The quarter ended on the 31st.
December, 1940, was, unfortunately, not marked by any very great progress
in the actual settlement of the Phoenix Islands. To complete this settlement,
it is now necessary to arrange for the transport of some eighty new
settlers and their families, as well as about ten thousand cubic feet
of cargo. Arrangements were originally made for the m.v. "John Bolton" to
do the major part of this work during December, 1940, but the vessel
was unable to obtain the necessary supplies of fuel oil and had to
lie idle at her home port. The charter was, at first, postponed until
late in January, 1941, but, at the time of writing, has now had to
be postponed indefinitely. The vessel in question as left the Colony
and no decision has yet been reached by the owners as to whether it
will be possible for the ship to return.
2. The second half of he
quarter was marked by severe and almost continuous North-westerly
gales, which did considerable damage to houses, coconut trees and
newly planted lands. Portions of the low-lying areas of Hull and
Gardner Islands were also flooded by high spring tides, backed by
the gales, and, it is feared that many young trees have been killed.
3. No communication was available,
during the quarter, with any of the islands of the District and the
rather meagre information given in this report has been collected
by wireless or during the course of a few hours spent on Hull, Sydney,
and Canton islands early in January, 1941, when the R.C.S. "Nimanoa" paid
a very hurried visit to the District to distribute essential stores.
Communication between Canton, Hawaii, San Francisco, Noumea and New
Zealand is, of course, now afforded by the weekly flying boat service
of Pan American Airways but, although the Company's officials are
anxious to assist in every way they can, the service is, at present,
of very little use to the Phoenix Islands since there is no intra-district
communication.
Difficulties of communication
were by no means alleviated by a failure of the wireless telegraph
installation at Gardner Island in the middle of December and the
Officer-in-Charge was completely cut off from headquarters for some
five weeks until communication could be restored on the 11th, January,
1941.
Gardner Island.
4. When labourers were first
landed on Gardner Island in December, 1938, the site selected for
their houses was the only one which, at that time, was even partially
clear of the huge "Buka" (pisonia grandis) trees and the dense scrub
which covers the island. Since this area was found to be waterlogged
at high spring tides, however, it had long been realised that the
village would have to be removed to a better site. Work on the clearing
and levelling of the site for the Government Station, which was begun
in September, was well advanced at the beginning of the quarter and
it was decided to remove the village to this new site before the
onset of the high December tides. Accordingly, some forty houses
were taken down and re-erected in such a manner as to accord with
the eventual requirements of the Government Station. Each house was
re-roofed with coconut thatch brought from Hull and Sydney Islands
by the m.v. "John Bolton" and although the houses, for lack of material,
are very small, the labourers are now considerably better housed
in a more healthy situation.
- 2 -
5. Coincidentally with the
work on the transfer of the village, the erection of the Rest House
was continued. This building was in a sufficiently advanced state
of construction to be occupied in the middle of November and, soon
after that, work had to be abandoned until further supplies of materials
could be transported from the Gilbert Islands.
6. A new flagstaff, 59 feet
high, was completed and erected at the beginning of November and
a section of the old temporary flagstaff was very suitably incorporated
in the little church which the more devout or, at all events, less
indolent, labourers were then erecting in their spare time.
7. It had been planned to
make a start on the demarcation and clearing of new lands as soon
as work on the removal of the village had been completed. Unfortunately,
very soon after the last house had been erected, the wind swung round
to the North-West and it was soon obvious that the wet season had
begun. With very little protection from the newly planted coconut
trees and bereft of the windbreak formerly afforded by the "buka" trees,
the gales managed to play havoc with the village in the first few
days. When it was realised, however, that the gales had come to stay,
houses were shored up, thatch tied down and everything made as secure
as possible. The unfinished Rest House was slightly damaged, the
boat house was partially wrecked by a whirlwind and a clean sweep
was made of such structures as latrine wharves and bathing houses.
The greater part of the damage on Gardner Island, however, was caused
by the exceptional tides which were swept into the lagoon by the
high winds and flooded conside- rable areas of newly planted coconut
land. Many of the coconut trees were damaged and nearly all of the
newly planted pandanus bushes were killed. A small area of land was
washed away and the course of the Southern lagoon passage altered.
Due to the very heavy rain during this period, properly organized
work at any distance from the village was impossible and advantage
was taken of the opportunity to build roads and paths and to clean
up one or two small areas of land on or near the Government Station.
Hull Island.
8. A great deal of very useful
work has been accomplished on Hull Island during the quarter. New
roads and paths have been constructed, part of the village area improved,
the Court House has been completed, work started on the construc-
tion of a really good dwelling house for the native Magistrate and
a new office for the Native Government. The Acting Adminis- trative
Officer reports that he has found a new spirit of co-operation amongst
the natives on the island who have, at last, realised that it is
very little more trouble, and a great deal more satisfying, to try
to make their island as neat and orderly as possible instead of being
content with mediocrity. Work on the clearing and planting of new
lands has gone forward steadily, if a little slowly. The damage done
by the gales has been made good and everybody on the island appears
to be settling down in a contented manner.
9. The Acting Administrative
Officer has started singing, sports and morse clubs for the younger
people of the island. If their standards of morse and football is
as high as their singing, this Officer's efforts have been attended
with very considerable success. Mr. Cookson has, in fact, done a
great deal for the younger people on the island, in an effort to
help them to keep happy and well in the midst of the very great deal
of work and hardship which is necessary to get established on the
island.
10. The writer was only ashore
at Hull Island for a few hours, most of which had, of necessity,
to be spent discussing official matters and accounts with the Acting
Administrative Officer, but sufficient was seen of the island
- 3 -
to be able to report that
all is well on Hull Island and the settlement of the island is progressing
in a satisfactory manner. A tremendous spirit of rivalry is now apparent
between the three islands (Sydney, Hull and Gardner) to see who can
produce the best results. The unfortunate Officer-in-Charge is bombarded
with questions at each island as to whether a particular community
has surpassed the efforts of its rivals. Needless to say, considerable
tact is necessary in answering these queries, since it would be fatal
to any further progress to indicate that one island was a great deal
more advanced or less progressive than another - either answer leading
inevitably to a cessation of work from either despair of complacency!
The Officer-in-Charge, as well as his staff, have, therefore, become
excellent prevaricators and seek to indicate at each island that,
although, in general, the particular island is much farther advanced
than its rivals, there are certain details which have been better
attended to elsewhere! In this connection, it is perhaps amusing
to record that better staff work will have to be attained, as two
sections of the party were recently found to have been spinning different
yarns on Hull Island, to the marked amusement of the Native Magistrate
who obviously saw through the subterfuge!
Sydney Island.
11. Very little is known
of the activities of the settlers on Sydney Island during the quarter.
There is no wireless on the Island and there was insufficient time
to go up to the main settlement when we visited the island in January,
1941. The Native Magistrate reported that all was well on the island
and that the inhabitants had been going ahead steadily with their
planting and clearing and had set out many hundreds of young trees.
The people of the island were keenly dissapointed [sic] because,
on our last visit to them, we had said that there was a a possibility
that His Honour the Resident Commissioner would visit them. When
the R.C.S. "Nimanoa" came into sight, instead of the m.v. "John Bolton," as
had been expected, everybody assumed that His Honour was on board
and rapid preparations were made for a suitable reception. It was
explained that His Honour and, in fact, His Excellency the High Commissioner,
had every intention of visiting the island at any early opportunity,
but that it was not possible to say when this could be accomplished,
in present circumstances. |