~ .., ,."\ \ ~ ) ~ .·• ·• ~ ~. IL 1 -., ' ST/TRI/B.l960/ 5 NON-SELF-GOVERNING TERRITORIES Summaries of information transmitted to the Secretary-General for 1959 Pacific Territories: American Samoa Cook Islands Fiji Gilbert and Ellice Islands Guam Netherlands New Guinea New Hebrides Niue Island Papua Pitcairn Island Solomon Islands Tokelau Islands UNITED NATIONS SUMMARIES OF INFORMATION FOR 1959 Territories by Administering Member responsible for transmitting information Au$tralia United Kingdom (continued) Cocoa (Keeling) Islands Malta Papua Mauritius New Hebrides France (condominium, France) North Borneo New Hebrides , Northern Rhodesia (condominium, Uni~ed Kingdom) Nyasaland Pitcairn Island Netherlands st. Helena Netherlands New Guinea Sarawak Seychelles New Zealand Sierra Leone Singapore Cook Islands Solomon Islands Niue Island Swaziland Tokelau Islands Uganda The West lndies: United Kingdom Antigua Aden Barbados Bahamas Dominica Basutoland Grenada Bechuanaland Jamaica Bermuda Montserrat British Gulana st. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla British Honduras st. Lucia British Virgin Islands st. Vincent Brunei Trinidad and Tobago Falkland Islands Zanzibar Fiji Gambia Gibraltar United States of America Gilbert and Elllce Islands American Samoa Hong Kong Guam Kenya United states Virgin Islands NON-SELF-GOVERNING TERRITORIES Summaries of information transmitted to the Secretary-General for 1959 Pacific Territories: American Samoa Cook Islands Fiji Gilbert and Ellice Islands Guam Netherlands New Guinea New Hebrides Niue Island Papua Pitcairn Island Solomon Islands Tokelau Islands UNITED NATIONS New York, 1961 NOTE The following symbols are used: Three dots (••• ) data not available Dash (- ) magnitude nil or negligible Slash 1948/1949 crop or financial year Hyphen 1948-1949 annual average STJTRI/B.l960/5 l INFORMATION FROM NON-SELF-GOVERNING TERRITORIES Pacific Territorie~/ In accordance with the provisions of ALticle 73 e of the Charter the . ) Governments of Austral1a, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America have transmitted to the Secretary-General information relating to conditions in the Territories listed below for the calendar year 1959 or for the appropriate administrative year 1958/1959 or 1959/1960. Summaries of information of the type which follow are intended to supplement the full summaries issued every three years, together with papers on general developments. The last triennial volume of summaries would normally have been published in 1959-1960, but the material destined for that volume is now to appear in a report 2/ on the progress of the Non-Self-Governing Territories since the establishment of-the United Nations. 3/ The present surveys can therefore be considered as a supplement to the Progress Report. The next triennial summaries vill be published in 1962/1963. The following table gives lists of the Territories concerned, the dates on which the information Has transmitted and the period covered in the information: Territory-!J-/ Date of Transmission Period Covered: Year Ending American Samoa 8 April 1960 30 June 1959 Cool\: Islands 25 November 1960 31 March 1960 Fiji 3 November 1960 31 December 1959 Gilbert and Ellice Islands 7 July 1960 31 December 1959 ~I Owinc; to the smaller number of Territories on Hhich reports were transmitted for 1959, the summaries on the African Territories have been issue~ in a single f'o.scicle, thereby reducing the number of this series from n1ne. to six. Fascicles containing swrmaries on Territories in other geograph1cal rec;ions have been renumbered accordingly. The present fascicle was formerly issued as ST/TIU/B.l9--/8 in previous years. ~I Requested unclcr General Assembly resolution 1053 (XI)· ]_/ Pror:rcss of the Non-Sclf-Governinr; Territories under the Charter Sales TJo. (>O.VI.B.l, vol. 1-5 , volumes l to 5, to be published shortly. See in ]'Dl'ticular, vol. 5, Tcrri toriul Surveys· ~I Information lws also been transmitted on HaHaii for the period endi~g 30 June 19)9, and will be issued as an addendtun to the present fasClc 1e · -iii- NOTE The following symbols are used: Three dots (. 0 .) data not available Dash (- ) magnitude nil or negligible Slash 1948/1949 crop or financial year Hyphen 1948-1949 annual average ST /TRI/8.1960/5 INFORMATION FROM NON-SELF-GOVERNING TERRITORIES Pacific Territorie~/ In accordance with the provisions of ALticle 73 e of the Charter, the Governments of Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America have transmitted to the Secretary-General information relating to conditions in the Territories listed below for the calendar year 1959 or for the appropriate administrative year 1958/1959 or 1959/1960. Summaries of information of the type which follow are intended to supplement the full summaries issued every three years, together with papers on general developments. The last triennial volume of summaries would normally have been published in 1959-1960, but the material destined for that volume is now to appear in a report 2/ on the progress of the Non-Self-Governing Territories since the establishment of-the United Nations. 3/ The present surveys can therefore be considered as a supplement to the Progress Report. The next triennial summaries will be published in 1962/1963. The following table gives lists of the Territories concerned, the dates on which the information was transmitted and the period covered in the information: Territory~/ Date of Transmission Period Covered:. Year Ending American Samoa 8 April 1960 30 June 1959 Cook Islands 25 November 1960 31 March 1960 Fiji 3 November 1960 31 December 1959 Gilbert and Ellice Islands 7 July 1960 31 December 1959 Owing to the smaller number of Territories on which reports were transmitted for 1959, the summaries on the African Territories have been issued in a single fascicle, thereby reducing the number of this series from nine to six. Fascicles containing summaries on Territories in other geographical regions have been renumbered accordingly. The present fascicle was formerly issued as ST/TRI/B.l9--/8 in previous years. 5.1 Requested under General Assembly resolution 1053 (XI). 21 Progress of the Non-Self-Governing Territories under the Charter (Sales No. 6o.vi.B.l, vol. l-5), volumes 1 to 5, to be published shortly. See in particular, vol. 5, Territorial Surveys. ~I Information has also been transmitted on Hawaii for the period ending 30 June 1959, and will be issued as an addendum to the present fascicle. -iii- Territory Date of Transmission Period Covered: Year Ending Guam 13 May 1960 30 June 1959 Netherlands New Guinea 30 September 1960 3l December 1959 New Hebrides (United Kingdom) 1 September 1960 31 December 1959 New Hebrides (France) 11 April 196l 31 December 1959 Niue Island 25 November 1960 31 March 1960 Papua 9 August 1960 30 Juue 1959 Pitcairn Island 7 July 1960 31 March 1959 Solomon Islands 5 July 1960 3l December 1959 Tokelau Islands 25 November 1960 31 March 1960 -iv- TABLE OF CONTENTS Page American Samoa . 1 Cook Islands 7 Fiji 15 Gilbert and Ellice Islands 32 Guam ...... 37 Netherlands New Guinea 43 New Hebrides 58 Niue Island 64 Papua 70 Pitcairn Island 88 Solomon Islands 91 Tokelau Islands 98 -v- AMERICAN SAMOP~/ AREA 76 square miles (197 square kilometres) POPULATION According to the 1956 census, the population was 20,154. The estimated population at 31 December 1958 was 22,000. A census was to be held in 1960. GOVERNMENT A Constitutional Committee was expected to meet in 1960 to: (a) review and study the feasibility of establishing a territorial constitution upon which an Organic Act would be based; and (b) review and study a draft bill (H.R. 4500), introduced in 1949 in the House of Representatives of the 8lst Congress of the United States proposing an Organic Act for the Territory. The Legislature has adopted a resolution requesting the Governor to call a convention of the people to endorse this proposal. There is at this stage no leadership available to replace the traditional authority of the chiefs. The Government is making efforts to strengthen their authority by integrating their administrative and traditional roles so that they may coincide and support each other. The Legislature made use of the committee system which has resulted in more exhaustive investigation and preparation of bills and resolutions. Additional legislative authority for this body in 1960 is under consideration. ECONOMIC CONDITIONS Exports increased to a value of $8,319,894~/ compared with $5,834,258 in 1958. Local Government revenues showed an increase of $144,816 over the ]:;/ The years mentioned in this summary relate to the administrative year 1 July to 30 June. Where a year· is mentioned without qualification, it refers to the twelve months ending 30 June of the year specified. ~I The local currency is the United States dollar ($us). -1- AMERICAN SAMOA previous year. Deposits in the Bank of Samoa totalled $1,934,933, an increase of $168,000 over 1958. In February 1959, hurricanes caused serious damage in the island group of Manu'a. Hundreds of homes were destroyed or damaged and most of the coco-nut plantations and other cash and subsistence crops were wiped out. Manu 1a was declared a disaster area. The Department of the Interior granted a $50,000 supplementary allotment to assist in repairing the damage and the United States Department of Agriculture arranged for the shipment of food. A continued programme of assisting villages to repair and improve their Hater systems was carried out during the year. The Samoan handicraft marketing co-operative, the Samoan Industry, earned $26,379-38 during the year from customers in Hawaii and the continental United States. AGRICULTURE A local Planters 1 Association planned to mal:e its first shipment of dry cocoa beans for the San Francisco market late in 1959. Purchases by the Copra Fund totalled 1,019 tons valued at $116,814.56.