§ Mr. Iremongerasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies to what extent land shortage and overpopulation are causing, and have during the last thirty years caused, concern in connection with the Ellice and Gilbert Islands, respectively; and with regard to the Gilbert Islands, what steps have been taken during that period by Her Majesty's Government to relieve overpopulation; and to what extent Christmas Island has been considered for settlement schemes.
§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd:These problems have been given careful consideration for many years. They are not as pressing in the Ellice Islands, where a greater density of population can be supported, as in the Gilberts. Schemes for the resettlement of Gilbertese from the more densely 31W populated islands to under-inhabited islands in the Phoenix Group and also at Gizo in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate have been undertaken with the aid of Colonial Development and Welfare funds. A scheme is also in preparation to enable surplus or neglected land to be acquired for resale to islanders in need of land.
The Christmas Island which is in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony—there is another island of that name in the Indian Ocean—has proved unsuitable for resettlement purposes. A group of Gil-bertese who were settled there in 1949 had to be repatriated at their own request two years later because they found the island too infertile to be fit to live on permanently. It is at present owned and worked as a coconut plantation by the Government of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony.