Cannibal Island

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30959, 15 January 1966, Page 5

Cannibal Island

(Specially written Jor "The Press" by KENNETH ANTHONY.)

II ERE is a souvenir of perhaps the last of the legendary South Sea islands — those mysterious yet alluring places of white beaches, blue seas and dark deeds. Even now there are people still living who can remember when cannibalism was practised in the remote New Hebrides group in the western Pacific. In the second half of the nineteenth century these islands were the resort of adventurers and desperadoes. A Confederate soldier was reported to have settled there after the American Civil War and made himself king of one of them. None of the European powers wanted to take over because they felt that the expense of administering them would be more than they were worth.

Communications were haphazard, and postal services non-existent. Then, in 1892, the Australian colony of New South Wales established a postal agency there.

With this advance, some optimistic Australian businessmen founded the Australasian New Hebrides Company in 1893—an earlier attempt of 1887 having ended in failure. This company chartered ships to trade with the islands, and obtained a fee from the Post Office of New South Wales for 1

conveying the mails to and from Sydney. At first, letters within the New Hebrides were carried free. But then the company, faced with French competition and finding it hard to make ends meet, realised that by doing this they were losing a useful source of revenue.

With more than 30 ports of call in the islands, they felt fully justified in charging postage. In March, 1897, they issued their own stamps. The design shows a view from the sea of Port Vila, the principal settlement, with the company’s own premises featured prominently in the centre. These local stamps were used until 1900, when an