§ Mr. Iremongerasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what is the nature of land tenure on Christmas Island; and 30W what population has been resident on the island and for what purposes, and under what administrative control during the last twenty years.
§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd:There are two Christmas Islands—one in the Indian Ocean and one in the Pacific. I assume that my hon. Friend is referring to the latter.
That island is owned and worked as a coconut plantation by the Government of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony. It has no indigenous inhabitants, and, apart from the administration, its residents consist of the labourers and their families brought in from other islands in the Colony to operate the plantation on short-term contract. At the 1931 Census this population amounted to 38, at the 1947 Census to 52, and in 1955 was put at 240. From 1942 until the end of the war United States troops garrisoned the island, the last of them withdrawing in 1948.
From 1937 to 1941 the island was administered by a resident Administrative Officer of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony, and since 1952 the District Officer for the Line Islands District of the Colony has resided on the island. In the intervening period administrative duties devolved on the manager of the plantation.