Dublin
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
, was the first
Resident Commissioner
Resident commissioner was or is an official title of several different types of commissioners, who were or are representatives of any level of government. Historically, they were appointed by the British Crown in overseas protectorates (such a ...
of the
Gilbert and Ellice Islands
The Gilbert and Ellice Islands (GEIC as a colony) in the Pacific Ocean was part of the British Empire from 1892 to 1976. It was a British protectorate, protectorate from 1892 to 12 January 1916, and then a crown colony, colony until 1 January 1 ...
protectorate, from 1892 to 1895.
Swayne had spent more than 20 years as a Magistrate at
Lomaloma
Lomaloma (; officially ''Lomaloma Tikina'', ) is a village at the south of the island of Vanua Balavu in the Lau Islands, Lau archipelago of Republic of Fiji, Fiji. The settlement is part of the tribal district of Tikina, Lomaloma and consist ...
Fiji
Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...
, before being seconded to the new two protectorates, where he spent the few years after.
Sir
John Bates Thurston
Sir John Bates Thurston (31 January 1836 – 7 February 1897) was a British colonial official who served Fiji in a variety of capacities, including Premier of the Kingdom of Viti (before the islands were ceded to the United Kingdom) and lat ...
, as
High Commissioner for the Western Pacific
The high commissioner for the Western Pacific was the chief executive officer of the British Western Pacific Territories, a United Kingdom, British British Empire, colonial entity, which existed from 1877 until 1976. Numerous colonial possessions ...
, appointed his friend Swayne in 1892, as the first Resident Commissioner in those territories, initially only for the separate protectorate of the Ellice Islands, before extending one year later his mandate to the
Gilbert Islands
The Gilbert Islands (;Reilly Ridgell. ''Pacific Nations and Territories: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia.'' 3rd. Ed. Honolulu: Bess Press, 1995. p. 95. formerly Kingsmill or King's-Mill IslandsVery often, this name applied o ...
.
In 1892, Swayne first arrived in the Ellice Islands, then, from October 1893 to November 1895, he was in the
Gilbert Islands
The Gilbert Islands (;Reilly Ridgell. ''Pacific Nations and Territories: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia.'' 3rd. Ed. Honolulu: Bess Press, 1995. p. 95. formerly Kingsmill or King's-Mill IslandsVery often, this name applied o ...
with central headquarters set in
Tarawa
Tarawa is an atoll and the capital of the Republic of Kiribati,Kiribati ''
Betio in 1895. Swayne spent his Resident years in a peripatetic way, moving from island to island, by whatever commercial or naval vessels, returning to
Suva
Suva (, ) is the Capital city, capital and the most populous city of Fiji. It is the home of the country's largest metropolitan area and serves as its major port. The city is located on the southeast coast of the island of Viti Levu, in Rew ...
or
Sydney
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
when necessary.
He faced a severe drought in the southern Gilberts, rendering impossible to collect the new capitation in those southernmost islands. He also faced the claims from traders, especially in
Butaritari
Butaritari is an atoll in the Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on th ...
, all that reinforced suspicions of the
Colonial Office
The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created in 1768 from the Southern Department to deal with colonial affairs in North America (particularly the Thirteen Colo ...
that the protectorate had been an error.
Further reading
*''Fragments of Empire: A History of the Western Pacific High Commission 1877-1914'', by Deryck Scarr, published by C. Hurst & Co, 1967.
*''Winding Up the British Empire in the Pacific Islands'', by W. David McIntyre, published by the Oxford University Press, 2014.