TONGA.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 168, 29 July 1901, Page 3

TONGA.

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

Everything is quiet, both in matters commercial and political. Business is dull, owing partly to the wet season and to the small quantity of copra which has been made by the natives, which is accounted for by the scarcity of nuts. The weather now is fine and there is every probability of an improvement in business during the coming months.

The store belonging to the estate of the late Mr W. D. Barnard was sold by auction, the purchaser beiug Mr W. Cocker, and it is likely that some of the remaining properties of the estate will be disposed of in the near future. The property in the. cs Juite of the late Mrs McGregor, in Haabai, was disposed of also by auction a short time since, the purchasers being Messrs Vines, Utthig and Perston.

The health of the people is fairly good. There is not much sickness, and the deaths arc not numerous. There is every probability of the births exceeding the deaths in the present year.

A census was taken by the Free Church authorities at the end of 1900, from -which it appears that the population of the Tongan Group was nearly twenty thousand, the population of each island in the group being as follows:—Tonga, 8474; Haabai, 5087; Vavau, 4589; Niuatobutabu, 710; Niua Foon, 1140, comprising 6338 men, 6015 women, 3885 boys, and 3762 girls. The numbers given are only the Tongans, the Samoans, Fijians, Nine natives residing here are not included in the foregoing numbers.

There is a scarcity of yams in the Haabai and "Vavau Groups owing to a somewhat, protracted drought, which wus experienced throughout the group, more especially in the northern portion of the Tongan Group; but f'l.pions rains have fallen throughout ilie whole group during the last few months, consequently the outlook is hopeful. A large number of the natives from Haabai and Vavau are visiting Tonga, for the purpose of obtaining yams. Fortunately, the crop of yams was a very large one in Tonga,

The amount of copra made during the present year has not been large, owing to the drought, but there is every probability of a considerable improvement before, the end of the present year in the Hanbai and Tonga Groups. In Vavau, however, it will probably be next year before it has recovered from the hurricane of 1900 and the drought of the same year. The British Government have requested the King of Tonga to grant them a new site in place of the one at present occupied by the British Agent and Consul. A new site has been offered to the British Government, and it is contemplated to erect a new residence and Consular office in lieu of the present premises.