British Solomon Islands Research Articles

First Report of Fusarium oxysporum and F. proliferatum Causing Postharvest Corm Rot on Taro in China.

Taro (Colocasia esculenta), a perennial tuberous herb of the family Araceae, is cultivated widely in southern China. In December 2020, postharvest corm rot occurred on taro of 5 tons with approximately 70% incidence in a 18 square meter cellar in the Qingshanhu District (115°83'E, 28°76'N) of Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, China. Infected corms had round, soft and slightly sunken lesions covered with white mycelia. The lesions gradually expanded, causing part or whole corm to become soft and shrink, and the inner corm tissue turned brown and rotten. To isolate the pathogen, a total of 30 diseased corm samples were collected. The corms were surface-disinfected by wiping them with 70% ethanol and then passing them over flame back and forth for 5 s. After epidermal tissue of the corms was removed using a sterilized scalpel, small portions of the inner tissue were transferred onto potato dextrose agar (PDA) and incubated at 25°C in the dark. A total of 27 isolates forming Fusarium-like colonies were obtained using monosporic isolation, of which 11 isolates were identified as F. oxysporum and 16 isolates were identified as F. proliferatum based on the colony characteristics and conidial morphology (Leslie and Summerell, 2006). Colonies of F. oxysporum isolates produced dense whitish to light purple mycelia with dark red pigments. Macroconidia were sickle-shaped, straight to slightly curved, 3-5 septa, measuring 25.6 to 45.8 × 3.3 to 6.1 µm. Microconidia were hyaline, oval or ellipsoid, aseptate, and measured 5.2 to 11.8 × 2.2 to 3.5 µm. Chlamydospores were round, 3.5 to 7.6 µm in diameter. Colonies of F. proliferatum isolates were whitish with abundant aerial mycelia and orange pigments. Numerous oval unicellular microconidia were 4.5 to 11.8 × 1.9 to 4.2 µm, and sparse falcate macroconidia with 3-4 septa were 19.4 to 39.2 × 1.9 to 5.2 µm in size. No chlamydospores were observed. Genomic DNA of two representative isolates (F. oxysporum isolate YTU1 and F. proliferatum isolate YTH1) was extracted, and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region and translation elongation factor 1-α (TEF1-α) gene were amplified and sequenced using primers ITS1/ITS4 and EF-1H/EF-2T (White et al., 1990; Zhang et al., 2014) respectively. Using BLAST analysis, the ITS sequences of isolates YTU1 (506 bp) and YTH1 (508 bp) exhibited 100% homology with F. oxysporum (MN633363) and F. proliferatum (MT534188), respectively, and the TEF1-α sequences of YTU1 (712 bp) and YTH1 (703 bp) shared 100% homology with F. oxysporum (MN507110) and F. proliferatum (MK952799), respectively. Sequences were deposited in GenBank with the Accession Nos. MZ157124 and MZ310443 forITS, and MZ383814 and MZ383815 forTEF1-α. The pathogenicity of each isolate was determined on six healthy taro corms. All the taro corms were surface-disinfected with 70% alcohol and two locations from each corm were inoculated. One location was inoculated with 20 μl of conidial suspension (1×105 conidia/ml) and the other was inoculated with sterilized water as a control. All corms were incubated in a growth chamber at 25℃ and 95% relative humidity in the dark. After 15 days, all inoculated corms developed brown rot symptoms, while the non-inoculated control corms remained symptomless. The original isolates were successfully reisolated from all symptomatic corms and identified by sequencing, fulfilling Koch's postulates. F. oxysporum has been reported causing postharvest corm rot of taro in Bogor, Japan, and British Solomon Islands (Widodo et al., 2011). However, to our knowledge, this is the first report of F. oxysporum causing postharvest corm rot of taro in China and F. proliferatum causing postharvest corm rot of taro in the world. The disease poses a potential threat to taro production and should be timely assessed and properly managed.

Jack London's “Mauki” and the Colonial Pacific

Jack London's “Mauki” and the Colonial Pacific

(Re)constructing Tropical Architecture in Solomon Islands

Reiterating conversations with my father, this paper retrieves a little known trajectory of tropical architecture to the Pacific and brings to light a Nigerian lineage to tropical modern buildings in Honiara, Solomon Islands. My father worked as an architect in the Public Works Department in 1950s Lagos, Nigeria, and 1960s Honiara, in the then British Solomon Islands Protectorate. The paper furthermore explores the agency of oral history in forming a nuanced narrative of modern architecture through the juxtaposition of the two different types of discourses: the discourse on tropical architecture, as reflected by my father's perspectives; and a postcolonial reading of colonial-modern architecture, as reflected by myself as the interviewer. The combination of these differing frameworks prompts a rich and nuanced reading of the buildings in Honiara. This oral history affirms tropical architecture's emphasis on climatic and technical factors as an intrinsic aspect of the colonial outlook of that time, while demonstrating that its political entanglements with colonialism and modernisation can only now be exposed through contemporary postcolonial perspectives: a frame which – in this paper – aligns more closely with the discourse of colonial-modern architecture. Finally, the paper explores – through my own filmmaking – the dialogical relationship between oral history and material evidence, thus exposing the contingent nature of colonial legacies and postcolonial realities present in tropical architecture in Solomon Islands.

NOTES ON THE SYSTEMATY OF SOLOMON ISLANDS' PLANTS AND SOME OF THEIR NEW GUINEA RELATIVES. XI

Preliminary to a revision of the Myrsinaceae of the British Solomon Islands, we have found it necessary to name and validate the two large undescribed species of Tapeinosperma Hook.f., diagnoses of which are given in this paper, in order that their names may be available for use in connection with studies of the phytogeography of the Solomon Islands.

The ants of the British Solomon Islands.

The ants of the British Solomon Islands.

To not reinstate the past:

Most interpretations stress a qualitative shift in colonial policy at the end of World War II, reflecting a major reorientation of outlook towards development, welfare and ultimately independence. There are, however, continuities before and after the war that call for a shift of emphasis. Because the British Solomon Islands Protectorate is conventionally represented as an extreme case of backwardness and severity before the war, it should present the putative contrast sharply. On the contrary, the pre-war administration field staff had aspirations for a more progressive regime, but these were thwarted by the protectorate's poverty and were shelved by the eruption of the war. The war-time destruction prompted administrators to consider afresh the problems of colonial development, coinciding with Colonial Office demands for post-war development submissions. Proposals proved too ambitious for the limited imperial purse, but even the attenuated plans proved unrealistic given the acute shortages of material and human resources. Thus, while ‘post-war thinking’ began well before the war, the era of ‘post-war development’ could not properly begin until several years after the end of the war.

Trevor Clark. Good Second Class: Memories of a Generalist Overseas Administrator. Stanhope, U.K.: The Memoir Club, 2004. xiv + 303 pp. Photographs. Map. £17:50. Cloth.

Trevor Clark. Good Second Class: Memories of a Generalist Overseas Administrator. Stanhope, U.K.: The Memoir Club, 2004. xiv + 303 pp. Photographs. Map. £17:50. Cloth. Having recently reviewed for this journal Trevor Clark's excellent compendium, The Last Generation of Nigeria's Tarawa (Bristol, 2002), I was keen to cast an eye over memoirs. I relaxed and dug in, expecting a bright and breezy romp. It turned out to be anything but. Indeed, it was hard and heavy going and required two attentive readings. Having been buffeted in the course of my first reading by a curious, heavily congested, quasi-telegraphic, almost shorthand style, albeit packed with informative detail, I was baffled. Then gradually the light dawned. Clark had produced what in fact he had been doing with great efficiency and economy all working life as a colonial administrator: an extended, if in this instance somewhat randomly organized, minute. Having deduced this, translated the vast assortment of acronyms and shorthand identities, and then pondered the meanings to be derived the content, I had a second go. This time I fared better. What now was revealed was a fascinating tale that provides an honest and penetrating account detailing much more than the mere activities (exhaustive and exhausting as these were) of a skilled, dedicated, and loyal administrator who served in three of Britain's last-remaining colonial possessions: Northern Nigeria, Hong Kong, and the British Solomon Islands Protectorate. Clark is of that not-so-small band of committed improvers who sought to bring a glimmer of light into the darker reaches of colonial administration. That this was not always appreciated by superiors in the field and in Whitehall, particularly during this downbeat period of colonial disengagement, is amply demonstrated. Still, distressing and depressing as, inevitably, Clark's tale is, tenacious hold on practical, commonsense human values, caring, humor, and determination to maintain these values and this outlook when confronted with bleak prospects and unrelenting pressure from above do credit not only to Clark, but indeed to the best of that common heritage left by Britain's colonial civil servants. Clark cared for his people, and he worked skillfully and incredibly hard for them. The problem was that time had moved on. All too often what superiors, under hasty, often ill-informed, and politically motivated orders Whitehall, required of him was-not to put too fine a point on it-two-timing, misrepresentation, and betrayal. Clark had to swallow hard to comply with these orders. And before doing so he often spoke mind to the superior concerned. This did not make him popular with the local colonial establishments. In Northern Nigeria, where he served for twelve years (1948-60), this apparently resulted in banishment the Kaduna secretariat after, among other things, he gave some frank, unprejudiced advice to the latter's Whitehall replacement, Gawain-Bell, whose job was to get the North to accept independence, by whatever means. …

Re‐Membering Australasia: A repressed memory

Throughout the nineteenth century, the term Australasia embraced all the British dependencies in the South Pacific. Federation brought six of these dependencies together, but disrupted the wider Australasia by excluding New Zealand, British New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Fiji. The consequent national histories and historiographies sought to ignore or deny the regional context; but economic, political and cultural links persisted and evolved. This regional nexus has no name (Australasia having been debased), but it is very real for most of its member states and societies. Now Australians are reluctant to acknowledge the only regional club which accepts us as members; but chronic crises in many parts of the region demand our reconsideration.

'The grievous mistakes of the Vanikoro concession': The Vanikoro Kauri Timber Company, Solomon Islands, 1926-1964

Abstract The British Solomon Islands Protectorate government, in the 1910s, encouraged logging operations on Vanikolo in order to diversify the economy and extend government control in the easternmost islands. The Vanikoro Timber Company began operations in 1926 without any reforestation clause included in its licence. Problems with the assessment of royalties on trees felled in the 1930s drew the attention of the Colonial Office to this. Little could be done to change the original agreement, but the British administration halted any major extension of logging until a Forestry Department could oversee a sustainable extraction regime, including reforestation, in the 1960s. The logging company, working under difficult conditions in an isolated area, was never a financial success and finally closed in 1964 when cheaper timbers became readily available on the Australian market. The Vanikolo people remained ambivalent towards the company, valuing its presence as a pathway to the wider world, but often resisting extension of its demands on the island's resources.

Decreed affinities: Nationhood and the western Solomon Islands

Among the many consequences of colonisation in the Pacific were the twin processes of conjunction and separation of indigenous societies following the establishment of colonial boundaries. In the Solomon Islands, both occurred. Particularly in the northwest, earlier connections were reduced (although not eliminated) following the establishment of the British‐German boundary between the British Solomon Islands Protectorate (BSIP) and German (later British) New Guinea. Other parts of the Solomons which had previously had less contact were conjoined into the BSIP, which later became the independent state of the Solomons Islands. I consider some of the outcomes of these processes for New Georgian (Western Solomons) notions of nationhood. I discuss the question of Western sentiments towards the Papua New Guinea island of Bougainville, but focus primarily on New Georgian ambivalence towards union with other parts of the Solomons, particularly Malaita Province.

Sphaceloma fawcettii var. scabiosa . [Distribution map

Abstract A new distribution map is provided for Sphaceloma fawcettii [Elsinoe fawcettii] Jenkins var. scabiosa (McAlp. & Tryon) Jenkins. Hosts: Citrus spp. Information is given on the geographical distribution in Africa, Comores Islands, Madagascar, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Asia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, West Irian, Malaysia, Peninsular, Sabah, Sarawak, Sri Lanka, Australasia & Oceania, Australia, New South Wales, Queensland, British Solomon Islands, Fiji, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, South America, Argentina, Brazil.

The Remnant Church: A Christian Sect of the Solomon Islands

The Remnant Church is a religious movement of Malaita in the Solomon Islands whose members trace their ancestry to the Old Testament migrations of the tribes of Israel. It is a small sect1, founded by visionaries among the Kwara'ae-speaking people more than twenty years ago, and has probably never numbered many more than a hundred men and their families. However, in the 1950s and 60s its members' determination to observe the religious laws of their Church rather than those of the colonial government was strong enough to result in a number of them being imprisoned by the authorities of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate. The rise and fall of anti-colonial movements has long been a feature of social change in the Solomon Islands. The Remnant Church, despite its Christian doctrine, falls within a long tradition of such movements in Malaita, as explained in Keesing's brief allusion to its leader, Sisimia, in his analysis of the famous Maasina Rule Movement (1978 II:53-54)2. In this paper I will try to develop Keesing's theme through a more detailed account of the Remnant Church, explaining in particular the intellectual assumptions upon which its anti-colonial doctrine is based, in the context of Malaitan society and its colonial history. Stories of the lost tribes of Israel abound in Christian countries around

Red cell enzyme and serum protein types in a population from Ndeni (Santa Cruz Islands).

Data for 14 red cell enzyme systems, haemoglobin and four serum proteins are presented for 351 people from the island of Ndeni in the Santa Cruz group of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate. The results support the view based on linguistic studies that the Ndeni population is derived from a mixing of older Papuan and later Austronesian-speaking peoples.

An attempt at educational reform in the British Solomon Islands protectorate: W. C. Groves, 1939–1945

An attempt at educational reform in the British Solomon Islands protectorate: W. C. Groves, 1939–1945

Pithomyces chartarum . [Descriptions of Fungi and Bacteria

Abstract A description is provided for Pithomyces chartarum . Information is included on the disease caused by the organism, its transmission, geographical distribution, and hosts. HOSTS: Isolated from a very wide range of plant material, also from air, soil, hay, sawn timber and ceiling plaster. DISEASE: Facial eczema of sheep, glume blotch of rice and sorghum. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION: Europe (UK, Italy); Africa (Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Nigeria, Rhodesia, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Zambia); Asia (Brunei, Burma, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia (W., Sabah), Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka); Australasia (Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, Fiji, Tonga, British Solomon Islands); North America (USA, Canada); Central America (Cuba, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama, Trinidad, Windward Isles); South America (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Guyana). TRANSMISSION: By air-borne spores.

Fluid inclusion studies in relation to hydrothermal alteration and mineralization at the Koloula porphyry copper prospect, Guadalcanal

The Koloula Igneous Complex on the island of Guadalcanal, part of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate, consists of a calc-alkaline sequence of 26 intrusive phases ranging from leucogabbro through diorites and granodiorites to andesite dikes. The intermediate and felsic rocks of the younger central part of the complex are host to porphyry copper mineralization, characterized by two well-defined separate alteration systems.The earlier or system has five distinguishable concentric zones. The innermost is sulfide free and contains K feldspar-quartz-magnetite-actinolite-pyroxene (salite). It is succeeded by zones containing potassic and propylitic assemblages, with chalcopyrite and bornite associated with the potassic zones. The later, or system, is characterized by four zones in which sericite and lesser amounts of clay minerals predominate.Fluid inclusion assemblages are closely similar to those from porphyry copper deposits of the Bingham type. Three types of inclusions are common: gas-rich, moderately saline, highly saline inclusions which contain NaCl + or - KCl + or - hematite + or - birefringent phases. Homogenization temperatures obtained from moderately and highly saline inclusions range up to approximately 700 degrees C in the A system and up to 480 degrees in the B system. There is a continuous variation in salinity from 2 percent equivalent NaCl in some two-phase inclusions up to approximately 60 percent equivalent NaCl in some highly saline inclusions.The evolution of fluids in the A hydrothermal system has not proved easy to elucidate, but the best development of high-salinity inclusions containing KCl daughter crystals is found in areas of strong potassic alteration. Information derived from the sequence of secondary fluid inclusion planes and from the coincidence of alteration and late-intrusive activity suggests that in the B system high-salinity fluids dominated the early phase of alteration and moderate-salinity fluids dominated the later phases. It is considered that both hydrothermal systems developed predominantly under lithostatic pressure conditions with a cover of about 3 km.Counts of inclusions in primary quartz in standard petrographic thin sections reveal a close relationship between fluid inclusion abundance and the location of Cu soil geochemistry anomalies. Such counts may well prove to be a simple preliminary exploration technique for porphyry copper prospect evaluation.

A Chromosome Count and Range Extension for Christensenia (Marattiaceae)

Of the six genera recognised by Copeland (1947, pp. 14-17) in the Marattiaceae, there are cytological records in the literature for Angiopteris, Marattia and Danaea. These numbers are: n = 40 (Manton & Sledge, 1954; Mehra & Singh, 1955) and n = 80 (Manton & Sledge, 1954; Ninan, 1956) forAngiopteris; n = 39 (Brownlie, 1961), n = 78 (Ninan, 1956), and n = 40 (Walker, in Manton, 1959; Walker, 1966) for Marattia; and n = 80 and triploid hybrids showing 40 bivalents and 40 univalents for Danaea (Walker, 1966). These chromosome counts show thatAngiopteris and Danaea have a base number of 40, whereas Marattia has two base numbers, 39 and 40, the lower number being derived by the loss of one chromosome (Walker, 1966). The cytological uniformity of the representatives which have been examined so far underlines the distinctive morphological, anatomical and embryological characteristics shared by the genera (Campbell, 1911; Bower, 1926). No cytological information is available for two of the remaining genera, Archangiopteris, Macroglossum, or, until now, for Christensenia. Christensenia is unique in the Marattiaceae in possessing palmately divided fronds with scattered, round synangia and reticulate venation. It is found in Assam, Malaysia, Sumatra, Java, Bali, Borneo, and the Philippines. Throughout its range several species have been described, but these are doubtfully distinct and, pending critical taxonomic investigation, all the variants are perhaps best regarded as forms of one species, C. aesculifolia (Blume) Maxon. The genus has not been reported previously from the Solomon Islands, but in the 1960's it was found by different collectors on three of the major islands. During the 1965 Royal Society Expedition to the British Solomon Islands, C. aesculifolia was found by the author on San Cristobal, the southeasternmost island, growing in the lowland forest approximately seven miles inland from Wainoni Bay near the confluence of the Warahito and Pagato Rivers. It was evidently very localized, since considerable searching in the area revealed only two small populations in deep shade on the steep banks of two small calcareous streams feeding the Pagato and Sumaro Rivers respectively (RSS 4215, 28 July 1965, K; RSS 4220, 29 July 1965, K). In addition, specimens are known from the Buin area, Bougainville (25 July 1964, Schodde 3674, CANB) and from Allardyce Harbour, Santa Ysabel (4 Feb 1967, BSIP 8271, HON, K). These records represent a notable extension of the range of the genus eastwards into Melanesia and place Christensenia in a small group of Malesian fern genera now known to reach their southern limit in the Solomon Islands. It is of some phytogeographical interest to note that, so far as the author is aware, the genus has not yet been found in New Guinea, although this may merely be a reflection of insufficient botanical exploration.

Distribution and persistence of hepatitis B surface antigen and antibody in a Melanesian population.

The population of Graciosa Bay, Santa Cruz, British Solomon Islands Protectorate, was tested for HBsAg and anti-HBs in 1973 and 1974. Both the antigen and antibody occurred more often in males, presumably due to a higher exposure rate. None of 28 infants under one year of age had antigen and only one of 50 individuals under two years (2%) did. The prevalence of antigenemia was higher in older children and did not decline with increasing age. This pattern is contrasted to that found in other populations which is characterized by onset during the first year and a decrease in prevalence in older age groups. The ratio of antigenemia prevalence to that of antibody is significantly higher in the population under six years of age (p less than 0.01), indicating that younger infected people tend to be asymptomatic carriers while older individuals tend to have produced antibody. Three of 28 individuals with antigen detectable by immunodiffusion in 1973 had lower levels, detectable only by reversed passive hemagglutination after one year. The age specific prevalence of anti-HBs increases to a peak of 34% in the 15-19 year age group and declines thereafter.

Corticium salmonicolor . [Descriptions of Fungi and Bacteria

Abstract A description is provided for Corticium salmonicolor . Information is included on the disease caused by the organism, its transmission, geographical distribution, and hosts. HOSTS: Hevea brasiliensis DISEASE: Pink disease of rubber ( Hevea brasiliensis ) and many other tropical woody plants. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION: Throughout the humid tropics. N. America (Mexico, USA (Florida)); Central America and West Indies; South America (Brazil, Colombia, Guyana, Peru, Surinam); Africa (Cameroon, Congo, Zaire, Gabon, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Nigeria, Rhodesia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo); Asia (Andaman Is., Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam); Australasia and Oceania, (Australia, New Zealand, British Solomon Islands, Fiji and other Pacific Islands); Europe (USSR (Caucasus)). TRANSMISSION: Believed to be transmitted by air-borne basidiospores and conidia.

Hepatitis B antigen subtypes in asymptomatic carriers in the Solomon Islands.

Three hundred and fifty-three students attending King George VI School in Honiara, British Solomon Islands Protectorate, were tested by immunodiffusion for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBS Ag). The prevalence of HB Ag was 13% and the antigen was found more frequently in males. Twenty-seven samples which contained high titers of antigen were subtyped to define those subtype combinations present in the BSIP. The most frequent antigen was adr+yw-. This combination is also common in Thailand and Japan. The second most prevalent combination was ayw+dr-. The antigenic determinants also occurred less frequently as adw+yr-, adwr+y-, and awr+dy-. These unusual samples which contain both w and r may be the result of mixed particles, recombination of virus, mixing of viral proteins in doubly infected cells or extracellular aggregation of mixed viral products.