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The European discoverer of the Solomons was the Spanish explorer Alvaro de Mendana Y Neyra, who set out from Peru in 1567 to seek the legendary Isles of Solomon. British mariner Philip Carteret , entered Solomon waters in 1767. In the years that followed, visits by explorers were more frequent.
Australian and New Zealand Gazette, March 13, 1880
Missionaries began visiting the Solomons in the mid-1800s. They made little progress at first, however, because "blackbirding"--the often brutal recruitment of laborers for the sugar plantations in Queensland and Fiji--led to a series of reprisals and massacres.
The evils of the labor trade prompted the United Kingdom to declare a protectorate over the southern Solomons in 1893. In 1898 and 1899, more outlying islands were added to the protectorate; in 1900 the remainder of the archipelago, an area previously under German jurisdiction, was transferred to British administration. Under the protectorate, missionaries settled in the Solomons, converting most of the population to Christianity. In the early 20th century, several British and Australian firms began large-scale coconut planting. Economic growth was slow, however, and the islanders benefited little. With the outbreak of World War II, most planters and traders were evacuated to Australia, and most cultivation ceased.
London, United KingdomThe Case of Burns v. Nowell was before the Court of Appeal on March 8. This was an interesting case, and turned upon the construction of the provisions of the Kidnapping Act, 1872. It was an action by a shipowner against Lieutenant Nowell, of Her Majesty's ship Sandfly, for alleged improper seizure and detention of the plaintiff's vessel and cargo in the following circumstances: —The plaintiff, a shipowner, carrying on business at Sydney, was the owner of the brig Aurora, which had been for some time engaged in the South Sea Island trade. The Aurora, like other vessels engaged in that trade, was usually dispatched towards the end of the year, and during the voyage, which, according to circumstances, occupied one, two, or three years, was employed among the different islands in collecting tortoiseshell, copra, and other island produce, and in fishing for a kind of sea slug called bechede- mer. Natives of the island were generally employed by the masters of the vessels to assist in the fishing, and as soon as a full cargo of this fish and other merchandise had been secured and the natives landed at the islands where their homes were, the vessel returned to Sydney. On November 29, 1871, some months before the passing and proclamation of the Kidnapping Act, 1872, the Aurora left Sydney on one of her usual voyages, and proceeded to the Solomon Islands. At the islands of Simbo and Guadalcano, two of the Solomon Islands, the master of the Aurora engaged eleven natives of these two islands upon the terms, among others, that at the conclusion of the voyage they should be landed at the islands where they had their homes. The Aurora continued to be employed in collecting merchandise and in fishing until August, 1873, when she made for the Solomon Islands to disembark the natives, and on August 30 she arrived within four miles of the island of Simbo, where some of the natives were to be landed. Up to this time no one on board the Aurora had become aware of the existence of the Kidnapping Act, 1872. When about four miles from Simbo she was hailed by the Sandfly, one of Her Majesty's vessels, at that time under the command of the defendant, and then and there seized by the defendant upon a charge of having committed an offence against the Kidnapping Act, 1872. The natives were removed on board the Sandfly, and the Aurora taken by the defendant to Cleveland Bay, in Queensland, where her cargo was transhipped to another vessel and carried to Sydney. The officers and crew of the Aurora having been removed from on board of her, the vessel was detained in Cleveland Bay from October, 1873, till February, 1874. After the cargo had reached Sydney a suit was commenced in the Vice-Admiralty Court on the information of the defendant, praying that the cargo might be condemned as forfeited to Her Majesty; but the Court held that it had no jurisdiction to entertain the suit. The plaintiff ultimately obtained possession of both his ship and his cargo, and brought his action against the defendant, claiming damages for their seizure and detention. It was tried before Lord Coleridge and a special jury at the Guildhall in December, 1878, when his lordship left it to the jury to say whether at the time of seizure and detention the defendant had reasonable ground for suspecting that the Aurora was employed in breaking the Kidnapping Act, 1872. The jury answered this question in the affirmative, and his lordship thereupon gave judgment for the defendant. The Queen's Bench Division having discharged a rule for a new trial, the plaintiff appealed. Mr. Wills, Q.C., and Mr. Edwin Jones appeared for the plaintiff; Mr. Staveley Hill, Q.C., and Mr. Bosanquet for the defendant. The arguments for the plaintiff were not concluded at the rising of the Court.
