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Mr li.M.L. Brovn, Ll.B., Bavies, Brown, and Co.,
130 Arthur Hoad, VJimbledon Park,
SVjl9 8AA, j^ngland.
Deal' Mr Brovm,
77 Artliur Circle, Forrest, 21st February, 1972,
aiiank you for your letters of the 3l8t January and the 2nd February.
I note that you propose to apply for permission for Mrs O'Brien to consult the British Phosphate Conanission Archives housed in the Australian Common wealth Branch Archives in Melbourne and, if refused, to approach the Ccanmis-
sion's solicitors.
idle informant mentioned in ry letter of the 27th January has again been to Melbourne and was working in the Commonwealth Arcliives there (not, of couras on the interdicted Commissicn records). There he was this time introduced
to a Mrs Duggan, by a mutual acquaintance, as the person engaged on culling
the Commission records.
Subsequently, while sitting not far from Mrs Duggan, he was able to observe her working systematically throu^ the records with the help of the archival staff, and was apparently able to overhear her making such remorfca as 'this one appears relevant', 'this one is clearly not', and the like. He also allegedly noticed that a Commission car was sent to fetch her at the
close of each day's work, apparently with a case containing her latest findingi
It is suggested, therefore, that there may be little point in Mrs
being granted access to the archives at this late stage as it would seem T3nlik«
that by now there wo\Jld be anything in them relating to the matters at issue between you and the Commission. Presumably, however, you will be able to obtain such documents as you require direct from the Commission's solicitors.
My infoitaant, Mr Moss Lament, Lecturer in History at the University of Armidale, has kindly permitted me to divulge his name to you. He is the world's authority on the guano trade, on which he is writing a doctoral thesis
(I am his nominal supervisor), has worked on the B.F.C. records in London; and
while not in any way concerned with the Banaban question is very exercised, as an historian, with the integrity of the Commission's archives. However, as he points out, the Commission's records are only deposited with the Common wealth Archives and there is no legal reason why they should not be withdrawn in part or whole from Commonwealth custody at will.
Ycu will understand that I am merely passing on Infoimation, which 1
have no meana of checking mj'-aelf, since it would appear to nullify the
usefulness of Mrs O'Brien's anployment as a searcher. Mr Lament came to see
me about his thesis, and only mentioned these other matters incidentally.
However I feel confident that he would be willing to provide any detailed information required to anyone sent to interrogate him at Armidale, and if necessary to make an affidavit. I doubt if he would ans\fer correspondence, except perfVinctorily, simply because as a lecturer he is kept very busy. He also mentioned a Mr Duke, office manager for the B.P.C. at Melbourne, as probably the person most concerned with Mrs Duggan's activities, but one presxanes that Mr Duke would not wisli to be drawn into the matter by you.
Incidentally Mr Lamont, who like otliere I have met, has read the accost of your action given to the Fiji fimes. expressed the view that the
licence granted in respect of Ocean Island was peculiar and might conceivably be fotind to be null and void since it was apparently
invariably stipulated in tlie case of such licences that tlie island from which the guano was to be extracted must be uninhabited, and that in the case of
guano island (Purdy Island) which was found to be inhabited subsequent to the grant of a licence by the Crown the licence was immediately cancelled*
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hT^turned soon, including Martin Silverman's hook and my paper on the
social organization of the Banahaxis.
Yours sincerely.
H.E. Maude.
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DAVIES, BROWN & CO.
SOLICITORS a COMMISSIONERS FOR OATHS
R. M. L. BROWN. LL.B.
N. R, TOPPING K. W. B. WATKINS, LL.B.
RriLB/nc
H.E. Maude Esq . , 77 Arthur Circle,
Eorrest, A.C.T. 2603,
A u s t r a l i a . BY AIR MAIL
1 3 0 ARTHUR ROAD
WIMBLEDON PARK, SW1 9 8AA TELEPHONE: 9 4 6 9 5 5 5
AND AT
153 & 158 PUTNEY HIGH STREET, SW15 IRT TELEPHONE ; 788 4046
31st January 1972.
Dear Mr. Maude,
Many thanks For your letter of the 19th January.
Ue think the arranaement suggested for Mrs. O'Brien to search the B.P.C. records in the Commonujealth Archives at Melbourne is very satisfactory and ue should be glad if you would proceed and let us have your own valuable assistance
should i t be necessary.
Can we trouble you to keep a running account, so that not more than £200 expense is incurred without prior authorisation?
Mr. Macdonald's Memorandum will follow shortly. You will understand that for i t to be as precise as you sensibly suggest it should be, it will be necessary for Mr. Macdonald to analyse carefully some of the information Bertram Jones has already given him in Suva, which is recorded on tape, and which Mr, Macdonald
has in h i s Chambers.
I hope to be writing again quite soon.
Yours sincerely,
DAVIES, BROWN & CO.
SOLICITORS a COMMISSIONERS FOR OATHS
R. M. L. BROWN. LL.B.
N. R. TOPPING K. W. B. WATKINS. LL.B.
RnLB/HC
H.E. Maude Esq., 77Arthur Circle,
Forrest, A.C.T. 2503,
A u s t r a l i a .
Dear Mr. Maude,
1 3 0 ARTHUR ROAD
WIMBLEDON PARK, SW1 9 8AA TELEPHONE; 946 9555
AND AT
153 & 158 PUTNEY HIGH STREET, SW15 IRT TELEPHONE : 788 4046
2nd February 1972.
BY AIR MOIL
Thank you for your' letter of the 27th January, uhich is most interesting.
Lie hav/e taken the uieu that ue should make a d i r e c t
approach to the Archivist in Melbourne for permission for
Mrs. O'Brien to consult the early records, so that ue can get his direct refusal. Ue do not think i t is necessary to
i n s t r u c t Melbourne S o l i c i t o r s at the moment.
Ue are writing to the Archivist accordingly and, of course, will not mention your name. If we do get a direct refusal, we will take the matter up with the British Phosphate
Commissioners' S o l i c i t o r s .
Yours sincerely,
I -
W
ri.
ir - , .
Mr R.M.L. Brown) Ll.B.)
BavieS) Brovm and Co.) Solicitors) 150 Arthur Road)
WIMBLEDON PARK,
London SW19 8AA) England.
Dear Mr Brown)
77 Arthur Circle) Forrest) A.C.T. 2605) Australia)
27th January) 1972.
With reference to my letter of the 19th January) I have now Been informed
"by a source hitherto found to he reliable that a researcher recently applied to the Commonwealth National Archives branch in Melbourne for permission to consult
certain early records relating to the Pacific Phosphate Company (for pui^oses quite xmconnected with the Banaban lands issue) but was told that) at the request
of the British Government) access to any records of the British Phosphate Commission) the Pacific Phosphate Company) the Pacific Islands Company) the separately deposited papers of Sir Albert Ellis and all other papers related to
the above) was now prohibited.
Presumably such request to seal these records would be made by the United hingdom Government to the Australian Ccamnonwealth Government through
the British iiiglri Commissioner in Canberra) so tmless you can get the interdict lifted by action taken at your end there would seem to be no point in Mr
MacDonald drafting a memorandum of instructions specifying tlie nature of any
documents to be searched for.
I should not like you to take any action) however) merely on my infor mation based on hearsay evidence) however reliable I may believe i t to bs) and in fact 1 should appreciate it if my name could be left out of the matter as having informed you. I would suggest) for your consideration) therefore) that you might care to employ a reliable Melbourne solicitor to apply in person to
see the records and be guided by whether or not he is able to gedn access.
I gathered that the researcher) on being refused accesS) paid a visit to the British Phosphate Commission headquarters in Melbourne) where the staff were naturally unable to help him but where he was led to understand) unoffic ially) that it was possible that the prohibition was due to certain claims being made by the B^abans. It appears tliat the clamp down took place in December) presumably before you had left London.
On the other hand I 1^/iieve that the archival authorities have been
woricing on the records and Pisve listed at least the main series.
It may be that) in the event of your gaining access to the records) the searching for the pertinent documents had beat be made by someone employed by or connected with your firm) or at least by a professional lawyer) since it woiild not be possible for an ordinary searcher to deduce whether any serleS)
files or items were missing from their sequence.
Tours sincerely)
H.E. Maude.
Rotert,
feerewith the letters
from hnd to Mr Brown. I'm sorry to say that I made a mess of your copy so coxild you please return these to
me after photo-copying them
for your good self.
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77 Arthur Circle, Forrest, A.C.T. 2605, Auctralia,
19th January, 1972.
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Mr H.M.L. Broim, Ll.B,,
Daviee, Broiim cc co., Solicitors, 1S0 Arthur Aoad,
WII'lBLLDOh PABK.
London Si7l9 6AA, hngland.
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Dear Mr Brown,
Your letter of the 13th has just arrived. On my return to Canberra
I had a talk with Robert Langdon about the possibility of his searching the
B.P.C. records in the Commonwealth Archives at Melbouime for the informationrequired by Ilr .iacBonald,
V7hile willing and indeed anxious to assist the Eanabans in any way possible two factors preclude Mr Langdon from-andertaking this task. In the fii'st place he will be visiting Fiji from the 15th February to approx imately the 15th May engaged in locating and copying mamxscripts for the Pacific Ilanuscripts Bureau; and secondly he will be too busy before and for
some tiffie after these dates to undertalce this ^ditional work.
iobert has, however, v.'orking for him a Mrs lima O'Brien, who will be
leaving with her husband to live in Melbourne shortly and would be willing to tackle the v;ork of locating the required documentation. If this is desired we suggest that she should be paid at the rate of an hour.
Mrs 0 Brien is an honours history graduate familiar with documentaiy searching and the best person for this task we can suggest. Mr Langdon emphasizes, however, that as the B.P.C. records are not arranged in subject files but more or less in order of date of receipt or despatch, and amount to many tens of thousands of documents only recently deposited in the Archives and consequently still unindexcd and probably stored in their original boxes the search wiO^prove a difficult, and may prove an unrewarding, one. *
It is therefore desirable that the exact nature of the docximents to should he specified in Mr MacDonald's memorandum, together
^th as far as possible the dates or period within which they should be found You will readily appreciate that the more exact and limited the subject and ' period involved the quicker and cheaper, and that a general search over an unspecified period mi^t take months and cost considerably more than £200.
If some snag should arise, or there be a call for help from MxS'O'Brien Mr Langdon or, in hAs absence, I would be prepared to fly to Melbourne in an *
endeavour to iron things cut, in which case we should submit an itemized
account of our expenses,^lus a solatium at the same rate of ^5 an hour, for
refund. V.'e would sincerely hope, however, that this would not prove necessary.
Mr Langdon can be reached at any time by letter addressed tor Mr Robert
Langdon, Executive Officer, Pacific Manuscripts Bureatx, Departinent of Pacific Hlstorj, Australian National Universitj'", Pox 4, P.O., Canberra, A.C.T, 2600,
Australia.
r - - — I....
Mra O* Brien* B Memoume addxesB is not yet known but I shall let Voti h.ave It when she has -Taundl somev/here to live. In the meantime I will Co
any instructions you may v/ish to send her and, i f so deairpd. do oil t
to aid her search. " -ea, ao all I can
finally, it occurs to me that as the Commonwealth AneVi-!..™
reluctant to let enquirers search records in their possession it^mnh +^^ ^J®es Mrs O'Bnen if she is armed xd.th a letter instructiL her to assist
work Signed by Sir Flw^ Jones himself.
for pennission to examine the B.P.C. records since their
and I can think or h«.ir « ^ FT 7 aeposit xn fche Archive^
and I can think of half a dozen excuses that any archivist could ^ve
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acceBG until they are properly exanined* collated and indexed (in some years®^time) > Anything that can he done from your end to inhibit such
a refusal would consequently be of the utmost value.
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With best wishes,
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Youxs eincerely*
iinBmpu..Piiiiu.j .14...L111PJUI!
H.ti, Maude.
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DAVIES, BROWN & CO.
SOLICITORS a COMMISSIONERS FOR OATHS
R. M. L. BROWN. LL.B.
N. R. TOPPING
K. VV. B. WATKINS, LL.B.
RMLB/EMT
H.E. Maude Esq.,
77 Arthur Circle,
Ecrrest ACT, 2603 Canberra,
A u s t r a l i a .
Dear Mr, Maude, Banaban Case
1 3 0 ARTHUR ROAD
WIMBLEDON PARK, SW1 9 SAA TELEPHONE: 9 4 6 9 5 5 5
AND AT
153 a 153 PUTNEY HIGH STREET. SW15 IRT TELEPHONE : 788 4046
13tii January, 1972
We all got back safely and we would like to say how helpful we found the discussions were with you. Mr. MacDonald is_
settling statements and we will be communicating further in
due c o u r s e .
We would like to make it clear that your own affidavit will only relate to non-controversial matters.
In the discussions in Sydney you kindly said that you
would ask Robert Langdon to go through the archives at Melbourne
(BPGl documents) .Mr. MacDonald will be preparing a memorandum of the points Mr. Langdon should look for and this will follow. You might
like to give us Mr. Langdon's address so that we can establish
direct contact.
In our discussions in Sydney you thought that Mr. Langdon might be prepared to undertake this task for us for a fee
the region of £200 and oiir present instructions would cover that
amount,
With kind regards.
Yours sincerely,
