A GILBERTIAN LIFE

Evening Star, Issue 20135, 27 March 1929, Page 2

A GILBERTIAN LIFE

m THE BEATEN: TRACK UHCORRiIPTED ISLANDERS Interesting particulars of liie in the little-known Gilbert Islands were given m Sydney the other day by a young wireless operator, Mr Ivor Jonnson, when he arrived ; on three months’ leave from his post at ■ Tarawa. Already he is anxious to return, "for,” he says, "life in the cities is mad- '■ nesa; life in the Gilberts is sanity.” 5 For the (Gilbert Islanders Mr Johnson has nothing but praise. They are till comparatively unoorrupted by while civilisation, ' Th« population is incrcasng in the Gilbert Group, ho eays, while in other groups it is I docreasng at such a rate that extinction of • the islanders is within measurable distance. • The only menace, according to this observer, comes from the half-caste, who learns . to read Australian newspapers, absorbs the theory and practice of strikes, and deems it his duty to spread disaffection among the a natives. Again, according to the same observer, the missions, by persuading tne ;■ natves to adopt European ideas are yirtu- ” ally tempting the natives into committing > suicide en masse. i . INDEPENDENCE OF NATIVES. Copra is the chief commercial product of the,islands. Two companies operate. One. is Chinese and the other Australian. The natives work for about £2 a month, which is not cheap labour, as about a dozen natives do the Work of one white man. It is use- /, less to ‘ attempt “ speeding up,” for any ' - ' ignorant white guilty cf doing »6 would be told gently by any native whom he chided;' “If you do not like my way of ■working there are coooanuts op the trees

you, so 1 shall now leave you.” Taxes are levied in the form of copra. A Government ship calls at the various islands, and Ihe natives pay their tribute in kind. A missionary ship comes along and collects donations m the form of copra, but the native* are gradually becoming less willing to pay what they regard as a second lax, Tho chief sport among the islanders is canoe racing. Recently the northern men of Taputeouea—a Gilbert Island—raced the southerns. As all racing crews are equally skilful, the races depend almost entirely upon the construction of canoes. All (he accumulated knowledge of centuries is packed into the making of a racing cancc. In the race the northerners beat the southerners, and tho tribal poet of the northerners made a song, of which the following is a rough translation: You southerners can't build canoes. You can drink cocoanut milk; But when it comes to a race, You cannot build canoes 1 “ROUGH-AND-TUMBLE” BATTLE. The song was so maddeningly reiterated by the winners that the southerners became seriously annoyed, collected kfnives and other weapons—guns are taboo by Government decree —and a rough-and-tumble war began. All the women and children took refuge in the mission stations. The war was just becoming interesting, and a few drops of blood had been shed, when the Government boat arrived for the tax copra. The war was immediately abandoned. Northerners and southerners fraternised in order •to hurry enough oopra on board to satisfy tho tax collectors; but the schooner was hardly out of sight when the war began all over again. Before that little difference of opinion was settled an armed force had to be sent from the wireless station. Mr Johnson added: “The keenness of these fellows in sport is almost as great a» what I used to see in Melbourne at certain football matches, when squads of police had to be rustled on to tho ground to quell the fighting.’’