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Reference :-
C.O. 885
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23 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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MINUTE BY THE Assistant to THE HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR THE WESTERN PACIFIC, 7TH FEBRUARY, 1914.
HIS EXCELLENCY,
I Do not think that the point made by Mr. Hills has been sufficiently explained to Resident Commissioner.
2. If Ellice Island natives (men) are being trained for mission work in New Guinea or elsewhere in the mission field and get married to women of their own islands, Mr. Hills desires that they should be allowed to go to Samoa to "finish" their education and should be accompanied by their wives, who share the practical education to fit them for mission work.
7th February, 1914.
.SIB,
Enclosure 5 in No. 124.
(W. P. H. C. No. 61 of 1914.)
Gilbert and Ellice Islands Protectorate,
A. M.
Office of the Resident Commissioner, Ocean Island,
4th May, 1914. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of Your Excellency's letter No. 52, dated 9th February last, on the subject of the representations made by the Rev. J. W. Hills respecting the regulation which prohibits Ellice Island women from going to Samoa.
2. From the enclosure to Your Excellency's letter I observe that Mr. Mahaffy considers that I should not raise objection to this suggestion and further, that he sees no reason against Ellice natives being trained for mission work in New Guinea. 3. In the face of Mr. Mahaffy's wide experience and his well-known admira- tion of the Ellice natives it is with some hesitation that I must own that I am still reluctant to agree to the proposal, and I venture to make the following observations for Your Excellency's consideration.
4. There can be no doubt that the London Missionary Society is responsible This terrible for having brought elephantiasis into the Ellice Islands from Samoa. disease, brought from Samoa by the native pastors and teachers, has now got a firm footing in those islands. The introduction of Samoan pastors, etc., is now being extended to the Southern Gilbert group, and without doubt this disease will soon be spread throughout the Gilberts unless active preventive steps are at once taken.
5. Though numerous cases of elephantiasis are found in every Ellice island, Dr. O'Reilly and myself found only two known cases of this disease in the Gilberts, one case being a prisoner at Tarawa who I am causing to be transferred to the Funafuti gaol to finish his sentence. If Your Excellency could authorize me to prohibit the landing of any Samoan natives in the Gilbert group and the visiting of any Ellice natives suffering from this disease to the Gilberts until this matter has been thoroughly investigated it may not yet be too late to save this northern group from the threatened incoming scourge. In making this suggestion I am aware that I have the full support of the Medical Officer of Tarawa.
6. I attach a copy of a letter from the District Officer of the Ellice group on Whether the subject of Ellice native missionaries proceeding to New Guinea. elephantiasis is known in New Guinea I am unaware, but if that country is so far exempt it is probable that the London Missionary Society will again be instrumental in carrying on that disease. On the other hand, I submit that we are laying our islands open to further ravages by the probable introduction of other tropical diseases on the return of Ellice missionaries from New Guinea to their own islands.
7. Mr. Mahaffy has on many occasions deplored the heavy death rate in the Ellice Islands and the possible extinction of this interesting people, and it seems that every precaution should be taken to guard against the introduction, of fresh causes of dissemination of disease.
8. Should Your Excellency still be in agreement with Mr. Mahaffy's minute of the 7th February last I will notify Mr. Hills that the wives may accompany their husbands to Samoa, but I would further remind Your Excellency that a training school for Ellice girls has now been established by the London Missionary Society at Funagogo, in the Funafuti atoll.
9. I submit that, in the endeavour to carry on the good work of the spread of Christianity, mission societies are apt to overlook the danger of the spread of tropical diseases.
His Excellency
I have, &c.,
E. C. ELIOT, Resident Commissioner.
for the Western Pacific, Suva, Fiji.
The High Commissioner
(No. 55 of 1913.)
SIR,
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Nanomea Island, 31st October, 1913. I HAVE the honour to request that you will inform me whether the prohibition of Ellice women and girls proceeding to Samoa extends also to New Guinea.
2. In the meantime I must report that there are two cases which require immediate attention. These refer to two Ellice men, Kaino of Nanomea, and Uelese of Funafuti.
3. The former has told me that he is proceeding to New Guinea on the present voyage of the 8.8. John Williams.' His wife, however, is six months pregnant, and is, besides, not a strong woman.
4. The latter (Uelese), I believe, is also to proceed to New Guinea next month, but I am not absolutely certain of this. However, his wife is about to give birth to a child, or may have done so since I left Funafuti. She is not a strong woman, and has, indeed, been in constant bad health for the past year. Dr. Boag, the late Medical Officer, stated that if she did leave her island for New Guinea she would die, having no strength to stand malaria fever.
5. Owing to the urgency of these two cases I am taking the responsibility on myself of stopping them, and will, of course, inform the visiting missionary of my action and reasons for it.
6. Considering the great difficulty there is in keeping the population of these islands from decreasing, I trust you will approve of my action in the matter, and as the two women were proceeding at the gravest risk of their lives.
The Resident Commissioner,
SIR,
Gilbert and Ellice Islands Protectorate,
Ocean Island.
I have, &c.,
G. B. SMITH-REWSE,
District Officer, Ellice Islands.
Enclosure 6 in No. 124.
(Gilbert and Ellice. No. 176.)
Office of the High Commissioner for the Western Pacific,
Suva, Fiji, 14th July, 1914.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter No. 61, of the 4th May last, on the subject of the desirability of prohibiting Ellice Island women from going to Samoa.
2. I am advised that such prohibition is lawful under Part VI. of King's Regulation No. 3 of 1908, and I leave to you to decide whether, in special circum- stances, a permit should be granted under Section 40 of the regulation.
3. I am advised also that I have no power to issue a Proclamation to prohibit the landing of Samoan natives in the Gilbert group, but, if you still consider it to be necessary that such power should be given, I will submit the matter for the instructions of the Secretary of State.
4. I enclose, for your information, a copy of a further letter which I have caused to be addressed to the Rev. J. W. Hills.
I have, &c.,
His Britannic Majesty's Resident Commissioner, Gilbert and Ellice Islands Protectorate.
(No. 1438.)
SIR,
BICKHAM Escort,
High Commissioner.
Office of the High Commissioner for the Western Pacific,
Suva, Fiji, 14th July, 1914. WITH reference to my letter No. 2086, of the 21st October last, I am directed by the High Commissioner for the Western Pacific to inform you that His Excel- lency, having obtained a report from the Resident Commissioner of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands on the subject of the prohibition of Ellice Island women from going to Samoa, sees no sufficient reason for interfering with the discretion vested in the Resident Commissioner by Part VI. of King's Regulation No. 3 of 1908, which regulates native passenger traffic.
The Rev. J. W. Hills,
Secretary, London Missionary Society,
Malua, Samoa.
I am, &c.,
C. H. HART-Davis, Secretary, High Commission.
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