Ten Stick Island.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13438, 9 November 1907, Page 2 (Supplement)

Ten Stick Island.

It was stilted in the House oft Commons the other day that the, New .Hebrides be-, long to nobody. 1 Pieeuuiably, thia qurioiis statement' , meant, ii it maunt anything, that the Itslands telong to the New Hsbribeans themselves. But even this is not "-quite true. For although the French ,and British Jaigh Commissionei's, Avhile expressly disclaiming/ ownership, exerqiee a joint control over the group by virtue of, the Anglo-Franco Convention of October, 1906, yet, there is nevertheless one small inland which belongs outright to ,Gieat Britain—which .is as much British soil as is, >say, the Isle of Wight. , ■ '• > It'is situated in South-West Bay, Malekula, its - of considerable, height, although only n few hundred yiears in circumference, and the story of its acquisitidn *is an amusing one. The South-West Bay has always been considered the best place, in 'the islands "for target practice "by thsi men-of-war patrolling the group, and this .email islet was f used as a target so frequently thai" itT" seemed in danger of baing gradually'shot , , away. » The chief who owned \t protested, and wanted compensation. The captain'of the man-of-war, who understood New Hebridean nature, knew that these claims Avould be a ceaseless source of blackmail iinlfelo they were settled once for all; so he bought the island outright for the British Crown, paying ten sticks of/ tbbacco -for it, and everyone was .satisfied. The place, since then, has always been known as "Ten Stick Island," and is undoubtedly tli3 smallest isolated bit of Britain existent upon the surface of the globe.