Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Honiara The American development of Honiara as an army base and war depot turned Honiara into the new capital for the British Solomon Islands. The Catholic population tripled between 1947 and 1957, from 1000 to 3000. The first Holy Cross Church, built in 1947, was replaced by a much larger structure in 1957. The statues of the Blessed Virgin and St Joseph, which had somehow survived the Japanese air raids of the Battle of Guadalcanal, were positioned outside the 1957 church. These statues were re-positioned once again outside the 1978 cathedral; damage caused by bullets can be easily seen on both.
Honiara to 400 beds with 50 doctors. In 2008, its accident and emergency department served 55,234 patients and its general surgery department operated on 1,971 patients. Another hospital is the Central Hospital. Now called the "Nambanaen", it was originally a wartime hospital built by the Americans who called it the "Ninth Station". It was substantially enlarged with assistance from the Government of Taiwan in 1993. Honiara has several hotels and restaurants. Honiara Hotel is a traditional hotel and features a dance show on Friday nights. Also of note is the Pacific Casino Hotel, a $20 million Chinese hotel and casino in