1974 Gilbert and Ellice Islands general election the Ellice Islands separated following a referendum later in 1974, the eight seats representing the Ellice Islands were abolished. 1974 Gilbert and Ellice Islands general election General elections were held in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands on 4 April 1974. All candidates ran as independents. The system of government was changed again prior to the 1974 elections; the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Order 1974 replaced the Legislative Council with a 31-member House of Assembly, including 28 elected members and three ex officio members. A Council of Ministers replaced the Executive Council, and consisted of the Chief Minister elected by the
Geology of the Pacific Ocean Plate in the north, the Cocos Plate off today's Central America, and the Nazca and Phoenix Plates in the southern Pacific. Charles Darwin had proposed a theory of the slow subsidence of the ocean floor based on his studies of Pacific oceanic islands, seamounts (underwater volcanoes) and guyots (flat-topped seamounts). His observations have been verified and expanded in the development of plate tectonic theory. The tectonic plates continue to move today. The slowest ridge spreading rate is across the Gakkel Ridge in the Arctic Ocean which separates at less than 2.5 cm/yr while the fastest, across the East Pacific Rise