THE GILBERT ISLANDS.

North Otago Times, Volume CIII, Issue 13654, 23 August 1916, Page 4

THE GILBERT ISLANDS.

! RESEARCH BY PROFESSOR MAC-' -MILLAX BROWN, I I (Per Press Associntion.) WELLINGTON, August 21. Amongst the passengers bv the | Manuka from Sydney tiwlny were Professor Macmillaii .fli'owu (Vice-chancel-lor of the ritiversity of New Zealand). He spent three months at the Gilbert ami Ellice -Islands'on-investigations to discover the relationship of t]ie, Gilbert Islends to Polynesia in the Micronesia in the north-west, and Melanesia to the south-cast. , • ■ Speaking on ; the subject of his mission, .Professor Brown' remarked that for some years he had been studying the subject, and he had noticed that there- were gaps in the association of the Gilbert-Islands with-Polynesia, Tor instance, they had not the tubers of Polynesia, the taro, yam, or sweet potato, They had 110 sugar cane, or bananas, and only recently bread fruit. They had no double canoe, pig or dog; ye't tlic people showed in their features and physique strong Polynesian qualities, whilst in language he discovered I hat there was a basis .of' Polynesian, but there was something else which had developed from it. "I have eomo to Ihc conclusion,'' said the Professor, ''that the Gilbert Islanders were people) not from Polynesia; otherwise these. ; gaps would not have occurred in its culture. The problem is one that has puzzled me for many years. The Gilbert Islands have a population of 30,000, but the Mice Islands form' a small .group with a population of only .'IOOO. They are all coral atolls. Though these ■islands'arc on the Equator, they have one.-of the most delightful climates in the world, for the reason that the south-past-trade winds blow without any 'obstruction from'mountains for threequarters of the year. • " A most interesting feature in connection with the islands." continued the Professor, "is that Ocean and Mituru. Islands, formerly'.ruled by Germany, are two of the most valuable ;spots on the face of the earth. On jtiiein are to lip found phosphorus worth hundreds of millions—of as much value as the whole of the nitrate Golds of Chile, As these coral islands have risen from tlicsea birds have deposited rich layers of guano, which have permeated the limestone. There are now deposits of phosphate rock to a depth of thirty and forty feet. 1 have seen these being worked, TlieV provide the most valuable manure to be found in the world. A stoamer comes along from Japan every, week or so to take cargoes of material to be made into superphosphates. Our freezing companies get shipments of these superphosphates from Japan- monthly to mix with their blood manures. Ocean Tsliind is the .most, westerly nf the (filberts, and is the scat of Government, One of the most extraordinary things is that though the Deputy Commissioner of the Gilberts has been recommending that they should lie transformed from a protectorate into a colony .for many years, it was only seven or eight months ago that the change was madf. 1 '