British blueprint to double numbers on troubled Pitcairn

Britain has announced it wants to double the population of Pitcairn Island, its last imperial outpost in the Pacific, which last year attracted international attention with revelations of systematic sexual abuse.

The volcanic island, which lies half-way between New Zealand and South America, is home to just 47 people, but British authorities want to signal the start of a new chapter in its troubled history by increasing that to at least 100.

That would herald something of a return to Pitcairn's glory days - at the start of the second world war it boasted a population of 233.

It would also answer the criticisms of some islanders, who have accused London of wanting to wash its hands of one of the last relics of empire.

Those keen to take up the offer of settlement on the island can expect an idyllic sub-tropical climate, a bucolic rural existence and a retreat from the pressures of the modern world. The island's fertile valleys support citrus fruits, bananas, yams and sugarcane, and hunting wild pigs in the dense scrub is a popular past-time.

The downsides of living on Pitcairn include no airstrip, difficult communications, limited leisure opportunities and a lack of privacy which could verge on the claustrophobic, given that the island covers just 47 sq km.

Britain's colonial representative to Pitcairn, commissioner Leslie Jacques, this week announced a GBP3.5 million ($51.8 million) programme of infrastructure development, reversing years of under-investment.