279
WESTERN PACIFIC.
།། །། ། ། ། mmmmmm.O. 885
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE Reference--
24 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC--| COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRE NOT TO
47519
No. 106.
THE HIGH COMMISSIONER to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 30th November, 1014.)
(Confidential.)
Office of the High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, STR,
Suva, Fiji, 14th October, 1914. I HAVE the honour to transmit to you, for your information, a copy of corre spondence on the subject of the reported seizure of arms on board the 8.8. "Wongan-> ella," and the condition of affairs in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands and at Nauru Island subsequent to the announcement of war with Germany,
I have, &c.,
BICKHAM ESCOTT,
High Commissioner.
Enclosure 1 in No. 106.
TELEGRAM FROM Governor-General, Australia, 30TH SEPTEMBER, 1914. High Commissioner,
Western Pacific, Suva.
COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA have been informed that British Commis- sioner of Ocean Island, 6th September, found on board steamer "Wonganella' twenty-five cases of rifles and have accordingly detained vessel. Would be glad if you could inform me whether you have received any report on the matter, and if so would appreciate copy for information of Naval Board.-GOVERnor-General or AUSTRALIA.
SIR,
(Confidential.)
Enclosure 2 in No. 108.
Office of the High Commissioner for the Western Pacific,
Suva, Fiji, 1st October, 1914.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of Your Excellency's telegram of the 30th ultimo, asking for information regarding contraband of war which it was stated had been found on the s.s. "Wonganella" at Ocean Island by the Resi- dent Commissioner of the Gilbert and Ellice Resident Commissioner, Gilbert and Ellios,
Islands Confidential, 1st September, 1914.
Protectorate, and to transmit Resident Commissioner, Gilbert and Ellice, to Your Excellency, for your confidential Confidential, 7th September, 1914. information, and for that of the Naval High Commissioner, Confidential,
Board, a copy of the correspondence* noted in the margin.
25th September, 1914.
2. Your Excellency will observe that reference is made by the Resident Commissioner of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, in the fifth paragraph of his Conf- dential letter of the 7th ultimo, to eight cases of ammunition consigned to the German Government at Nauru, which were on board the 8.8. "Wonganella.”
I have, &c.,
BICKHAM ESCOTT,
His Excellency
The Governor-General,
SIR.
Commonwealth of Australia,
Governor-General's Office,
Melbourne.
(Confidential.)
Enclosure 3 in No. 106.
High Commissioner.
Gilbert and Ellice Islands Protectorate,
Office of the Resident Commissioner,
Ocean Island, 27th August, 1914.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt to-day of Your Excellency's telegram, despatched on the 7th instant, advising me of a state of war between Great Britain and Germany, and have noted the instructions contained therein.
* Not sent to the Colonial Office.
2.
I have received advice, from Tarawa, on the 25th instant, that all was quiet in the Group, and that no war news has been received there from the Marshall Islands.
8. I am advised from Nauru that steamers of the Pacific Phosphate Company were chartered by the German Government at the beginning of August to carry the news of war to the authorities in the Caroline and Marshall Groups.
4. The existing stock of provisions for European and for native labourers at Ocean Island will last for four months, and for Japanese for three-and-a-half months, and the s.8. "Tambo" has passed here to-day from Sydney, via the Solo- mons, with provisions for the Gilbert and Ellice Groups.
5. At Nauru there are some 700 Chinese in the employ of the Pacific Phos phate Company now on half rations; provisions are very short on that island, where the Company's manager is a German subject. Stores for the Company's labourers at Nauru are on board two British vessels lying off Ocean Island. A vessel under the Norwegian flag has to-day arrived from Nauru asking for supplies for these Chinese. The position is a difficult one; the Chinese are indentured to the Pacific Phosphate Company, and serious trouble is anticipated if food is withheld. The European residents at Nauru number about 35 British subjects, and a like nuruber of Germans, with their wives and children. In addition there are 400 Caroline native labourers and the native population of Nauru. There is a Norwegian vessel now at Ocean Island, and I am offering no objection to the Nauru supplies for the Chinese, etc., being transferred here from the British vessels to the Norwegian steamer, and sent by the Company for the relief of the Chinese labour at Nauru.
I have, &c..
E. C. ELIOT,
His Excellency
The High Commissioner
for the Western Pacific,
Suva, Fiji.
SIR,
(Confidential.)
Enclosure 4 in No. 106.
Resident Commissioner.
Gilbert and Ellice Islands Protectorate,
Office of the Resident Commissioner,
Ocean Island, 28th August, 1914.
In continuation of my letter, Confidential, of yesterday's date, on the subject of the war between Great Britain and Germany, I have the honour to attach copy of a telegram received by the manager of the Pacific Phosphate Company at Nauru, on the 26th instant, purporting to be from the Company's Board in London.
2. I also attach translations of public notices posted at Nauru, signed by the German Commissioner on that island. Copies of these notices were brought to Ocean Island yesterday by a British subject in the Company's employ at Nauru. 3. The third enclosure is the copy of a letter which I have to-day addressed to the Acting Representative of the Pacific Phosphate Company at Ocean Island.
I have, &c..
E. C. ELIOT,
His Excellency
The High Commissioner
for the Western Pacific, Suva, Fiji.
Resident Commissioner.
Extract from Memorandum from Pacific Phosphate Company to Resident Commissioner, Ocean Island, 28th August, 1914.
Captain Roberson has requested me to send you a copy of the cable received at Nauru on 26th instant from London :-
+
'Not expect Signal.' Supplies sent Ocean Island another steamer: if short, apply provisions Ocean Island. Wire movements steamers both islands."