ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA
VOLUME XXXII
THE THIRD OF THE NEW VOLUMES
PACIFIC OCEAN, ISLANDS OF.— For the oceanic islands of the Pacific see generally 20.436*, and also the separate articles on the principal groups and islands there referred to. Supplementary information is given below, and also under Guam, Hawaii, etc.
The so-called Four-Power Treaty was signed Dec. 13 1921, with prospects of early ratification, by France, Great Britain, Japan and the United States, the contracting parties agreeing as between themselves to respect their rights in relation to their insular possessions and insular dominions in the region of the Pacific Ocean." A map, showing the mandate claims and sovereignties proposed, and zones of restricted fortification, will be found in the article Washington Conference.
America Islands.—Christmas I. was leased by a company from the British Government and planted with coco-nuts in 1904-5, but the working lapsed during the World War, and in Oct. 1919 Lord Jellicoe on H.M.S. " New Zealand " found three men who had been confined there for 18 months, ignorant of the cessation of war. The Pacific " all red " cable station on Fanning I. was wrecked by a German landing party from the "Niirnberg" Sept. 7 1914, but communication was restored by the operator. Fanning and Washington Is. belong to a coco-nut company and had in 1920 populations of a few whites and about 120 and 100 native labourers respectively. These islands are administered under the Gilbert and Ellice Is. Colony, of which Ocean I. is the administrative centre.
Auckland Islands.—A depot of provisions and clothes has been established here by New Zealand for shipwrecked sailors.
Caroline and Pelew Islands.—Japan is mandatory for these formerly German islands,[1] having occupied them in Sept.-Oct. 1914. The administration of Yap, which has a pop. of about 8,000 and a cable and wireless station, was at first in dispute between Japan and the United States; but in Dec. 1921 these countries reached an agreement (a formal convention to be drawn up later for signature) whereby the United States secured the same opportunities as Japan or any other nation in all that relates to cable and wireless service on the island. The pop. of the group was in 1919 about 40,000.
Cook Islands.—These islands, which belong to New Zealand, had a pop. of 8,764 in 1916, including 197 whites and half-castes. Eight Government schools were maintained in 1919. Revenue (year 1918^9) 13,847; expenditure 12,344, t> ut this latter figure excludes certain salaries, etc., and about 7,500 has been contributed annually by New Zealand toward the expenditure. In 1919 exports were valued at 142,925 and imports at 127,729. Copra (to United States) and other fruit (to New Zealand) were chief exports.
Easter Island.—Pop. (1915) about 250, all native except an English manager. The island was visited by Mr. and Mrs. Scoresby Routledge in 1914-5 for the investigation of the ancient remains. These and other recent investigators have shown that the islanders, formerly considered to be of Polynesian race, possess an admixture of Melanesian (negroid) characteristics, and their culture reveals the same influence, notably in the bird-cult with its carved figures, partly human and partly of bird form, and in the practice of distending the ear-lobes. A close association with the bird-cult of Easter I. is found in the Solomon Is., far distant in the western Pacific. It is suggested that the Melanesian immigrants who carried this cult to Easter I. were followed by Polynesians, who fought but did not exterminate them, and there remain indications of a division of the island between the two stocks. While it is impossible to assign any date for the Melanesian immigration, it has been suggested that the Polyne- sian took place about the beginning of the 15th century A.D., but the further evidence collected on Easter I. in 1910-20 has not de- termined to which group of immigrants the megalithic remains are to be attributed, or cleared up the origin of the ideographic script found on tablets in the island.
Fiji.—The pop. of the Fiji Is. was estimated on Dec. 31 1918 at 163,416, including 87,761 Fijians, 2,100 natives of Rotumah, 2,709 natives of various Polynesian islands, 61,745 Indians, 4,748 Euro- peans, 2,803 half-castes and 913 Chinese. The revenue in 1918 was 371,189, and the expenditure 342,140. Exports in 1919 amounted in value to 1,871,062, of which 882,574 wen t to New Zealand and 584,067 to the United States of America. About half the exports (by value) consisted of sugar, most of which went to New Zealand. There has been shortage of labour, the importation of Indian con- tract labour having been stopped in 1916; but arrangements are made to admit free Indian labour. Prices have ruled low in comparison with expenditure and planters have expressed dissatisfaction with the fixation of the price for one year only, by the controlling exporting company. Copra, bananas, molasses and rubber are the other chief exports. Imports were valued in 1919 at 1,060,314, of which 513,547 came from Australia, but the goods thus indicated were in great part reexports and largely of British origin.
Down to 1916 the education of the natives was wholly under missionary control, save for the Government high school at Nasinu, Suva, and the native high school at Lakeba. But in that year an Education Act rendered all schools complying with certain conditions eligible for Government aid. Suva has a high-power wireless station, and there are four inter-insular stations.
Gilbert and Ellice Islands.—These became a British colony in 1915-6, having been previously a protectorate. Estimated pop. Gilbert I., 30,000; Ellice I., 3,000. Revenue (year 1918-9) 24,450; expenditure 30,734. In the year 1917-8 copra of the value of 63,- 465 was exported from the colony, and 82,845 tons of phosphates, valued at 83,000, from Ocean I. ; but this latter export was expected to reach 200,000 tons in 1920-1. Ocean I. is the headquarters of the Government, and a wireless station was opened there in 1916. The administration includes the America Is. and the Tokelau (Union) Is. between 8° 30′ and 11° S. lat. and 171° and 172° W. long. The Tokelau Is., total area 7 sq. m., had a pop. of 912 natives and 2 Europeans in 1911. The Gilbert islanders have lost their warlike reputation, and are all, at least nominally, Christian.
Lord Howe Island, belonging to New South Wales, was placed under a board of control with office at Sydney, as the result of the report of a Royal Commission on the trade of the island in Kentia palm-seeds in 1912. A local advisory council assists the board.
The Lord Howe Group, also known as Ongtong Java, has a Polyne- sian pop. estimated at 1,200 (5,000 in 1905), and produces copra.
Loyalty Islands (dependency of New Caledonia), pop. (est., 1919), 11,000.
Macquarie Island is annexed to Tasmania. In connexion with the Mawson Antarctic expedition (see 21.968) a meteorological and wireless station was established there.
Manihiki Archipelago. Of the scattered islands mentioned under this heading, Caroline, Vostok, and Flint are leased from the British Government by a coco-nut company; the rest are dependencies of New Zealand. Suvarov has a fine harbour, though with a shallow
- ↑ Statistics of the separate ex-German possessions in the Pacific are not available. Exports for them all, excepting Samoa but including New Guinea, were valued in 1913 at 595,000; imports at 450,000.
- These figures indicate the volume and page number of the previous article.
