SOLOMON ISLANDS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21991, 24 December 1934, Page 13

SOLOMON ISLANDS

WORK OF MISSIONARIES LAW-ABIDING NATIVES "Pidgin English is invaluable to us in the British Solomon Islands," said Mr. Robert C. Vance, of the South Sea Evangelical Mission, in an interview published by the Wellington Post. Mr. Vance, a brother to Mr. G. F. Vance, of Wellington, has just returned on furlough from the Solomons after five years' work. "Although pidgin English is despised by many," said Mr. Vance, "it must be remembered that with about 40 dialects in one group and as many as 15 dialects being spoken on one plantation or at one- school, 'pidgin' English is indispensable. After all, it uses simple English words in tho idiomatic form of the islanders' speech. In pidgin English, 'my axe' becomes 'axe belong me,' and 'I don't know him' is rendered, 'Me 110 savee long him.' "Simple articles of daily use with us are sources of wonder to the Malaita man," Mr. Vance continued. "I have a tank and tap at my cottage, and when the heathens hear the tap running they run, too! I have seen as many as' 20 watching with astonishment the tap turned on and off. They declare this tank water is sweeter than any they can find, and if they are strangers, everyone wants to taste it. They exclaim in dialect, 'Ye Fathers 1' at this marvel of tho white man's! "The work of the South Sea Evanglical Mission is carried on mainly in three of the British Solomon Island group, Malaita, Guadalcanar and San Christoval. The people are mostly of Melanesian stock; nuggety, dark and fiery in temperament, and on at least part of Malaita are on the increase. The archipelago lies from sdeg. to 12deg. south of tho Equator, and has been a British Protectorate since 1893, under the High Commissioner at Fiji, and more directly under the Resident Commissioner, Mr. Ashley, at Tulagi, Gela Island, the port of entry to tho group. "Each island is under a district officer, who, with his juniors and a native constabulary, administers British justice efficiently while conforming as far as possible to native customs. The Government also has white doctors and native medical practitioners who attend to the needs of tho people, and assists the missions with medicines for tho benefit of the natives. Within recent j*ears two of these officers have lost their lives in the execution of their duty."