island since 1922; a number of missionaries had also served on the island prior to this. In 1932 the missionary was officially recognised as Honorary Commissioner and Magistrate. By Letters Patent dated 12 January 1938 Tristan da Cunha and the neighbouring unsettled islands of Nightingale, Inaccessible and Gough were made dependencies of St Helena, though as a matter of practical convenience the administration of the group continued to be directly supervised by the Colonial Office. in 1942 a meteorological and wireless station was built on the island by a achment of the South African Defence Force and was manned by the Royal vy for the remainder of the war. The coming of the Navy re-introduced the inders to the outside world, for it was a naval chaplain who recognised the ssibilities of a crawfish industry on Tristan da Cunha. In 1948 a Cape Town sed fishing company was granted a concession to fish the Tristan da Cunha ters. Many of the islanders found employment with the fishing company. In 50 the office of Administrator was created: the Administrator is also the gistrate. The Island Council received legislative sanction through a Bye-Laws dinance enacted in 1952. On 10th October 1961 a volcanic cone erupted close to the settlement of linburgh and it was necessary to evacuate the island. The islanders returned to istan da Cunha in 1963, but a few have since re-settled in the United Kingdom. he Administration has been fully re-established and the Island Council rermed. The population at the end of 1973 was 292. A new Island Council was elected in November 1969 following the enactment the Island Council Ordinance, 1969. The Council consists of the Administrator, ree appointed members and eight elected members including one woman. The island is isolated and communications are restricted to a few calls a year y vessels from Cape Town and an occasional call by a passing ship. There is no rfield. A wireless station on the island is in daily contact with Cape Town. A cal broadcasting service was introduced in August 1966. A radio-telephone ervice was established in 1969. Electricity was introduced in 1969 to all the islanders' homes. The island community depend upon fishing for their livelihood. The company olding the fishing concession has built a new fish-freezing factory and the shoreased fishing industry is being developed following the construction of a harour. The working population find employment in the industry and the Departments of the Administration. The 1971/72 budget showed a small deficit which was met from reserves. Development aid has been provided for a harbour, for a new hospital and a ew school in addition to various minor works projects. Administrator: Mr S. G. Trees, MVO, OBE J T SEYCHELLES HE Seychelles archipelago consists of a scattered group of 37 granitic and 49 coralline islands in the Western Indian Ocean. The islands take their name from the Vicomte Moreau de Séchelles, Controller General of Finance in the reign of Louis XV. The group also includes numerous rocks and small cays. The revised estimate of the land area of Seychelles is 107 square miles. The largest of the islands is Mahé, named after a former French Governor of Mauritius, which has an area of about 57 square miles and is approximately 17 miles long from north to south. Mahé lies 950 nautical miles due east of Mombasa, 1,750 nautical miles south west of Bombay, and 590 nautical miles north of Madagascar. Victoria, the capital of Seychelles and the only port of the archipelago, is on Mahé. It is the only town in Seychelles of any size and has a population of about 14,500. The granitic islands, which are all of great beauty, rise fairly steeply from the sea and Mahé has a long central ridge which at its highest point, Morne Seychellois, reaches nearly 3,000 feet. Praslin, second largest island in the group is 27 miles from Mahé and the other granitic islands are within a radius of 35 miles. The coral islands are reefs in different stages of formation, rising only a few feet above sea level. The climate is tropical but for islands so close to the Equator not unpleasant. Maximum shade temperature at sea level averages 29°C (84°F) and during the coolest months the average minimum temperature drops to 24°C (75°F). At higher levels temperatures are rather lower and the air fresher. There are two seasons, hot from December to May and cooler from June to November while the south-east trade winds are blowing. Rainfall varies over the group; the greater part falls during the hot months when the north-west trade winds blow and the climate then tends to be humid and somewhat enervating. The mean annual rainfall in Victoria taken over the past 68 years is 93 inches and the mean average temperature nearly 27°C (80°F). All the granitic islands lie outside the cyclone belt. High winds and thunderstorms are rare. The estimated total population of Seychelles for mid-1973 is 55,614. In 1973 there were 1,639 births and 474 deaths. Government controls and directs educational policy and is responsible for financing the educational system. The family language is mainly Creole but the official language is English and this is the medium of instruction at all levels of education. The basis of the school system is a free, non-compulsory, six-year primary school education available to all children between the ages of six and twelve. At the age of twelve those children who do not gain admission by examination to the Secondary Grammar Schools are eligible to go to the Junior Secondary Schools (ages 12-15), following which selected pupils proceed to a range of technical and vocational courses of two to three years' duration. The latest addition to these is provided by the Seychelles Technical School which opened in January 1971 and offers courses in building, mechanical and electrical engineering, and is also the territory's centre for trade testing. In January 1974 there were 5,069 boys and 5,310 girls enrolled in the 36 Primary schools: 1,119 boys and 1,352 girls in the 12 Junior Secondary Schools; 383 boys and 398 girls in the Secondary Grammar schools; 168 boys and 272 girls for the 5 |