.'♦'•""'•'77ArthurCircle,Forrest. Vv*"'".•*i-V'r"'A^m.AJ_-I•_
9
,'i.,.'.. 'm. A.C.T. 2605> Australia,
MrGeorgeKnapp,29thJuly,1975«External Development Services, ' K
-^T\£yIoes"D^oj3-.'.^'.'^4.'^iMxp.xie uross Eoad» v ^
-r.'IiO^OSJrfC2E_0^ England. >-'? ^^ -7 ' '
.»lw. DearMrKnapp,Thank you for ycfur letter of the 4th July, and for a oorv +>,^ •d.^vj t .. OomicU's Address to the GEIC delegates, which I read with mcfintereetf I agree vith you that siinplistic slogana have their •noli+^nni .iroiiwew —x- ularly when dealing with representatives of the third world nations hut I'nrpf^^'^ SthJut academic, since taken or^t of contS^'and ^thout the iuany provisos and raalifications which they normallv rpm,-!^ wntext and them accurate they are apt to convey an erroneous i^sS^ ^ I gather from your letter that your fiim iiaa nrerarofi Sir Arthur was so qualified, hut I ar not
nt,,o-r«w+i,,,x sahject; indeed much of the source material wMch I collected hy him. In particular T ^ quote is based on oral tradition paper 'From Birth to Death in the Gilbert Peiusal of his research descendants of the Taburimal and Auiiaria folk X lefrpr the island being
♦nowpopulated by descendants o^th^2 k migration to Samoa*, unlik»> the GiTho..,-f rfic ^ t^se who did not take part in the aays: 'As for n Server in^defjft; f following page he was therefore never corrupted' its ^ ^turning swarm; its original faith «vBr corrupted, its dead contiiiued to be despatched upwards*. 1924-1926, Sr^Sktar^OTpSa^^f^ in of his 'model* Ctolopy Annual Report for a racial type and smoa^o n Ocean Island, of which the inhabitants are of be maintained, in the face of^^^ slosely allied to the Gilbertese*, It can hardly Banabans and Gilbert^»se wer^ a+w® that Sir Artliur considered that the v'liDertese were ethnically, or even linguistically, identical. GilberteL^^°?kiL^^f* and with reference to joy statement that the Banabans and including S?rAr^Mr sii.'° ^ autl«/0ities agx>ee on this point: relationship* there ioul"d °^®® £: defines kingship as •blood average Banaban- or if ono ti be more Gllberteee than autochthonous blood in the be ^ater diSroLef ".f \ei«^ilarity In character' while there could there are still maxked similarities detenninants and more recent divergencies similarity and stress is laid on degrees of quantifiable, and so little or+ho ^ wbole nost of variables none of which are Island prior to its inooroo-pa+i geographical and political position of Ocean ww J.V8 incorporation in the Protectorate in 19OO. shall hatfs^^aS f ^ I
'jr.Tours sincerely, 5 '
V.h•*•••(/-ti't-.-;!•--f': f-''x:r"'je._f..••-"JwaJk.;;.:,-'..i•'••••V
..1
!xternal D EVELOPMENT S ERVICES
EconomicandPoliticalConsultants.'.i';icjio'.' yv^vfc;;.' '/'I'.•'.(>',« '..'Af-'-;rr •T-••V••-i-*'*•f ••li•f'1
Mk:
Mr.H.E.Maude,MBE 77ArthurCircle Forrest A.C.T.2603 Australia.A.,.p,i.S>: DearMr.Maude,
22CHARINGCROSSROAD LONDON,WC2HOHR TELEPHONE;01-8366713 TELEGRAMS:EDSLONDLONDONWC2 ^thJuly1975 TheRev,TehukeRotanhasaskedmetoreplytoyourkindletter of17thMayandtothankyoufortheattachedexpositionon Banahanpre-oont|>aotethnohistory. ThisfirmhasbeenadvisingtheRabiCouncilforsomemonths ontheconductoftheirnegotiationsfortheindependenceof OceanIslandandhethereforefeltwemightbeabletothrow somelightontherelevanceofBanabanandGilberteseethno historytotheindependenceissue. TheRabiCouncil'sownviewsonthisquestionhavealreadybeen puttotheGilberteseChiefMinisterpriortoameetingwhich tookplaceinLondonlastmonth,AcopyoftheCouncil'saddress
is enclosed*in case you have the time to follow these developments.
Ishouldsayfirstofallthatthewholequestionofhowalike orunaliketheBanabansandGilbertesearewasraisedbythe Gilbertese,evidentlyontheadviceofHMG,Inpoliticalterms, thereasonforthisisfairlyclear. ByallowingtheElliceIslandstosecedefromtheGEICthe "territorialintegrity"oftheColonyasitmovestowardinde pendencewasbreached.Aninternationallyacceptablereason hasthereforehadtobeputforwardwhyOceanIslandshouldnot alsobeallowedtoseparate.Thecontentionthat"theBanabans areGilbertese"wasthereforeassertedinsomedetailbeforethe United Nations Committee of 24 in November last year (together with a strong implication that Ocean is geographically one of the Gilbert Islands). It is unfortunate if,in resisting this con
tentiontheCouncilmayhaveunwittinglycausedyouembarrassment. WhileIhopetheforegoingexplainsthebearingof"ethno- historicalreconstructions"ontheBanabans'claimtoindependence, IdoagreewiththeviewyouexpressinyourlettertotheRev, Rotanthat"anacademichead-count"isneverlikelytoprove conclusive.Unfortunately,remarksbytheGilberteseChief MinistertotheCommitteeof24suchas,",,.tosaythat theBanabansshouldnotbecalledGilbertesewouldbelike sayingthatthepeopleofKentorthepeopleoftheIsleofWight* Because of the wei.ght I have sent this by 2nd class air mall
underseparateco"'E''er,-A GRENVILLEJONES.GEORGEKNAPP SpecialAdvisers,johngarrett.judyknapp
i
.. 1' ;•.ts*• '.A •^• -f•• 'X;•
•>•' Page2 •••A*.:.: ,••/,.<• shouldnotbecalledEnglish,",havehadtobecountered, particularlyinviewoitheaccompanyingcontentionthatthe Banabanshaveinventedaclaimtoaseparateidentitysimply inordertograbtheremainingphpjphatedeposits.Inthe courseofthecontinuingworld-widedebateconcerningthe opposingprinciplesofself-determinationandterritorial integritythewords'IsleofWight'conjureupthefar-fetched, butoftquoted,hypothesisofgreedyislandersraisingtheflag ofrebellionatNewportwithinhoursofthediscoveryofrich oildepositsbeneathCowes, Simplisticthoughsuchnotionsmaybe,theydonotfailto getasympathetichearing,particularlyfromNigerians, Abyssiniansand,indeed,someEnglishmeninthelightof theresurgenceofScottishnationalism. WhataretheBanabanstodowhen,alsoattheU,N,,theyare confrontedbythisreferencetoyoumadealsobyMr,Ratieta: "IrespectMr,MaudebecausehewasonceResidentCommissioner
in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, but he seems to change his mind so far as his anthropological beliefs are concerned, I have here his book, written by him in 19^6 and called
TheFutureoftheBanabanPopulationofOceanIslandwith SpecialReferencetoTheirLandsandFunds,byH,E,Maude,MBE.In the last paragraph on page 25 of this book he refers to
usandtheBanabansas"kinsmen".Hesaid: 'InconclusionIwouldstatethatinmyviewoftheBanabansituation the Administration has perhaps been over—cautious in granting them control over the administration of their
fundsincontrastwitharemarkabledegreeoflocalpolitical self—governmentreachedbythemincommonwiththeirkinsmen intheGilbertIslands,'"I do not know who it was who conducted, on Mr, Ratieta's behalf, the painstaking search of your writings which resulted in the
discoveryofonewordwhichcouldbesoslicklypresentedtotheworld out of context, I mention it, however, as an example of what the Banabans have been up against.
InconclusionIwouldliketothankyou,ontheRev,Rotan'sbehalf, for your suggestion as to the commissioning of a com
prehensivememorandumdocumentingtheBanabancase.Toanextentthis has been done, and, in addition, we are fortunate in having
notonlyyourpublishedworksbutalsoScarrandSilverman,I think we have also reached the stage, in so far as ethnohistory
isconcerned,wheretheBanabans'ownconvictionastotheirseparate identity is widely accepted and HMG's contention that the Banabans are merely a 'greedy bunch of Gilbertese' is also widely understood to be a departmental ploy to conceal their true objective, which is to avoid the charge on the Treasury which would be involved by allowing the Banabans full control of their
remainingphosphates. Yourssincerelv, GeorgeKnapp•.'ifUr Enc,ii• •Vie'
