OFF THE BEATEN TRACK

Taranaki Daily News, 27 May 1933, Page 7

OFF THE BEATEN TRACK

AN ISOLATED COMMUNITY. LIFE ON FANNING ISLAND. One of the smallest and most isolated British communities in the world is the little habitation of white people on Fanning Island, where the cable station owned by Imperial and International Communications, Limited, is situated. “Seven years ago there used to be 40 white people on the island; to-day there are only 15,” said Mr. A. N. Ohlson, of the cable station staff, who arrived by the Aorangi after spending two years on the island.

The dwindling white population, said Mr. Ohlson, was due solely to the increasing mechanisation of the cable station. The introduction of the modem relay system of 'telegraphic communication had had the effect of displacing a large amount of human labour. Both Australia and New Zealand could now send messages simultaneously along the same cable system and, with the aid of the electric typewriter, it was customary to send 220 letters a minute, with a maximum capacity, if necessary, of no fewer than 1000 letters a minute.

“The highest mountain on Fanning Island is exactly 10ft high,” said Mr. Ohlson, describing his island home during the past two years. “That will give you a good idea of its flatness. Although it is only three degrees from the equator, it is really a healthy spot, as bracing southeast trade winds blow over the island practically all the year round.” Mr. Ohlson claims that Fanning Island does not know there is a depression. “It is true,” he said, “that the plantations, which are British-owned but are worked largely by Gilbert Islanders, are receiving only three cents a pound for copra, and that the cable station staff has received a 10 per cent, cut in salaries, but the sufferings and hardships of the outside world, of which we read so much in the cablegrams exchanged betwen Vancouver and Suva, are unknown on the island. We have our own amusements—tennis, swimming, fishing, billiards and bridge—and apart from our daily duties there was nothing much to worry us. The island is cut off from actual contact with civilisation except four times a year, when it receives a visit from a small cable ship from Honolulu.”

Besides the 15 white people, there are 200 Gilbert Islanders on the island, recruited at regular periods for the copra plantations. The white population is almost exclusively composed of New Zealanders and Australians. Mr. Ohlson mentioned that the post office on Fanning Island is operated from New Zealand, and that the island’s currency is entirely Australian.

Mrs. Ohlson, who is a New Zealander, said she thoroughly enjoyed her two years’ stay on the island. “Everyone is extremely hospitable,” she said; “one’s house is never closed to one’s guests, and life is simple and healthy.” Mr. and Mrs. Ohlson intend taking up their residence in New Zealand.