THE COCOS ISLANDS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CI, Issue 15503, 13 November 1914, Page 10

THE COCOS ISLANDS.

WHERE THE EMDEN MET HER FATE.. •. The Cocos or Keeling Islands, w here the Emden met her end, are a group of coral' islands in the Indian Ocean, lying about 700 miles south-west of Sumatra, and 1200 south-west of Singapore- They are almost half-way between JTremantlo and Colombo, and although: the mail steamers of the Pand 0. and.'Orient-lines do not call, tliev often pass within sight of the islands; occasionally dropping overboard casts containing newspapers and books, which aj-e picked up by the staff of the Eastern Extension Cable Company's station on Direction. IslandThe group furnished .Charles,, Darwin, witfi. the" typical example of" an atoll' or lagoon "island. There twenty-three small islands, 9i miies being the greatest width of tlie whole atoll- - The islands, which have -an interesting history, were discovered in 1609 William Keeling, on his voyage from Batavia to the Cape. In 1828,—Alexander Hare, an ' English adventurer, settled on the ' southernmostisland with a number of slaves. Some two or three years after, a Scotchman (J. Ross), who had commanded a brig during-the British occupation of Java, settled with his family, _ who continued in the ownership, on Direction Island, and his little colony was soon,strengthened by Hare's runaway slaves. The Dutch Government had in -nil'-Informal way clamed the possession of " the islands since 1829; but they" re fused to allow Ross to hoist the Dutch'flag, and, accordingly, the group was token-under British protection in 1856. - Ross, who regarded himself as "King'' of the Cocos Islands, became a, wealthy man, and two of his sons settled in New Zealand. In -1878 the group " was attached

to the Government of Ceylon, and in 1882 placed under the authority of the Governor of : the Straits Settlements. The ownership a.rid superintendency continued in the Ross family, of .whom George C-unies Ross died in 1910, and was succeeded by his son Sydney. A grandson of the original owner was educated at Nelson College, and was. a noted swimmer. The estimated population of the islands in 1912 was 760, including the staff of the cable station, numbering 30.