Submission from Mr Conrad Glass, Chief
Islander, Tristan da Cunha
An introduction: I'm Conrad Jack Glass, Chief
Islander (Head Councillor) of Tristan da Cunha. I've been a Councillor
12 years, the last three as Deputy President. I work as Tristan's
police inspector, the only full time officer on the island. I
trained in St Helena and the UK and have travelled to Britain
several times for courses or leave. I'm a direct descendant of
the pioneer Tristan settler, William Glass, so my family has lived
on Tristan since 1816. In 2005 I wrote the book Rockhopper
Copper about my life and work. It was the first book written
by an islander.
Tristan da Cunha is said by the Guinness
Book of Records to be the most remote inhabited island on
Earth. Our small British island is 37 miles square, located in
the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean. It's a dependency of St
Helena, 1,300 miles to our north. Tristan was discovered in 1506
by the Portuguese, and served as a place for ships bound for the
Far East to check their navigation and to collect fresh water.
The British took control in 1816 at the time of Napoleon's exile
to St Helena, stationing a garrison on Tristan. The soldiers are
long gone, but our speck on the map remains proudly British to
this day.
South Africa is the nearest landmass: 1,500
miles distant, at least six days by ship. We have no airport or
air service nor any prospect of one. All supplies and machinery
must travel by ship from Cape Town. Our small harbour is our lifeline,
too small for ocean going ships, so people and goods must transfer
to small boats (or the helicopters of the SA Agulhas during her
annual voyage to the meteorological station on Gough Island) to
reach the island. There are but nine scheduled visits annually
by fishing ships to Tristan. Each brings cargo and 12 passengers.
These are the MFV Edinburgh, and the MFV Kelso, belonging to the
South African fishing company Ovenstones Agencies (Pty) which
has a contract to catch crayfish around Tristan and the uninhabited
Nightingale, Inaccessible and Stoltenhoff islands nearby. This
is our main source of revenue; the only other is the sale of Tristan
postage stamps to collectors.
Ovenstones operate the only factory on Tristan,
employing islanders to process fish which they catch in small
boats. The company supplies 24-hour electricity from diesel generators
to the village and to United Nations scientific monitoring stations.
All 269 Tristanians, the 12 expatriates and
their families live in Edinburgh of the Seven Seas, the rather
grand name of the only settlement on Tristan, located on the largest
plateau, five miles long by a mile, facing north. Otherwise the
island consists of a peak (6,760 feet high), forbidding cliffs
dropping sheer into the Atlantic, gulches and volcanic deposits
and boulders. The community includes the Administrator (from the
UK), the Factory Manager and the Doctor (South Africa), the Church
of England Minister (UK) and a UN employee. The Anglicans are
the most numerous, co-existing happily with the thriving Catholic
community. The local lifestyle resembles that of homesteaders,
or crofters. Each family has their own sheep, cattle and poultry.
Fish is in abundance around Tristan and is an important part of
peoples' diet. The families have their own allotments, which they
call The Patches (sited three miles from Edinburgh, along the
one metalled road, upon which Tristan's only timetabled bus service
operates). On these allotments they grow vegetables, principally
potatoes. There are very few fruit trees on the island, although
the climate is moderate: its extremes make cultivation difficult.
Most people work for the Tristan Government, except on days when
weather and sea conditions permit fishing. Then, half the work
force is allowed to process the catch at the factory. To learn
more about our way of life, visit our website www.tristandc.com
which is run in conjunction with the Tristan da Cunha Association,
an organisation for people interested in the island.
TRISTAN'S
ECONOMY AND
THE WELFARE
OF ITS
COMMUNITY
Tristan's economy, its policies, ethics and
its welfare, are issues which must be addressed if the island
is to achieve good governance and move forward. I will list them
in order of what I feel are the most important. The recently appointed
Administrator, David Morley, is doing his best to get results,
but needs the support of London and the community to succeed.
He has been handed an administrative post when the economy is
in decline, with an inexperienced local management in charge of
a disillusioned workforce. At the same time, the community faces
increasing health problems. My view is this is the legacy of previous
administrations which have made premature decisions and sometimes
given incorrect information to councillors and heads of departments.
In turn, this has dissipated the island economy and disillusioned
its workforce. While the leaders of the community soon realised
what was happening and made numerous requests for these trends
to be reversed, the administrators seemed unable to be able to
do so. I feel strongly that such situations could be avoided with
open and transparent communication between Tristanians, the Administrator
and London.
One way forward would be for Tristan to nominate
someone to represent them in the UK as already happens with the
Falkland Islands and St Helena. While the St Helenan representative
in London is also supposed to look after Tristan's interests,
the reality is that person is far too busy with St Helena business.
This leads to a continuation of the age-old fact that the majority
of resources go to St Helena, leaving Tristan with the leftovers.
Tristanians are very loyal to the Crown and
proud to be British, but often they feel like the ugly duckling—neglected,
out in the cold and having to fend for themselves. It has to be
said that all feel that David Morley is doing a sterling job here.
He has achieved more in the few weeks since his arrival than previous
administrators have done in their three year tenures!
So we must achieve good governance and a stable
economy to improve the morale, the ethics and the welfare of our
community through open and transparent communication and between
the FCO, the Tristan Government, the Administrator and the Chief
Islander. The Island Council needs to see and be able to respond
to all political correspondence between London and Tristan.
PRIORITIES TO
IMPROVE INFRASTRUCTURE
AND LIFESTYLE
1. Education
This is vitally important for present and future
generations of Tristanians.
(a) We need a teacher from the UK to bring
our rather rudimentary education up to British standards and to
give local teachers in-service training. This last took place
in 1991. More than half of the teachers will be retiring in the
next five years, two are our most senior teachers and there is
no one to replace them. The school needs new computers so it can
offer computer-training classes to pupils and the community.
(b) We need management training for heads
of government departments and the workforce engaged in electrical,
mechanical, information technology, fisheries, agriculture, business,
nursing, accountancy and clerical duties. To have on-island training
from those qualified in farming, civil engineering, and labour
management would be a great asset, as it would in other areas.
Some islanders ought to be able to go abroad for specialist skill
training.
2. Medical Department
The hospital must upgrade its building and facilities.
(a) The present labour ward needs converting
into a properly equipped emergency room. The hospital interior
needs refurbishing to enable the dental suite to be swapped with
the theatre complex, a new dispensary with extra shelving to be
created and a computer acquired to manage the stock. There should
be an additional ward for use as a labour ward near the theatre
complex.
(b) Equipment: the hospital needs a patient
monitor (ECG, NIBP, SpO2 Respirations), a theatre light, theatre
(operating) table, resuscitation table/gurney, operating light
(for the emergency room), ultrasound scanner, gastroscope, ECG
monitor/defibrillator, sigmoidoscope. UV Filter for hospital water
supply, Paqa lab test kit.
All this equipment is essential to the doctor
in such a remote community. It means the difference between life
and death.
3. Supermarket
There is only one shop for the sale of foodstuffs,
clothing and hardware and our current building is very outdated,
with inadequate storage facilities. It does not meet UK standards,
being constructed of asbestos over a steel frame. There is a constant
(losing) battle to exclude rats. For environmental and health
and safety reasons, we urgently need a new supermarket.
(a) Requirements: proper cold storage for
meats and fruit, new computers for stock and cash flow systems,
computers, adequate and safe shelving, facilities for hygienically
cutting cheeses and other foodstuffs and the means to upgrade
personal facilities for employees. The warehouse must be upgraded
to meet current UK hygiene standards.
I realise of course that these essential improvements
will cost money and resources, something Tristan simply does not
have at present. The community will be grateful for support with
these proposals and help in implementing them and devising a business
plan to enable them this to happen.
I hope the Committee will give its kind consideration
to the contents of this document and look forward to a response
in due course.
30 October 2007
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