Antarctic Gibraltar
By GEORGE BRINSMEAD
IT is now midsuthmer in the South Atlantic, and a busy time on the windswept, moorland sheep-ranches of the Falkland Islands. This is the season, too, when the Dependencies in Antarctica become momentarily accessible. British, Argentine and Chilean expeditions firmly but courteously protest at one another's unauthorised presence in the desolate bays of the Antarctic Zone, and for a few weeks those remote regions seem almost to become a part of our western world. . Then the tem- perature falls again. The Dependencies, with their tiny encamp- ments of meteorologists, are engulfed once more in the polar night. Of course, the Falkland Islands proper are never inaccessible, and it was in winter that the early voyagers, whose journals are now classic documents, wrote the most vivid descriptions of the isles and the climate. Thus John Jane, who sailed with John Davis in the ' Desire,' noted that on August 9th, 1592, " wee had a sore storme, so that wee were constrained to hull, for our sails were not to indure any force. The 14 wee were driven in among certaine Isles never before discovered by any knowen relations." Charles Darwin, visiting the Falklands in 1833, made a careful record of the weather day by day: " May 16th.— Boisterous and cold with heavy hailstorms. May 17th.—During the night it rained. The day was very stormy, with much hail and snow. May 18th.—It rained during nearly the whole day.' In 1846 a British trader from Uruguay obtained the sole rights of killing the wild cattle in East Falkland. His lands were taken over by the newly formed Falkland Islands Company in 1851, and in December of that year the company received its royal - charter. This Christmas, 1951, the centenary of the charter is being celebrated at Pont Stanley, and in the company's widely scattered farmsteads.
The strategic importance of the islands was apparent during both World Wars, and at the beginning of 1940 there were at one time as many as six British cruisers in Stanley Harbour. Nowadays the Panama Canal might be bombed by long-distance aircraft, and the Falklands therefore are a potential Gibraltar, situated on the only alternative shipping-route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. But the islands are such a remote and very small outpost that, except in war-time, their inhabitants suffer from a feeling of isolation and neglect. The smallness of the colony is indicated in the latest Colonial Office Report, which refers to 1949. During that year the number of births registered was 40, deaths 33, marriages 17. " Two deaths occurred among infants under two years of age." Seventeen crimes were recorded, the total value of-property involved being £74. The number of vessels which entered the port of Stanley during the year was 23. but (the report announces) " this figure almost entirely consists of repeated entries by the ' Fitzroy." The s.s. ' Fitzroy,' 600 tons, is owned by the Falkland Islands , Company, and is virtually the only means of communication with the outside world. The ' Fitzroy ' plies between Stanley and Montevideo (Uruguay), a distance of rather more than 1,000 miles, the voyage taking from four to six days or more. There' is no direct communication between the islands and the near-by mainland (Argentina) because the British occupation has never been recognised by any Buenos Aires Government since the day in 1833 when the Argentine garrison was forcibly ejected from East Falkland by. Captain Onslow of H.M.S. Clio.' It is not surprising that the Argentines should object to the British occupation of the Falkland Islands ; but their displeasure does not alter the fact that the islands are British property. The inhabitants are almost exclusively of British descent. The prosperity of the colony—modest though it may be—has been created by British farmers and businessmen. And, although the Falkland Islanders frequently express dissatisfaction with the treatment that they receive from the British Government, none of them has any desire to be governed by Buenos Aires. Every Argentina school-child is taught that the Islas Malvinas (as the Falklands are named in that country) are an integral parr of Argentina. The population of the islands is included in the Argentine national census returns. Falkland Islanders visiting Argentina are treated as Argentine citizens, required to carry an Argentine passport, and liable to be called up for military service. Recently, under the of General Peron, the demand that the Islas Malvinas shall be " repatriated " has become more insistent, and this is one of the few subjects on which all Argentines—Peronistas and anti-Peronistas alike— are in complete agreement.
The claim is treated lightly by the Falkland Islanders them- selves.- But although these loyal Britons do not recognise, and will never submit to, Argentina's pretensions, many personal connections exist between the people of the colony and the mainland. Many Falkland Islanders have emigrated to southern Argentina in the past, and some of the best sheep-farmers in Patagonia are of Falklands origin. The " Anglo-Argentine " vocabulary is used in the islands. For example, the rural districts are universally referred to as " camp,' which is the Anglo-Argentine equivalent of the Spanish camp°. The " repatriation " of the Malvinas is unthinkable, and every year the British stake in the islands becomes greater. It is true that there are still no railways orroads outside town ; the farms are reached on horseback, though aeroplanes are now used to some extent. Education is deficient. Groceries, clothes and almost every other commodity that the people require— except meat—are imported. There are no trees. The houses still are mostly made of imported, timber with corrugated iron roofs. Wool, hides and tallow are still almost the only source of wealth. Year by year, however, the British Government pays more attention to the needs of the colony. In 1951 the Secretary of State for the Colonies, agreed that the elected members of the local legislature should in future be allowed to have a majority of one over the officially nominated members. The Colonial Development Corporation is engaged in an enlightened scheme for introducing greater diversity into the island's' economy.
The Colonial Development Corporation has undertaken two projects: First, the resuscitation of the sealing industry at a cost of £161,500, and secondly the erection of a freezing-plant for mutton and beef. The first of these two schemes is already in operation. The. South Atlantic Sealing Company was formed in 1949, and although production was temporarily interrupted by mechanical defects during the 1950-51 season, this under- taking is likely to prove profitable. The meat-processing pro- ject, however, has met with many obstacles.
Three years ago the Government invited the Colonial Develop- ment Corporation to construct an. abattoir and freezer because at present Very little use is made of the carcases of sheep and cattle reared in the islands. The freezer should have been completed early in January, 1951, but progress was delayed by the shortage of local labour, inadequate shipping and difficulty in landing heavy consignments of building materials, plant and equipment. And last winter its newly built west wall was blown down during a typical South Atlantic gale.
' It is now recognised by the Colonial Office and by the Falk- land Islands Company, who are the principal landowners, that local living conditions must be improved if in the years to come, as in the past, this bleak outpost is to pay its way and fulfil its vital, strategic function. The islands will never be an attractive residential quarter. The only fuel is peat. Vegetables are scarce, and the only fruits that can be cultivated with ease are currants, gooseberries, raspberries and rhubarb. Except on occasional clear summer days, the damp and tempestuous climate is depressing in the extreme. Newcomers are appalled by the isolation and by the vast distance that separates them from Piccadilly Circus.
Falkland Islanders feel that, if their loyal co-operation is worth so much to Great Britain in war-time, they merit the fullest consideration and support in the intervals between wars. Adequate encouragement will reach them only if the desperate bleakness of their existence is fully appreciated here at home. In 1771 Dr. Johnson accurately referred to- the Falklands as " islands thrown aside from human use, stormy in winter, barren in summer, islands which not even the southern savages have dignified with, habitation." Four years earlier a Spanish priest, Sebastian Villanueva, then stationed in East Falkland, wrote: " I tarry in this unhappy desert, suffering everything for the love of God." Physical conditions have not altered in the meantime.
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