Jaluit Society

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The Jaluit Society was a German colonial trading and plantation company operating in the Pacific , which was also active in the extraction of raw materials and shipping. It was founded on December 21, 1887 as a stock corporation and had its seat in Hamburg in Artushof, Große Bleichen 47–49.

history

Administration and Commerce in the Marshall Islands: Several islands are marked as owned by the Jaluit Society (ca.1897)

In 1878, Jaluit was expanded into a trading post for the German Trading and Plantation Society (DHPG). The Jaluit company took over the DHPG and the Robertson & Hernsheim company in Hamburg, their businesses on the Marshall Islands , Gilbert Islands and Karolinen . The company was also responsible for trade and shipping between Jaluit and the Gilbert Islands and Carolines. The main factory was on the main island of Jabor in the Jaluit Atoll. In 1892, the company also acquired the US businesses of A. Crawford & Co. and Pacific Island Co. in the protected area. The trading and plantation company also had shares in the bankrupt trading company A. Capelle & Co. , including shares of the late Capelle partner Charles Ingalls passed into the possession of the Jaluit Society in the 1890s.

On January 21, 1888, the Society for the German Empire took over the administration of the islands including the administrative costs of the protected area against the right to take possession of abandoned land, to operate pearl fishing and to exploit the guano stores . The administration itself ran the "Kaiserliche Kommissariat Jaluit" (an imperial commissioner) from 1888 to 1893 and from 1893 to 1906 the "Landeshauptmannschaft Jaluit" (a governor with a few subordinate officials).

The German Reich terminated the treaty in 1906 and on April 1, 1906 handed over the state tasks to German New Guinea , where they were bundled in the Jap district .

According to the German Colonial Handbook of 1908, the Jaluit Society had a share capital of 1.2 million marks . The supervisory board included Johan Cesar VII. Godeffroy (first chair), Otto Thiemer (deputy chair), Hamburg, Friedrich Bendixen , secret councilor R. Böker from Remscheid- Vieringhausen and consul H. Meyer-Delius, Hamburg.

In the years leading up to the occupation of Micronesia by the Japanese in 1914, the company was then only active as an entrepreneur.

economy

The company agreed with the residents to cultivate coconut palms for the production of copra and, for example, supplied tools and seeds. She also recruited workers for plantation work. Land was also sold to Europeans for plantations.

A ship connection existed since 1899 to Sydney and Hong Kong , which was financially supported by the German Reich.

When significant guano finds were confirmed on Nauru , society faced the challenge of capitalizing on it. Nauru is a volcanic island that slopes steeply into the sea and has no natural harbor. Industrial mining of guano therefore required high initial investments that exceeded the company's capital. The Pacific Islands Company Ltd faced similar challenges on the British Banaba , about 300 km away . Both companies formed the English-German Pacific Phosphate Company (PPC) in 1901, headquartered in London and with a capital of £ 125,000 7% cumulative preference shares and £ 125,000 common shares . Both companies transferred their respective concessions to mine guano on Nauru and Banaba to PPC. In addition to the 10% of its share capital, the Jaluit company received an ongoing subsidy from the PPC in return for the concession. After the contract between the German Reich and the company was terminated, the company retained its concession rights to Nauru in return for an annual payment of 25,000 marks to the conservation area administration for the first 50,000 tons shipped and an additional 50 pfennigs for each additional ton (sic!). These royalties were below the market level and were seen as an economic compensation for the company's rights lost at the end of the contract. The participation in PPC, with dividends ranging from 15% to 50% between 1903 and 1913, was an important source of income for the company.

After initial preparations in 1906, the company went public on July 20, 1909 on the Hamburg Stock Exchange . In 1900 the company achieved a net profit of 151,955 marks with a share capital of 1,200,000 marks . From 1900 to 1913 it paid its shareholders annual dividends of between 10% and 25%.

  • Flags of the Jaluit Society

  • 1887

  • from 1888

literature

swell

  1. ↑ Hermann Mückler: The Marshall Islands and Nauru in German colonial times: South Sea islanders, traders and colonial officials in old photographs , Berlin: Frank & Timme 2016, p. 122.
  2. ^ Dirk HR Spennemann: German Administrators in the Marshall Islands .
  3. ↑ H. Schnee: Article Jaluit Society , in: Deutsches Koloniallexikon (1920), Volume II, p. 122. Digitalisat

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