Fig. 1

During a visit in September 1987 to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London, where I was researching the Archives of the Western Pacific High Commission (WPHC) in connection with another project, I had the good fortune to come across microfilm copies of the correspondence exchanged in 1916-17 between various WPHC officials (including the two originators of the provisionals) about this matter. Although one or two letters appear to be missing from the microfilms, enough of the correspondence was available to enable me to piece together the circumstances surrounding the production of the Funafuti Provisionals and, in conjunction with articles that appeared In the philatelic press at the time and in later years, to examine the controversy concerning their diffusion. These letters -- which, to my knowledge, have never been published before -- provide a fascinating insight into the background to the production of the Funafuti Provisionals. (The numbered references in the text that follows are to documents in file WPHC 4/IV.)

The main dramatic personage in this story are G. H. Kelsey Burge, a relatively inexperienced young man employed in the colonial public service as District officer for the Ellice and Union (Tokelau) Groups, posted at Funafuti; Dr. G. McNaughton, senior Medical Officer in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands (Tarawa); Sir Bickham Sweet Escott, High Commissioners or the Western Pacific (Suva); E. C. Eliot, Resident Commissioner for the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony (Ocean Island); and Charles Workman, Secretary to the Resident Commissioner, who assumed duties as Acting Resident Commissioner during Eliot's absence from the colony. Sir Walter H. Long, the British Secretary of State for the Colonies, followed the intricacies of the affair from distant London.

The story begins in July 1916, when Burge, whose duties as District Officer included the responsibility for postal matters in the Ellice Islands and Tokelau, sent a requisition for stamps to his superiors at Ocean Island, expressing hope that an earlier requisition sent in April would also be filled, “as I am now without stamps and the Island Governments are all asking for them.” Burge added:

A number of parcels have been brought to the Office for transit. Having only a few penny stamps, I surcharged seven of these, making them two-shilling stamps. I also surcharged eleven two-penny-half-penny stamps, making them two-shillings, and one I made [a] three-shilling value. These were the property of Dr. McNaughton and l collected 1/9-1/2 on each of [the] 2/- values and 2/9-1/2 on the one 3/- value. I trust that my action will meet with approval as this was the only means of collecting the postage.
[Burge to Eliot, 10 July 1916, 639/17]