In the Ellice Islands the authority of the tupu had been
rapidly eroded leaving them with little more than a ceremonial role. The deacons and leading church supporters were at the centre of the new political system when they met as the council of faipule. Some members of chiefly families held office in the new structure, but by grace rather than by right and, in the council, were regarded as a single voice among equals. The faipule were responsible for the administration of the islands, under the guidance of the pastor, and for the dispensing of justice in lieu of, or in conjunction with, a
8 9 judge. The role of police was usually assumed by the faipule.
The laws introduced by the faipule were concerned primarily with 'morals' and with inculcating a due respect for missionaries, mission property and the sabbath. At Nukufetau, for example,
fornication usually rated a fine of 300 coconuts but when committed on the sabbath the fine was 1,300 nuts. There were also fines for
85 'Royalist Report', 79-82. 86 Maude, Local Government, 32.
87 ibid.; 'Report of Work in the Tokelau, Ellice and Gilbert Groups, L.M.S., September 1900 to September 1902' - LMS,
South Seas, Reports. 88 'Report ... L.M.S.', ibid.
89 Journals of S.H. Davies (1882) and J. Marriott (1883) - LMS, South Seas, Journals; 'Royalist R e p o r t 1, 85-9.
non-attendance at church, 10 nuts, and quarrelling with the mission teacher, 100 nuts. Vigilance in upholding the laws was encouraged by allowing for fixed sums to be paid to injured parties and cash gratuities for persons witnessing an offence or making an arrest, in addition to the fines which were divided among the pastors and faipule. Conviction for adultery at Vaitupu resulted in payments to the faipule of $5, $3 each to the 'injured' spouses, and 50 cents
90
to the person(s) witnessing the offence. Generally speaking, however, fines in the Ellice Islands were moderate compared with
91 those in the Gilberts.
Under an Anglo-German declaration of 1886 the western Pacific was divided into two recognised spheres of influence separated by a line drawn from New Guinea, north of the Solomon and Gilbert
92
Islands and south of Nauru and the Marshall Islands. The Gilbert and Ellice Islands thus fell within the British sphere but for six years no British naval vessel visited the groups and the High
Commissioner, hampered by a lack of funds and transport, was unable 93
to exercise effectively his jurisdiction in the islands.
At the same time the northern Gilbert Islands in particular became the focus of rivalry between American and German trading interests in the central Pacific with the latter receiving support from the visits of four German naval vessels between 1888 and
94
1892. Because of restrictions placed on the labour trade in the 95
German zone the recruiters, too, began to look southwards.
American traders on Butaritari, and especially Adolph Rick who had sought and obtained the post of United States Commercial Agent, pressed for the visit of an American man-of-war, the establishment
90 'Native Laws of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands' - WPHC, Miscellaneous Papers, General.
91 'Royalist Report', 85-9.
92 S. of S. to H.C., Circular Despatch, 3 May 1886 - WPHC, Despatches from S. of S.
93 H.C. to S. of S., Confidential, 3 May 1889 - CO 225/30. See also Scarr, Fragments of Empire, 115-77 passim.
94 'Royalist Report', 66, 70.
23
of a coaling station, or treaties with island authorities as an expression of U.S. Government interest in the group, but to no
96
avail. When recruiting for central American plantations, in
which some American trading firms were involved, took place in 1891, however, the German Government approached the Foreign Office with a
97 request that a protectorate be declared over the Gilbert Islands.
The request, made by the German Ambassador in London, was based primarily on the need to establish some form of law and order in the group. Subsequent representations emphasised irregularities in the labour trade, as conducted by some American interests, and expressed the hope that Britain would act in order to prevent the United States Government from making official treaties and thus precluding intervention by other powers. German interests, it was stated, were primarily concerned with keeping the area open as a source of labour for plantations in Samoa. All representations were made on the understanding that such recruiting would be
allowed to continue in the event of a protectorate being established. The German Government also emphasised that the islands lay within the British sphere of influence and that, accordingly, Germany had declined to meet a petition signed by German traders in 1888 for
98
annexation by Germany. The advantages enjoyed by American traders in the Butaritari credit-war may have been an additional, although unstated, reason behind the request.
While there were certainly strong reasons in favour of
establishing some form of effective jurisdiction in the group, to maintain law and order and to control labour recruiting, the other arguments put forward by the German Government carry less weight. Rick, as U.S. Commercial Agent, had certainly advocated treaties but his Government had shown little interest in assuming formal control over any Pacific islands. Following the Anglo-German declaration the United States Government, mindful of its own past,
96 See, for example, Rick to Assistant Secretary of State (U.S.A.), 14 Aug. 1888 - Despatches from U.S. Consul in Butaritari,
1888-1892.
97 S. of S. to H.C., Confidential, 5 April 1892 (with enclosures) - WPHC, Confidential Despatches from S. of S.
pointed out that colonial acquisition was not a declared policy of the Government, even though it could claim rights over certain Pacific islands on the grounds that they were settled by American citizens, and expressed confidence that other, colonial oriented, powers would not discriminate against its citizens in trade or
99
other matters. When Captain Davis visited Butaritari at the conclusion of his flag-raising tour of the Gilbert Islands he sparked off a considerable round of diplomatic correspondence by refusing to recognise Rick as a representative of the United States Government. Davis argued that Rick had been accredited only to the
uea of Butaritari, and not to Her Majesty's Government, and that he could not, therefore, be recognised.
With little regard for accuracy, and little knowledge, representatives of the United States in London argued that:
the germs of civilization were planted in the Gilbert group by the zealous endeavours of American citizens more than half-a-century ago. The result of this work, carried on by American citizens and money, has been, in fact, to change the naked barbarism of the island natives into enlightened communities, and to lay the foundation of the trade and commerce which have given those islands
101
importance in the eyes of Europe today.
It was again argued that the United States Government had 'slept upon its rights to reap the benefits of the development produced by the effort of its citizens'. The 'expediency, and indeed that necessity' of maintaining consular representation in the Gilbert
102