TONGA.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14554, 3 January 1913, Page 8

TONGA.

THE FUTURE OF THE ISLANI>S

INTERVIEW WITH BISHOP

WILLIS

(SPECIAL TO Ci TTTB PBESS.")

WELLINGTON, January 2

B : sliop Willis, of Tonga, lms arrived in Wellington on his way to tho Island Kingdom after a visit to the Mother Country. There are in all five Anglican churches in tne group and 0110 small school. ~ The staff of the Bishop consists of one priest, a deacon, and several lay readers. The priest is a Chinaman, tho deacon a native Tongan ordained last year, and the lay rtauers are a.so 'JL'ongaiis. Tiio Bisnop .hopes soon to obtain the services of a iiiUropean assistant, and another project he has in hand is the estabi.srunent of a boarding-school. Owing to the great distance which separates tho isianus from one another, it is difficult to convey instruction by means of local schools. Tho policy of his Church in Tonga, Bishop Willis stated, was to abstain from,any attempt at proselyusing. All who came to seek the ministrations of tho Church we.o welcomed, but no attempt was made to draw away converts from other denominations working in the islands. ' , ™. , Tiuro are in all four regular Churches working in Tonga. Tho Jloman Catholics maintain a Bishop and a strong body of clergy, and have established a number oi schools. Bishop Willis remarked that tho Roman Catholics wore doing good work all thiough the Facifia. The o.her Churcie? in Tonga are the Wesleyan and an offshoot from this denomination known as tho l r r<M> Ciiurch. The existence of tho latter institution is due to tho efforts of the late Rev. Shirley Baker, a clergyman who became- Premier of Tonga. The Seventh Day Advcntists Mormons have also established themselves in the group. Bishop Wihis has been so long absent from his diocese that he is not conversant with the latest political developments in Tonga, but he is of opinion that the Tongan des-iro to maintain thc-ir present standing as a k ngdom under British protection, and the imnression he gained on a recent visit to" London was that the Imperial authorities have no desire to alter the status of the Island Kingdom. Bishop Willis and his wife will pay a visit to Dunedn b~foro returning to Tonga, via Auckland.