A Solomon Islands Branch of the Queensland Kanaka Mission was formed in 1904. It established a principal station at Onepusu on the west coast of Malaita in 1905 and changed its name to the South Sea Evangelical Mission in 1907. The Mission continued to operate in the Solomon Islands, and in New Guinea after World War II, till it was localised in the 1980s. Post-war issues of Despatches cover the political events in Malaita and include a special issue on “Marching Rule” (No.109). Early editions of Despatches were issued by A. Kenny, Melbourne Secretary of the SSEM.

Prayer Notes, 12 issues, Mar 1932-Apr 1933; Despatches from the SSEM, Nos.1-52, 54-69, 73, 75-99, 101-128, Jun 1933-Jul 1956.

Law making powers in Yap, one of the four states that comprise the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), is vested in the State Legislature. The legislature has operated in its current form since 1983 following the approval by referendum of the State constitution in 1982 (see <I>PMB 1173</I> for further details). It has 10 members who are elected by universal adult suffrage every four years. However, the Legislature has its origins in the immediate post World War II period when the US Navy assumed administrative responsibility for the island. In 1945-47 the Navy encouraged and helped re-establish a Council of Chiefs. In the 1950s the 10 municipal magistrates (who were also customary chiefs) began holding meetings with the then US civil administration. Technically this Council was separate from that of the chiefs, but usually represented them. Between 1957-58 the municipalities were chartered, part of a process leading to the formation of a representative legislative body. In 1959 the first Yap Island Congress as it was then called, was convened, running parallel to the Council of Magistrates. In the 1960s Congress was expanded to include representatives from Yap's outer islands. In 1967 a new Yap District Legislature was formed, whose powers were enhanced by amendment[s] in 1978. These developments provided the foundations for the formation of the current legislature whose session journals are included here.

The Yap Legislature has law making powers over matters of public health, education, schooling, resource management, land use, the civil service, and some revenue raising abilities. Debates and discussions over these issues are carried in the <I>Yap Legislature Journal</I>.

The Journal is compiled by the Office of the Speaker of the Legislature. Issues from 1984-1997 are available here. Each volume is 500-600 pages, ring bound, double-sided photocopies. Digital copies of the <I>Legislature Journal</I> are held by the Office of the Speaker on diskette, including editions of the <I>Journal</I> since 1993. See reel list for more details.

Reports submitted to the Council of the League of Nations in accordance with Article 22 of the Covenant and examined by the Permanent Mandates Commission. The reports are in English and cover the Marshall Islands, the Caroline Islands and Ladrone island. The reports deal with general administration, finances, education, industry, navigation and trade. They include population statistics, laws and regulations, photographs and maps.

Reports for the years 1921-1922, 1924-1937.

This newspaper of the Catholic Mission in Kiribati is reputed to have been published before World War II, however no copies from that period were located by the Bureau. Te Itoi was edited by Father Ramuz at Tabwiroa in Abaiang till the 1970s. Later issues were published from the Catholic Mission in Tarawa. The newspaper is mainly in Kiribati language.

1952-1992 (intermittent issue numbers, very broken run). See Finding aids for details.

In 1906 the Governments of France and Britain signed a convention which established joint rule as a Condominium over the New Hebrides (Vanuatu). This was confirmed by the 1914 <I>Protocol Respecting the New Hebrides</I>, ratified in 1922 (see PMB Doc 438). Three laws operated in the New Hebrides during this period of joint administration (1906 -1980): British, French and Condominium. There were thus separate French and British police forces, hospitals and schools. However, other administrative functions, such as the Joint Court (see PMB 1145), finance, land registration, town planning and laws sepcifically covering indigenous New Hebrideans (ni-Vanuatu) were the responsibility of the Condominium. Both France and the United Kingdom appointed Resident Commissioners to govern the New Hebrides by joint regulation. Joint regulations were in effect Condominium laws in lieu of parliamentary legislation issued as decrees by both the French and British Resident Commissioners acting in unison. Joint regulations were made in consultation with the British Western Pacific High Commissioner and the French Governor (later High Commissioner) of New Caldeonia, but they were not subject to any local legislative or parliamentary restraint, despite the appointment of an Advisory Council in 1957. Greater legislative scrutiny of joint regulations was achieved with the formation of a Representative Assembly in 1975 with a majority of elected members. This was strengthened in 1978 when ministerial level internal self-government was attained. However, the Resident Commissioners did not completely lose their ability to rule by joint regulation until the day of their departure on 30 July 1980 when the New Hebrides achieved full independence as the Republic of Vanuatu. See also PMB 1151

<B>See reel list for further details</B>

From 1906 - 1980 three laws operated in the Anglo-French Condominium of the New Hebrides (Vanuatu): British, French and Condominium. Joint administrative and legal functions (such as the Joint Court and the land registry) were the responsibility of the Condominium (see PMB Doc 445). However, in other matters both France and the UK could make their own separate laws to apply to their respective nationals and national interests in the New Hebrides. For British legislation, the Order in Council of 1893, article 108, empowered the High Commissioner for the Western Pacific (based in Suva, Fiji) to make Queen's Regulations for persons subject to the High Commission's jurisdiction. This was modified by the New Hebrides Order in Council 1907 which was issued to accommodate the requirements of the new Condominium. The New Hebrides Order in Council 1922 made further changes to the way British law was enacted in the New Hebrides following the ratification of the Anglo-French Protocol (see PMB 438) which had strengthened the original convention of 1906. While subjecting them to the protocol, the 1922 Order in Council continued to preserve the powers of the High Commissioner for the Western Pacific or the Resident Commissioner in the New Hebrides (acting on behalf of the former) to make Queen's Regulations for persons under the jurisdiction of the High Court of the Western Pacific. These three orders (1893, 1907 and 1922) provided the foundations for subsequent Queen's Regulations and British laws for the New Hebrides, including these of 1971. Although only one volume (1971) is available here, these Queen's Regulations and British laws are significant as they include the banking and companies regulations which turned the New Hebrides into a tax haven or Offshore Finance Centre (OFC) in that year. The ability of British colonial authorities to legislate in and for the New Hebrides was terminated following the country's independence as the Republic of Vanuatu on 30 July 1980 and the assumption of full legislative powers by the country's new Parliament.

See reel list for more information.

The Micronesia Support Committee was an NGO that carried out research and made its findings available to the public, media, government and other interested individuals and organisations concerned with the political status of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (1947-1990). It was established by Giff Johnson in 1975 and based in Honolulu, Hawai'i. It was superseded by the Pacific Concerns Resource Centre in 1983 with its headquarters in Suva, Fiji. The Committee published the <I>Micronesia Support Committee Bulletin</I> which promoted economic self-sufficiency, self-determination and independence. In the 1970s the US, as the administering power, partitioned the TTPI into four political units: the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Republic of Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariannas. The latter established a political union with the US in 1978. The Marshall Islands, the FSM and Palau opted for independence in Free Association with the US. While the compacts did lead to internationally recognised independence for the Marshall Islands (1986), the FSM (1986) and Palau (1994), the US assumed responsibility for their defence requirements, and was granted rights of strategic denial and exclusive military access to both land and sea. The <I>Bulletin</I> and related publications thus chronicled the political, economic, military, social, and international dimensions surrounding the dissolution of the TTPI and the emergence of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariannas and the Freely Associated States of the Marshall Islands, the FSM and Palau. See also <I>PMB 1172</I>, <I>PMB 1173</I> and <I>PMB Doc 441</I>.

<I>Micronesia Support Bulletin</I> (Honolulu), 1975-82, <I>Panadanus Periodical</I> (Honolulu), 1983, <I>The Young Micronesian</I>, (Honolulu) 1971, <I>Friends of Micronesia Newsletter</I>, (Berkerly & Boston) 1971-74, <I>Micronesian Newsnotes</I> (New York) Dec 1981, <I>The Washington Pacific Report</I>, 1983-90
See reel list for further details

The <I>Outrigger</I> was published by teachers in Madang with the support of the Department of Education. It reports on professional and community issues with a focus on local schooling. Some issues of the newsletter was found to have indecorus and unprofessional by the Superintenent of Schools, I. J. Robertson. He notified readers of the April 1972 issue that subsequent issues would be censored.

Vol.1 No.4 1970<BR>
Vol.2 No.1 Feb1971<BR>
Vol.2 No.2 Mar 1971<BR>
Vol.2 No.3 Apr 1971<BR>
Vol.2 No.4 May 1971<BR>
Vol.2 No.5 1971<BR>
Vol.2 No.6 Jul 1971<BR>
Vol.2 Special edition Aug-Sep 1971<BR>
Vol.2 No.9 Oct 1971<BR>
Vol.2 No.10 Dec 1971<BR>
Vol.3 No.1 Feb 1972<BR>
Vol.3 No.2. Apr 1972<BR>
Vol.4 No.1 Jun 1973<BR>

This is the official journal of the PNG Teachers' Association, published monthly.

No.1 1971
Nos.2-11 1972
Nos.12-18 1973
Nos.19-23 1974