GROUP

Pacific Islands Company Ltd and Pacific Phosphate Company Ltd : Correspondence files

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Date

1896-1908

By

Arundel, John Thomas, 1841-1919; Ellis, George Izod, 1866-1954; Gaze, A H, active 1896-1908

Reference

Micro-MS-Coll-08-1175

Description

Correspondence, to and from the London office of the companies, is between J T Arundel, G Ellis and A H Gaze. Correspondence from Arundel in Nova Scotia, Honolulu, Ocean Island, Melbourne, San Francisco, New York, Plymouth, Japan, New Zealand, Sydney, Tahiti; mainly to the London Head Office. Includes general correspondence, shipping details, telegrams, machinery details and financial affairs.

Source of title - Transcribed

Arrangement: Arranged alphabetically, primarily by addressee.

The Pacific Islands Company (PIC), formed in 1897 from J T Arundel and Co, a Pacific trading and phosphate company, had as chairman Lord Stanmore (Sir Arthur Gordon), with John Arundel as vice-chairman. In 1900, Albert Ellis, a company employee, confirmed that Banaba island contained huge deposits of phosphate. The PIC gained an imperial mining licence after British annexation of Banaba. With exclusive mining rights for an annual payment of £50 to the Banabans, the company was soon making up to £125,000 per annum. Eventually the PPC agreed to provide for a trust fund for environmental damage; that committment was never fulfilled. In 1902 the PIC sold its other interests and formed the Pacific Phosphate Company ltd (PPC) with Jaluit Gesellschaft of Hamburg, giving it mining rights on German Nauru. After World War I, the PPC was replaced by the British Phosphate Commissioners (BPC), with the company's former executives becoming commissioners. The BPC was wound up in 1981 with Banaba mined out and almost completely depopulated while Nauru, independent since 1968, had taken over its own phosphate mining. The origins of many of these developments can be traced to the PIC and PPC.

Quantity: 15 microfilm reel(s).

Finding Aids: Inventory available.

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Part of

Pacific Manuscripts Bureau : Records of the Pacific Area

Format

15 microfilm reel(s), Business correspondence, Manuscripts, Microfilms

There are 15 items in total.

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Copyright

Unknown

There are 15 items in this group.

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Manuscript

Correspondence - MP1174/1/46 to MP1174/1/47

Date: 1905-1908

From: Pacific Manuscripts Bureau : Records of the Pacific Area

Reference: Micro-MS-Coll-08-1175-06

Description: Quantity: 1 microfilm reel(s).

Manuscript

Correspondence and enclosures - MP1174/1/2 and MP1174/1/1

Date: 1899-1902

From: Pacific Manuscripts Bureau : Records of the Pacific Area

Reference: Micro-MS-Coll-08-1175-10

Description: Quantity: 1 microfilm reel(s).

Manuscript

Correspondence and enclosures - MP1174/1/53

Date: 1897-1898

From: Pacific Manuscripts Bureau : Records of the Pacific Area

Reference: Micro-MS-Coll-08-1175-15

Description: Leeters to from J T Arundel. Genral correspondence copies, negotiations, reports, copies of telegrams. Filed alphabetically and chronologically A-Z. Quantity: 1 microfilm reel(s). Provenance: Donor/Lender/Vendor - Purchase, PMB, 2004 Transfers: To Book Collections - PMB DOC microfilm reels - To Oral History Collection - OH tapes of interview with Jai Jam Reddy..