Local Government and Political Consciousness in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate
| Published date | 01 July 1960 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/j.1099-162X.1960.tb00180.x |
| Author | C. H. Allen |
| Date | 01 July 1960 |
Local
Government
and
Political
Consciousness
in
the
British
Solomon
Islands
Protectorate
by
C.
H.
ALLEN,
O.B.E.
Formerly
Acting
Secretary
for
Protectorate
Affairs, British
Solomon
Islands
Protectorate
Social
THE
traditional
social
unit
in the Protectorate is
the
line, a localized
group,
consisting
of
a
number
of
men, women
and
children who, being in kinship or
social relationship, discharge customary obligations to one
another
and
to mem-
bers
of
other
lines outside their
immediate
group.
In
most places, lines
adhere
to specific clans or lineages
and
in
Guadalcanal
and
San
Christobal, clans
are
identified
with
moieties. Clans
and
lineages form small tribal groups speaking
a
common
language
and
occupying adefinable area. Changes are, however,
occurring in
the
social structure.
The
village community, consisting of
many
lines representingdifferent clansor lineages, is beginningtohave
more
significance
than
the
line.
The
sub-district
community
is now
more
important
than
the
clan
or lineage.
Customary
obligations
are
becoming less
important
as their functional
significance recedes further
into
the
past.
They
now compete
with
obligations
owed by
the
individual to his village
community
or local
government
council.
The
emphasis is shifting from
the
line to
the
family - from
the
position
of
the
individual as a
member
of
a
traditional
social
group
to
the
position
of
the
individual as a citizen
of
avillage.
In
matrilineal
areas,
property
now tends to pass from father to son. Exogamy
is breaking down, while
the
forbidden degrees
of
Church
and
State
are
being
accepted as
marriage
rules.
In
all places,
participation
in
the
cash economy is
increasing
and
the
primitive
monetary
system is losing
much
of its significance.
Subsistence
agriculture
is
changing
its
character
as
other
interests
make
increasing
demands
on
the
time
of
the
individual.
These
changes proceed
steadily
and
while
youth
leads, this is
not
always
the
case, for age is also
playing
asignificant role.
Not
all changes
are
for
the
best.
Not
all
are
entirely
acceptable
to
the
majority
of
the
people.
Few
proceed
without
creating
psychological
conflict
and
distress.
But
change
is inevitable
and
the
troubles
which
ensue
must
be
met
with
understanding
and
sympathy.
Geographical
Encircling seas
separate
ten
main
island groups scattered across a thousand-
mile
chain
in a segment
of
the
arc
of
Melanesian islands. Dense
jungle
covers
rugged
mountains
divided by fast-flowing
and
rapidly
flooding rivers.
The
land
and
climate
are
prodigal
but
the
population
is scattered
and
small. Diseases,
principally
malaria
and
tuberculosis, debilitate
the
people.
These
factors
combine
to
make
them
parochial, distrustful
of
innovation
and
suspicious.
Until
comparatively recently all
deaths
were held to be
the
work
of
sorcerers
and
a
journey
outside
the
tribal
area
was
an
adventure.
But
significant changes
have
occurred,
particularly
in
the
last fifteen years.
Whereas in 1945
the
headmen
of
Choiseul scarcely knew
the
names
of
their
opposite
numbers
in
the
Shortlands - a few miles
away
-
today
the
majority
158
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