William E. Stober (1940-1997) joined the Foreign Office Research Department in 1963 and after postings in Tanzania and Uganda and a further spell in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, eventually became an administrative officer in the British National Service in the New Hebrides, 1972-1976. He then returned to Great Britain and worked as an administrator in the University of Birmingham until his retirement in 1990, though he returned to the New Hebrides (now, after independence, Vanuatu), 1980-1981 to undertake an assignment and report on the establishment of a land tenure system. He continued to take an interest in Vanuatu until his death.

Conflicting French and British interests in the New Hebrides at the end of the 19th century led to the formation in 1887 of a Joint Naval Commission to administer the islands. This was replaced by a condominium government in 1906, where local rule was excercised by Anglo-French high commissioners acting through resident commissioners stationed at Vila on Éfaté. Many legislative papers in the collection relate to the condominium government, which continued until the islands' independence in 1977.