64,000 DISPUTES

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 837, 4 December 1929, Page 6

64,000 DISPUTES

ISLAND COMMISSIONER . HAS TO SETTLE THEM HERCULEAN TASK For tlie past 16 years, Mr. A. F. Grimble has lived in tlie Gilbert aud Ellice Islands, north-west of Fiji, aud during that time he lias made a study of native habits and customs. In 1925 he was appointed Resident Commissioner there, a position which he still holds. Yesterday Mr. Grimble arrived in Auckland by the Maunganui, after spending a year’s leave in England and Brittany. He will wait in Auckland for a phosphate ship to take him back to his island home. Mr. Grimble’s headquarters are on Ocean Island, the largest of the two groups, which is famous for its phosphate deposits. Some 400,000 tons of phosphates are now being shipped every year to Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand. The deposits are enormous and it is estimated that the supply will last easily for another hundred years at the present rate of export. Tlie phosphate fields are worked with indentured labour. There are approximately 750 Chinese employed, and the same number of Gilbertese. Their relations at the moment are most cordial and have improved in recent times. Copra is produced from the islands of the two groups. These islands are for the most part sandy, and will grow nothing else but coconut palms. Last year 7.000 tons of copra were exported. SCATTERED WHITES There are Only 150 white people in the group and of these about 110 are on Ocean Island. The remaining 40 are scattered about the lagoon islands, and are mostly missionaries. The natjv.es ■ in the islands number about 40.000, and are a very fine race. For some time past Mr. Grimble bas been engaged in settling 64,000 land disputes among the natives of the Gilbert group. It lias been an arduous task, as the customs and dialects of the natives all differ, and there Is much talk of ancestral rights. However, Mr. Grimble has definitely disposed of about 20,000 of the disputes, and will continue his Herculean task when he returns. There are marvellous fishing grounds in the vicinity of the Gilbert Group, and Mr. Grimble is of the opinion that they rival any in the world. He has hopes of making them popular for deep-sea fishermen, but as the islands are off the beaten track, this may be difficult. Shark, sailfisli, spearfish and trevalli are there in abundance, and provide the islanders with some wonderful sport. Communication between tlie various islands has been extremely difficult in the past, but now Mr. Grimble has been provided with a comfortable yacht—the Nimanoa —which is at present in Suva. It is a vessel of 150 tons, and was built in England specially for his use. "• POLYNESIAN MIGRATION Mr. Grimble Is greatly interested in ethnology, and for the past 15 years he lias been working on a book which he hopes to publish shortly. This will deal with the migration of the races from the East Indies to the Polynesian groups in the Pacific centuries ago. Tlie Gilbertese keep the skulls of their ancestors and treat theni exactly as if they were living people. These skulls are taken to feasts and spoken to as though they were alive. When tlie natives have finished with the skulls they bury them with the tops of the heads showing. ’ These are rubbed frequently with coconut oil.