Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1921.djvu/497

 PACIFIC ISLANDS 445

139,183i. for exports (phosphates, 76,683/., and copra, 60,000/.). The Colony is administered by the High Commissioner through a Resident Com- missioner, whose headquarters are at Ocean Island.

British Solomon Islands, about 8° S. and 160° W., are Guadalcanal Malaita, Isabel, San Cristoval, New Georgia, Choiseul, Shortland, Mono (or Treasury), Vclla Lavclla. Ronongo, Gizo, Rendova, Russell, Florida, Rennell, and nu- merous small islands ^the Lord Howe Group or Ontoug Java, the Santa Cruz Islands, Tucopia and Mitre Islands, and the Dutf, or Wilson Group, are also included in the Solomon Islands Protectorate). Area 11,000 sq. miles; European population (1919), 675 ; native population, about 150,000. Asiatics, 75. They are under British Protection. Revenue, 1919-20, 34,545/. (Customs, 23,000/.); expenditure, 37,640/. About 30,000 acres planted by white planters were under coconuts in March, 1914, and about 300 acres under rubber ; sweet potatoes, pineapples, bananas are grown. Copra exported, 1919-20, 8,160 tous. The value of imports in 1919-20 was 181,162/. ; and of exports, 212,542/. Foreign-going vessels entered, 1919-20, 12,435 tons ; cleared, 12,387 tons. A paper currency was issued in 1917-18. Little gold is in circulation, and only 4,600/. Protectorate paper money. The chief medium of exchange is Commonwealth bank notes. There is a Resident Commissioner, whose headquarters are at Tulagi, a small island otf the south coast of Florida. (For part of the Solomon Islands lately owned by Germany and now administered by Australia, sec section on late German New Guinea, p. 422).

Starbuck Island, 5° 30' S. lat., 155* W. long. ; area 1 sq. m., uninhabited. Maiden Island, 4° S. lat., 155° W. long. ; area 35 sq. m. f pop. 168. Jarvis Island, on the equator, 159" W., area 1$ sq. m., pop. 30. Palmyra, 6° N., 162° 30' W., area 1$ sq. m. Baker Islands, on the equator.

These islands are mostly of coral formation ; most of them grow coconut trees, and some of them are valuable for their guano.

The High Commissioner of the Western Pacitic, assisted by deputies, has jurisdiction, in accordance with an Order in Council of 1893, for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of the Pacific Islanders' Protection Acts of 1872 and 1875, and to settle disputes between British subjects living in these islands. The jurisdiction of the High Commissioner extends over all the Western Pacific not within the limits of Fiji, Queensland, or New South Wales, or the jurisdiction of any civilised Power, and includes the Southern Solomon Islands, aud the various small groups in Melanesia.

The New Hebrides, however, are under the joint administration of English and French officials, as arranged by the Anglo-French Convention of February, 1906, ratified October, 1906. This convention guarantees the interests of French, British, and natives, respectively ; fixes the conditions of land-holding in the Islands ; and provides for the re- gulation of the recruitment of native labourers. Within the Islands Great Britain is represented by a Resident Commissioner, who reports to the High Commissioner for the Western Pacific. The larger islands of the group are Espiritu Santo, Mallicolo, Epi, Efate or Sandwich, Erromanga, Tanna, Futuna or Erronau, and Ancityum. Area, 5,100 square miles ; population about 70,000. At the end of 1905 there were within the group 225 British and 417 French subjects. There are 3 French Catholic mission schools, and many Presbyterian. Settlers have acquired large areas within the islands ; and though there are many disputes as to rightful possession, and much of the land is still uncleared,