West Pacific High Commission

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The catchment area of ​​the West Pacific High Commission, known as the British West Pacific Territories

The West Pacific High Commission , ( English : British Western Pacific Territories , German also: British West Pacific Territories , also used for "High Commission for the Western Pacific", "High Commissioner for the Western Pacific", German also for "West Pacific High Commissioner" " High Commissioner for the Western Pacific ”and other variants), was the name of a British administrative unit for British colonies and protectorates that existed from 1877 to 1976 . She was mainly responsible for the case law.

Legal bases

The Pacific Islanders Protection Act of August 2, 1875 enabled Queen Victoria of Great Britain to create the office of High Commissioner for the Pacific Overseas Territories. This Act complements the previous of 27 June 1872 which also contains no constitutionally significant rules so that the territory of with Western Pacific Order in Council (Jurisdiction) appointed by the 13 August 1877 the first Commissioner, Sir Arthur Hamilton Gordon himself no administrative unit is . Further regulations on overseas administration by the British Colonial Office primarily concern jurisdiction. On-site in the individual archipelagos, additional administrative officials were appointed to carry out the work, e. B. the permanent commissioner (Resident Commissioner) of the colony of Gilbert and Ellice Islands , which in turn were represented in the individual administrative districts by district administrators (District Officers) .

The office was in personal union with that of a governor for one of the constituent colonies of the administrative area, first for Fiji, then for the Solomon Islands. Changes resulted in 1925 when the Union Islands were annexed to New Zealand , and in 1952 when the Pitcairn colony and the Tonga Protectorate were subordinated to Fiji. In 1953 Fiji was separated from the territory of the High Commission and administered by its own governor. As a result, the administrative headquarters were moved to Honiara in the Solomon Islands, with the High Commissioner taking over the governorship of the Solomon Islands in personal union.

In the course of the independence efforts of the Pacific peoples of the British Commonwealth after the Second World War , the office and the administrative unit were abolished on January 2, 1976, as almost all island groups had achieved independence.

Island and archipelagos

List of High Commissioners for the Western Pacific (1877–1976)

High Commissioners for the Western Pacific and Governors of Fiji (1877–1952)

Administrative seat Suva , Fiji:

The office was suspended between 1942 and 1945. While most of the islands were under British military rule, the Solomon Islands, Gilbert Islands, and the Phoenix Islands were under Japanese occupation.

High Commissioners for the Western Pacific and Governors of the Solomon Islands (1952–1976)

Administrative headquarters in Honiara , Solomon Islands:

Office not occupied

literature

  • Hellmuth Hecker: Constitutional Register, Part IV: Africa, Asia, Australia. Evidence of documents on the political and constitutional history of developing countries. Metzner, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin 1963.
  • British and Foreign State Papers , London, 1812 ff
  • Deryck Scarr: Fragments of Empire. A History of the Western Pacific High Commission. 1877-1914. Australian National University Press, Canberra / C. Hurst & Co., London 1967.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Foreign Office (Ed.): List of countries for official use in the Federal Republic of Germany (German, English, French, Spanish). Deutscher Bundes-Verlag, Berlin 1983, ISBN 978-3-923106-06-6 , p. 146
  2. ↑ Hecker, Constitutional Register, Part IV, pp. 331–332
  3. ↑ State Papers 1874/5, Vol. 66, 1882, p. 234
  4. ↑ State Papers 1876/7, Vol. 68, 1884, p. 325

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