Misplaced Pages

#362637

38-677: Nauru was a mandate territory governed on behalf of Nauru by Australia, Britain and New Zealand. However, representatives on the Permanent Mandates Commission argued that the activities of the BPC on Nauru were exploitative and not to the benefit of Nauruans. Australia intentionally suppressed information about its activities in Nauru. In 1968, Nauru brought Australia up before the International Court of Justice over

76-602: A license to develop coconut plantations on Birnie Island , which is geographically part of the Phoenix Islands and is part of Kiribati , with the PIC attempting to acquiring licenses to develop coconut plantations in the British Solomon Islands in 1900 and 1901. Despite this attempt to broaden the operations of the company the company remained chronically short of capital throughout its existence and

114-467: A position with John T. Arundel & Co. Fred Whibley declined and chose to become an island trader on Niutao in what is now Tuvalu . A harmonious working relationship would have been unlikely given the pious Christian attitudes of J.T. Arundel and Fred Whibley's reputation as the ' black sheep ' of the family. In 1871 with financial support from Houlder Brothers and Co. , he established John T. Arundel & Co. The initial activities were carried out by

152-645: A seat on the PMC but was initially rebuffed. The first German member of the PMC was Ludwig Kastl who joined the PMC in October 1927. Germany withdrew from the League in 1933, ending its membership of the PMC. Japan withdrew from the League in 1938, ending its membership on the PMC. According to historian Susan Pedersen , the organization was "very much an imperialists' club," as five out of nine initial members were retired colonial governors, ministers or high officials. By

190-667: A warehouse business on the Thames estuary, with the family living at Gravesend . The family were active in the Congregational Church, and through a church connection he joined Houlder Brothers & Co. , a firm that provided ships for migration to New Zealand and Australia. In 1860, J. T. Arundel travelled on a Houlder Brothers & Co ship into the Pacific, calling at the Chincha Islands , on which guano

228-629: The Banabans was for the exclusive right to mine for 999 years for £50 a year. The terms of the licenses were changed to provide for the payment of royalties and compensation for mining damage. In 1913 an anonymous correspondent to the New Age journal criticised the operation of the PPC under the title "Modern buccaneers in the West Pacific". The PPC investigated phosphate deposits on Makatea in

266-706: The Nauru Phosphate Corporation . In 1965, the Banaban islanders, after decades of land disputes, royalty fees, and "exploitation," started legal litigation against the British Phosphate Commissioners in British court. After more than a decade, the case finally came to an end, with the Banabans only being awarded £1 and were still made to pay their own legal fees of more than £300,000. The Australian government through

304-720: The Tuamotus in French Polynesia and formed a company, the Compagnie des Phosphates de l'Océanie, with a Tahitian syndicate that was also investigating the potential of Makatea . This gave the PPC a virtual monopoly on the sources of high grade phosphate in the Pacific. In 1919 the business of the PPC in Nauru and Banaba was acquired by Board of the British Phosphate Commission . From 1919

342-599: The Australian Government, took over mining operations This arrangement lasted until December 1987 when the company was disbanded. The mining operation was then taken over by the Union of Christmas Island Workers . Nauru Permanent Mandates Commission The Permanent Mandates Commission (PMC) was the commission of the League of Nations responsible for oversight of mandated territories . The commission

380-593: The B.P.C. offered £780,000 in reparations. The first European to recommend mining of phosphate for commercial exploitation was Sir John Murray , a British naturalist, during the 1872–76 Challenger expedition . His discovery led to annexation of the island by the British Crown on 6 June 1888. In 1900 the Pacific Islands Company Ltd commenced mining on Ocean Island, with 1550 tons shipped from September to December 1901 and 13,350 tons in

418-471: The BPC. From 1919 the responsibility for the welfare of the people of Nauru and Banaba , the restoring of land and water resources lost by mining operations and compensation for environmental damage to the islands was under the control of the governments of United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia. Under a policy established under the German administration, royalty payments were given to landowners. In 1921,

SECTION 10

#1732779498363

456-536: The British Phosphate Commissioners (under pressure from the Nauruan people) increased royalty payments from one-half pence to one and one-half pence per ton of phosphate extracted. In 1927, a new agreement was reached, giving the Nauruans seven and one-half pence per ton. By 1939, Nauruans were receiving 9% of the phosphate revenues. This amount is still somewhat insignificant because at this time, Nauruan phosphate

494-607: The Commission's entire active life of 18 years as did Pierre Orts  [ fr ] , Italian Marquis Alberto Theodoli, first chairman, for 16 years, the Spaniard M. Palacios for 15 years, Lord Lugard and Van Rees for 13 each while Valentine Dannevig from Norway and the Portuguese Count Jose de Penha Garcia served for 11 years each. Upon joining the League of Nations in 1926, Germany immediately asked for

532-490: The German company that controlled the licences to mine in Nauru. In 1902 the interests of PIC were merged with Jaluit Gesellschaft of Hamburg, to form the Pacific Phosphate Company, ('PPC') to engage in phosphate mining in Nauru and Banaba , then known as Ocean Island. The company's engineers had to find solutions for transferring the phosphate rock from the island to ships that had to anchor off

570-683: The Nauru Agreement of 2 July 1919 the interests of the PPC in the phosphate deposits in Nauru and Ocean Island were acquired by the governments of the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, which carried out mining under the direction of the Board of Commissioners, which represented the three governments. In March 1981, the Phosphate Mining Company of Christmas Island (PMCI), a company established and controlled by

608-625: The PMC. These territories would ostensibly be governed for the benefit of the inhabitants. The Commission had 10 and later, 11 members (or twelve, if Sweden and Norway, which shared their seat, represented first by Anna Bugge-Wicksell and later by Valentine Dannevig , are counted separately). Four of these members were Mandatory Powers, 7 were independent powers and one seat was held by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). Members served without fixed term. William Rappard , Swiss lawyer and professor, served for

646-427: The Pacific that included: Albert Ellis who worked for John T. Arundel & Co., later acknowledged that the company was not making money although the company was gaining experience in the mining and shipping of guano and phosphate rock in what were sometimes difficult conditions, with many of these islands having no safe anchorage for shipping. In 1897 John T. Arundel & Co., merged its business with that of

684-559: The United Kingdom, with Australia retaining administration of the island. In 1919, the three trustees signed the Nauru Island Agreement , which entitled them to the phosphate of Nauru through the British Phosphate Commissioners. They bought back all the assets of the PPC for more than 3.5 million pounds on 1 July 1920, and started to manage it directly on 1 January 1921, after a six-month transition period of PPC management. Most of PPC's former employees were retained by

722-528: The central Pacific with J. T. Arundel when he would visit the various islands on which his company had operations. Lillie Arundel gave birth in 1884 to their second daughter while on Manra , then known as Sydney Island, giving her the name of that island. In 1898 Fred Whibley , Lillie's younger brother, arrived in Sydney, after 10 years in the United States and Canada. J. T. Arundel offered Fred Whibley

760-464: The environmental devastation that they had caused on Nauru. In 1900, the German colonial administration of Nauru granted phosphate rights to British businessman John T. Arundel 's Pacific Islands Company (PIC). The PIC was replaced by the Pacific Phosphate Company (PPC) in 1902, with German interests holding around one-third of the company's share capital. Production commenced in 1906, largely relying on indentured labour, with Australia and New Zealand as

798-637: The first meeting, the members determined that they had the right to examine all aspects of administration in the mandated territories (not just those mandated in the Covenant), that a comprehensive list of questions should be asked of all mandate powers, and that mandate powers should send all relevant legislation that affects territories to the Commission. The last meeting was held at the 37th final session from 12 to 21 December 1939. The Commission oversaw three types of mandates. John T. Arundel John T. Arundel (1 September 1841 – 30 November 1919)

SECTION 20

#1732779498363

836-497: The following year. John T. Arundel and Lord Stanmore, directors of PIC, were responsible for financing the new opportunities and negotiating with the German company that controlled the licences to mine in Nauru. In 1902 the interests of PIC were merged with Jaluit Gesellschaft of Hamburg, to form the Pacific Phosphate Company Ltd (PPC), to engage in phosphate mining in Nauru and Ocean Island. Following

874-413: The island. As high islands both Nauru and Banaba did not have lagoons or anchorages that protected ships from the Pacific storms. Solutions were found and despite losing some 5 ships on the reef at Ocean Island, the PPC became a very profitable company. The profitability of the company directed attention to the original agreements made with the land owners of Nauru and Banaba . The agreement with

912-596: The members to perform impartiality), and the publication of the organization's deliberations. She argues that the Commission was at its most influential in 1932. According to Pedersen, Commission members believed in a civilizing mission . The Commission met in sessions once or twice a year to consider annual reports from the mandates; within any session, any number of meetings could be held usually in private although any of these could be public. Extraordinary sessions could also be held in special circumstances. The Commission held its first session from 4 to 8 October 1921. At

950-402: The mid-1920s, the Commission "began to resemble a spa for retired African governors." Even though it was composed of individuals from imperial and foreign policy establishments, the organization did act independently. This was in part because of the lack of term limits (which led to camaraderie among members and the development of expertise), the authority derived from written texts (which allowed

988-449: The organization did act independently of states and established norms that constrained the behaviors of colonial powers. The PMC was the first instance that either France or Britain had been subjected to any kind of imperial oversight. The PMC played a key role in establishing that the mandates could not be annexed by the colonial powers. The PMC helped to establish that the mandates had a unique status under international law . The PMC

1026-517: The pice for Ocean Island phosphate to the price paid for Nauru phosphate, however, the BPC would vary the price paid for phosphate. For example, around 1970, Nauru phosphate was sold to Japan at $ 14 and $ 15 a ton, but sold into the markets in Australia and New Zealand at $ 12.30. In 1967 the Nauruans purchased the assets of the B.P.C. and, in 1970, the newly independent Republic of Nauru established

1064-631: The primary markets. In 1914, following the outbreak of the First World War, the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force occupied Nauru, with an agreement reached whereby the Australian military would assume administrative control of the island and the PPC would continue phosphate operations. Following the end of the war, Nauru was made a League of Nations mandate under the joint trusteeship of Australia, New Zealand and

1102-407: The responsibility for the welfare of the people of Nauru and Banaba , the restoring of land and water resources lost by mining operations and compensation for environmental damage to the islands was under the control of the governments of United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia. Arundel, John T. The Phoenix group and other islands of the Pacific . New Zealand Herald, Geographical Society of

1140-413: The rock was high grade phosphate . Albert Ellis and other company employees travelled to Banaba to confirm that the soil of that island was largely phosphate rock. Albert Ellis went on to Nauru , at that time a German territory, and confirmed it also consisted of large deposits of phosphate rock. J. T. Arundel and Lord Stanmore were responsible for financing the new opportunities and negotiating with

1178-650: The trading and plantation firm of Henderson and Macfarlane to form the Pacific Islands Company Ltd ('PIC'). The company was based in London with its trading activities in the Pacific. The Chairman of the PIC was Lord Stanmore , formerly Sir Arthur Gordon, Governor of Fiji and first High Commissioner for the Western Pacific . John T. Arundel was the vice-chairman. The PIC continued to expand its plantation interests and in 1899, acquired

British Phosphate Commission - Misplaced Pages Continue

1216-709: The two companies. Houlder Brothers and Co leased Flint Island from the British government and Arundel managed the guano digging in the central part of the island from 1875 to 1880. In 1872, Caroline Island was leased by the Houlder Brothers. In 1881, the lease was later taken over by Arundel (for whom one of the islets is named). John T. Arundel & Co went on to engage in mining guano on other Pacific islands and also established coconut plantations and traded in copra and other commodities. The company operated from Sydney, Australia with business interests in

1254-470: Was an English entrepreneur who was instrumental in the development of the mining of phosphate rock on the Pacific islands of Nauru and Banaba (Ocean Island). Williams & Macdonald (1985) described J. T. Arundel as "a remarkable example of that mid-Victorian phenomenon, the upright, pious and adventurous Christian English businessman." His father owned a gentleman's outfitter in the City of London and

1292-582: Was established by the victors of World War I to oversee the former colonial possessions of the Ottoman Empire and German Empire. The British and French wanted to govern these possessions as colonies, whereas the United States opposed the French and British maneuvers. As a compromise, it was agreed that the former Ottoman and German colonial possessions would be administered as mandates by individual states whose administration would be subject to oversight by

1330-629: Was established on 1 December 1920 and was headquartered at Geneva . The existence of the Commission was stipulated in Article 22 of the League of Nations Covenant : "A permanent Commission shall be constituted to receive and examine the annual reports of the Mandatories and to advise the Council on all matters relating to the observance of the mandates." Even though the PMC was composed of members from imperial and foreign policy establishments,

1368-428: Was lent money from time to time by its directors. The PIC abandoned the plans to develop coconut plantations in 1902. In 1899 Albert Ellis made what he later described as " a good 'find' ", when he had laboratory analysis carried out on a rock that was used to prop open the Sydney office door, as it appeared similar to the hard phosphate rock that he had seen on Baker Island The laboratory analysis confirmed that

1406-622: Was mined for refining into superphosphate . J.T. Arundel took an interest in the potential of the fertiliser business and in 1868 the company sent him on a second voyage into the Pacific to pursue opportunities. When J. T. Arundel set off in 1871 to develop a business in the Pacific he left his fiancée Eliza Eleanor (Lillie) Whibley in England, as he wanted to secure their financial future by achieving success with his business ventures. J .T. Arundel and Lillie Whibley were not to marry until 1881. Following their marriage Lillie Arundel would travel into

1444-452: Was selling far below world market prices. Throughout B.P.C. control, significant profits were made. In 1948, revenues from the island's phosphate reached $ 745,000. As the B.P.C. was controlled by its partner governments and was a major supplier of phosphate, it had an effective monopoly over the supply of phosphate to the markets in Australia and New Zealand, and could determine the price of phosphate delivered to those markets. The B.P.C. tied

#362637