Gilbert Islands

Manawatu Times, Volume LVI, Issue 6519, 7 April 1931, Page 2

Gilbert Islands

COPEA PRICES PALL. CATHOLIC BISHOP’S VISIT. Fifty years’ teaching of the Roman Catholic faith stands tp the credit of Bishop Joseph Bach, vicar-apostolic of the Gilbert Islands, who arrived at Auckland by the steamer Ilvington Court last week. Bishop Bach is on furlough, and will go on to Sydney this week. Born in Alsace-Lorraine, Bishop Bach was ordained a priest in Rome in 1896. After teaching for two years in France he came out to Sydney, where he was stationed for two years. In 1901 he went out to Papua, where he worked for 25 years. From Papua he was transferred to the Gilbert Islands four years ago and is now vicar-apostolic with headquarters at the island of Tarawa. The Gilbert Islanders, said Bishop Bach, in an interview at Auckland, are an intelligent, bright, and loving race. When there is work to do they work hard, but generally there is no great toil for them. What money they make comes from copra, and with the fall in price of this commodity they are feeling a little of the pinch that is at present affecting the greater part of the world. Generally speaking, the health of the Gilbert Islanders is good. There is no malaria, but unfortunately the scourge of leprosy is fairly common. Every effort is being made to stamp out the scourge, and as soon as a native is found to have contracted the disease he is placed apart from his fellows. Periodically the leper cases on the various islands are collected and brought to the central leper station at Tarawa, where they are under the charge of a medical officer. Disastrous hurricanes have not visited the Gilbert Group for some years, but the inhabitants of the southern islands have continually to guard against drought. On some occasions the interval between one fall of rain to the next is as long, as two years. The population of the Gilbert Islands, according to Bishop Boch, is about 25,000, of whom some 13,000 have been taught the Roman Catholic faith. Under Bishop Bach there are 25 priests and 26 sisters, while the number of native teachers exceeds 120. As a result of the teachings in the church schools, most Gilbert Islanders between the ages of 12 and 35 can now read and write.

One of the chief drawbacks to life on a placo like the Gilbert Islands is the lack of communication. Steamers visit the group only on rare occasions and mail arrives only three or four times a year. Bishop Bach spends the greater part of his time in travelling. His Church has no schooner of its own, and Bishop Bach has to depend on the movements of the two steamers which go round the island picking up copra. There are sixteen islands in the group, and the shortest journey that he has to make in going from one to any other is twenty miles, while some of the trips are very much longer. The area of land in the islands that is capable of cultivation is limited,- and no white man is allowed to purchase land, Land occupied by the missions and schools is leased for a period of ninety-nine years.