Methodist affairs in Fiji were administered by the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society in London until the formation of the Australasian Connexion of the Methodist Church in 1855 when Fiji became a District of the New South Wales Conference of the Australasian Methodist Church. The Fiji District was administered by the Methodist Missionary Society of Australasia situated in Sydney and by the District Chairman whose office was in Bau till 1903 and in Suva after that date. In 1964 the Methodist Church of Fiji achieved independence from its parent body in Australia

Swanston Collection on the Ra and Ba military campaigns, 1873<BR> Circuit reports submitted to Fiji District Synod, 1878-1898<BR>annual reports, school reports and accounts of the Somosomo [Cakaudrove] Circuit, 1839-1847<BR>the Bua Circuit (formerly part of the Rewa and Bau Circuit), 1848-1859<BR>the Nadi Circuit, 1848-1856<BR>the Lau Circuit, Lakemba Branch, 1835-1845<BR> the Viwa Circuit, 1840-1858.<P><B>See reel list for further details</B>

The Methodist Church in New Zealand sent its first missionaries to the Solomon Islands in 1902, and since then has also sponsored missionaries in Papua New Guinea. See also Overseas Mission Department minute books, 1903-1955, at PMB 520-525.

Executive minute books, 1925-1931.

The Methodist Church in New Zealand sent its missionaries to the Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Samoa, Tonga and Fiji. From 1922 till 1968 the administration of the Methodist Mission in the Solomon Islands, including Bougainville and Buka, was the particular concern of the Methodist Church of New Zealand. The Overseas Mission Board (originally named, the Foreign Missions Board, and renamed in 1961) administered the activities of New Zealand Methodist missionaries in those territories. These minutes continue the series covering the period 1903-1955 which have already been microfilmed at PMB 520-525.

Index to Methodist Foreign Mission Board minutes, Dec 1955-Dec 1963<BR>Methodist Foreign Mission Board minutes, Dec 1955-Dec 1963<BR>Methodist Foreign Mission Board minutes, Feb 1964-Nov 1972<P><b>See reel list for further details</b>

The administration of the Methodist Mission in the Solomon Islands, including Bougainville and Buka, was the particular concern of the Methodist Church of New Zealand from 1922 till January 1968 when formal independence was granted to the Methodist Church in the Solomon Islands. The correspondence documents policy, personnel, resource and many other matters relating to the administration of the Solomon Islands District. This series is a continuation of correspondence Between the Chairman of the Solomon Islands District, Rev Metcalfe and the General Secretary of the Foreign Missions Department, 1934-1952, microfilmed by at PMB 927.

Letters-in from Chairman of the Solomon Islands District to the General Secretary of the Overseas Missions Department, Dec 1952-Dec 1965. Copies of letters-out from the General Secretary of the Overseas Missions Department to the Chairman of the Solomon Islands District, Jan 1953-Dec 1965. Indexed. <P><b>See reel list for further details</b>

Sir John Ferguson (1881-1969), compiler of Bibliography of Australia and a Trustee of the Library of New South Wales, had an interest in Pacific Islands bibliography, particularly relating to missionary work in the Pacific Islands.

This is a photocopy of Ferguson's original manuscript cards, Bibliography of the New Hebrides Islands, 1610-1942, held in the National Library of Australia (MS3200/Box 16) <BR> Part 1, 1610-1880 <BR> Part 2, 1881-1899 <BR> Part 3, 1900-1920 <BR> Part 4, 1921-to date [1942] <BR> Part 5, Additions to bibliography of New Hebrides<P><b>See reel list for further details</b>

The Western Pacific Archives, although located in Fiji, was a department of the Solomon Islands Government, jointly administered by the Deputy Governor and the Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs. It was established in 1971 to take over control of the archives of British regional administration (the Western Pacific High Commission) and of local territorial administration (Resident Commissioners' and District Commissioners' Offices in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate, Gilbert and Ellice Crown Colony and the New Hebrides Condominium).

These are the National Archives of Vanuatu's copies (copy No.3) of the WPA's lists of the New Hebrides British Service (NHBS) archives, consisting of Lists Nos. NHBS 1/I Vols 2 & 3, and 1/II, 2-7, 9-16, 18 & 19 (of a total of 19 NHBS lists), together with List Nos. WPHC 2 & 31 of High Commission material relating to the New Hebrides, an unnumbered list of correspondence of the British Agent in North Santo and a list, the Vila Archives, of manuscripts and other documents relating to Vanuatu collected by the WPA. The NHBS and WPHC archives were transferred from Suva to the UK in 1978 and are still held by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (1998). The Vila Archives are held in the National Archives of Vanuatu. <P><B>See reel list for further details</B>

Mr Keith Woodward, OBE, arrived in the New Hebrides (Vanuatu) as an Oxford graduate in 1953 to begin his career with the British Residency. He was subsequently promoted through the New Hebrides British Service and by the 1970s he had been appointed Secretary for Political Affairs coincided with rapid constitutional change in Vanuatu as the territory moved towards independence. The manuscript written by Mr Woodward documents, with compelling detail, these constitutional changes. Up until the 1950s the New Hebrides had no representative form of government. This began to change in 1957 with the formation of an Advisory Council and Mr Woodward provides an insightful overview into its composition and functions. However, most of Mr Woodward's manuscript concentrates on the constitutional changes that occurred in response to growing ni-Vanuatu (indigenous) demands for independence in the early to mid 1970s. These include the formation of a Representative Assembly comprised of a majority of elected members in 1975 to succeed the Advisory Council, the Vanuaaku Pati's (VP) (main independence political party) boycott of the 1977 elections and the subsequent proclamation of a Peoples Provisional Government (PPG), and the political movements as they established their respective constitutional positions regarding the transistion to national independence. Mr Woodwards analysis of this crucial period in Vanuatu political and constitutional history provides an important framework in which to contextualise the last two turbulent years of condominium rule, independence in 1980 and the political climate of the early 1980s.

<I>Historical Summary of Constitutional Advance in the New Hebrides, 1954 - 1977</I>; 77 typescript pages.

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.