OCEAN ISLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 3566, 18 July 1922, Page 60

OCEAN ISLAND.

THE PHOSPHATE COMMISSION.

By

‘Sirius,”

author of “Nth Destroyer Flotilla.”

(See Illustrated pages.) Ocean Island lies in latitude Odeg 52in S. longitude, 169 deg 35in E., just south of the Equator one might say. Its distance from the nearest spot of land is 160 miles, this being Nauru Island, and then one must travel by schooner for a distance cf approximately 750 miles before reaching the Solomon Islands, the nearest fair-sized land to this little island. Ocean Island was discovered in 1804, and lias been British ever since, unlike Nauru Island, which was German till the Great War, and is now a territory or spot under the mandate of the League of Nations. According to the Pacific Directory the circumference of these islands measures 13 miles, but measuring Ocean Island by the chart we only get live miles round, and two at its greatest diameter. Anyway, looking at it with a practised eye it is certainly more than two miles, but there are not 13 all round its edge. The island must- rise from the bottom of tlie sea, like a cylinder with a round crown, on which grow cocoanut trees, fairly plentiful, but other vegetation of a tropical nature is rather scanty. One lias to visualise the island as if one could stand on the bed of the Pacific Ocean, which is 240 fathoms, or 1440 ft, deep alongside of it and all round it. Add 250 ft for its height above sea level, according to a doubtful chart, and we then have nearly a 2000 ft cylinder, bold and upright, standing on the bed of the Pacific Ocean, which heaves and rolls, and in its turbulent moods rocks the island, so they who live on its crown will tell you—not an enviable position to be in. Of course, it is of coral formation, but there is the phosphate, which the New Zealand farmers want for their crops, etc. How far it delves into the island is a moot question. They will tell you —thg employees of the Phosphate Commission—that there is enough phosphate to last 100 years. Now it is being taken away (this includes Nauru Island) at the rate of 20,000 tons per annum for New Zealand, 40,000 tons for Australia, and more for Great Britain, while Japan has to receive a large share also, yet there is phosphate to last 100 years. You walk through the nhosphate fields and find great mines about 50ft deep, and labour digging deeper still, covering many areas in size, comparable to large New Zealand paddocks. As they man out the land for this purpose they* cover sections of it with a roof of corrugated iron about 2ft from the ground. The supporting posts are first driven to a depth of 20ft. In rainy weather the men work under these roofs, and then, as they near the bottom of the supporting posts,*they splice another post equally as long, by first driving it in, lashing or securing it to the first one. So on this procedure works out the phosphate, the open or uncovered areas being worked while the sun shines. Light railways are utilised to convey the phosphate to the bins. It is first carried to the edge of the nearest cliff and over through a chute which regulates it from the bin overhead to the next series of railways, and it is again landed near the final edge, where The trucks that are run on these railways are lowered down on an inclined plane to the lowest lever, which is practically, of course, the beach. As the trucks go down the empty ones go up, and the engine that controls the speed is required to°expend a minimum of energy for this nurpose, for the same wire travelling through nulleys hauls up as it lowers clown the loaded trucks. "The length of the incline is nearly a-quarter of a mile. Multiply this system many times and you have some idea of the extent of the "plant. On the levels near the wharf stand the offices of the Phosphate Commission, larve elevators and bins and a post and telegraph service, numerous bungalows for the employees, quite a township, in fact. are many electric lights about at night, and _ the wharves ha ve brilliant ones that light up the waterfront, moorings, buoys, reefs, and beaches. The final stage of the phosphate is to be passed from the bins along the wharves in trucks similar to those used on the higher railways, to the tipping chute at the end of the wharf. The surf boats, very heavily built, come under the chute, and a steady stream of phosphate is poured into four large baskets resting in the bottom of the boats. The native boys working these boats have no easy job, for they have to steadv the chute and direct the stream to each basket while the swell of the Pacific rol’s and heaves their boats about. They commence at 6 a.m. and end at midnight, two shifts relieving each other at 5 p.m. Good motor launches then tow the boats in twos or threes to the loading vessel at the mooring buoys. The stream or procession is constant. Life in the island is made tolerable by the cool arrangements of the bungalows, excellent lighting, the tennis court, and the beach for hathino- in. Fresh water, which on such a small island would be scarce, is conserved, evaporaters and ram giving ample supplies. The employers of the Phosphate Commission axe numerous, even to girls for typewriting, so that the social round must be in evidence, too, in Ocean Island. The Phosphate Commission sees to the supply of provisions, but the service for this purpose is obviously unreliable. The wireless station gives out the world’s news, so that there are easily worse places than Ocean Island. Beyond the light railways mentioned, there are no roads that would be classed as roads, but there are many paths, rough and rocky, in their coral formation. For a tour of the island—to Tapiwa, for instance —they will order a car for you. When you get to the locality indicated to meet this car, you are instructed to be seated on a wooden platform with a

wooden seat, the whole being supported by four wheels that fit a 2ft gauge light railway. \ou are propelled by two natives, who manipulate poles on tiie ground. The car is intended to accommodate two, but when I had this pleasure there were four on it as well a 3 two Gilbert Islanders, and a jolt might have precipitated some of us over the cliffs. This was the car, but not the one I expected. The native population of the island is obviously Polynesian, though there appears a slight Melanesian trait, for some possess the fuzzy hair that goes with this race and the negroid appearance, but for the main part there is the soft, rounded ! face of the Polynesian and straight hair in evidence. They are very muscular and remarkably healthy. The island is free of disease .-o common in other Pacific Islands. Ihere is, apart from the native population, the imported or indentured labour of the Gilbert Islands, who work for the Phosphate Commission. They appear distinctly Polynesian, and at the expiry of their contact return to their own group. Chinese have been imported, too, and work apart from the Gilbert Islanders. 1 requent fracas occur between them. On a certain light railway 1 saw in the fields 1 observed a large iron gate that was j locked over the rails. I was told this j gate was put up to stop them from stcal- : ing each other's buckets that ran on the lines. By and by the Chinese discovered the Gilbert Island boys lifting the trucks over the gate, and as they are nearly half a ton in weight the mischief in them must be very pronounced. The impression one carries away of Ocean Island is that it is an island with a visible end to its existence. That is to say, when all the phosphate is dug out, you will have coral pinnacles and holes left, and nothing can grow, unless other agencies come into force to supply the places of this phosphate. Having scattered the phosphate on New Zealand, Australia, Great Britain, and Japan, we have, in a word, exploited Ocean Island. As you leave the moorings bound for your port with this cargo of phosphate, ! you see the island with its dome-shaped crown gradually growing less and less on the horizon till it dips below, but vou can follow with the unaided eye a cloud of dust rising into the blue, still atmosphere at a temperature of 80deg Fahr. in the shade. When all else disappears this cloud is visible; you are conscious then of the grittiness of the stuff. Look in your lockers and you find ph< sphate —- known as manure on the New Zealand water front—everywhere. Watch the manure boat discharging, and if there is no rain vou won’t be anxious to go on board. As the chief engineer said “It is of a very searching nature”; and so it is.