very unfavorably, of course, with the 2.32 square miles of Gry land area, the 229.40 square miles of lagoon area, and the large reef areas of Bikini Atoll. Kili was purchased by German traders from the local chief's and was operated as a commercial copra plantation by the Germans. The title to the island was transferred to tne Japanese Government when the Japanese seized the Marshalis in 1914, It was leased to a Japanese company and operated as a copra plantation until 1940, There were allegedly not more than about thirty Marshallese laborers working on the plantation at a time. Food was brought in from Jaluit Atoll,. about thirty miles to the southeast. Chickens and swine were raised to supplement the imported foodstuffs. A small number of bread- ‘fruit trees were planted and used, but the island was primarily a copra plantation. Kili passed into the hands of the United ‘ States Government following World War II, and the few remaining | plantation workers were evacuated. Kili, lying as it does in the southern Marshall, enjoys a heavy rainfall and has rich and deep soil, for the Marshalis. Most of the island, 198.04 acres have been planted to coconut palms (191.17 acres). A taro patch area occupies the center of the isiand to the extent of 4,25 acres. There are a numoer of bearing preadfruit trees,> some edible pandanus, as well as ‘banana, papaya and pumpkin plantings. 3 A serious breadfriut blight has destroyed many of the trees on Kili and remains unchecked. A method of controlling ‘this menace has not yet been found. Arrensix I to oo eo nelozure 1 | 908 |05/0022%