LIFE ON PACIFIC ATOLLS

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27307, 25 March 1954, Page 10

LIFE ON PACIFIC ATOLLS

TOKELAU ISLANDS DESCRIBED

PRIEST REVISITS N.Z. AFTER 12 YEARS

To live on a diet of coconuts, fish, breadfruit (in season) and occasionally fresh pork or poultry; to be limited to a quart bottle of water a day during a dry season; to have to wait three months for news of the outside world and to live among people, the majority of whom cannot understand English, may not be the ambition of the majority of New Zealanders. But for one man, the Rev. Father A. E. McDonald, a Roman Catholic priest, who has spent six years and a half on the tiny New Zealand dependencies of the Tokelau Islands, the life is very pleasant. Father McDonald is now visiting New Zealand after an absence of 12 years. Two years after he had been ordained in 1940, he went to Samoa as a missionary, and after serving there for five years and a half, he went to the Tokelau Islands. The Tokelau Islands, which consist of three tiny atolls—Fakaofa, Nukunonu and Atafu—have a total area of only 2500 acres and a total population (estimated in March, 1953) of only 1671 islanders and two Europeans— Father McDonald and an American nun.

Islanders “Devout Christians” Father McDonald’s duties take him to all three islands, but he has made his home on Nukunonu, where he has built a church and a school. The population of this island —about 452 — is entirely Roman Catholic in religion, but on the other two islands most of the islanders are converts of the London Missionary Society. Christianity had been introduced into the islands about 1852 by an

islander who had been converted to the Roman Catholic faith while he was working as a seaman, said Father McDonald. On return to his homeland, he converted all the islanders of Nukunonu, and remained in. the island to teach the faith. “All the islanders are very devout Christians,” said Father McDonald yesterday. He said 10 years elapsed before it was learned elsewhere that the islanders had been converted. The news was given when, concerned that they had not been baptised, the islanders went by canoe 300 miles to Samoa for baptism. “Only for eight years has there been a resident priest on the islands, and for 20 years there was only a Samoan catechist to give instruction in the faith,” said Father McDonald. “Yet the islanders’ faith never weakened. They are models, really. “Life on the islands is very simple,” he said. “There is very little soil and consequently only certain vegetables can be grown. The only soil is what has been made from rotted vegetation. I have given up trying to grow vegetables. It can’t be done. Coconuts are in plentiful supply, but the soil is not suitable for growing any other fruit, except perhaps limited quantities of bananas.” Rat Population v

One of the most important developments on the islands of recent years was a rat extermination campaign last year on Atafu. There had been hundreds of rats on this island, said Father McDonald, and they did immense harm to the coconut trees. It was estimated that rats still consumed about 60 per cent, of the coconut crop on Atafu.

“One day while I was on Atafu, I stood outside the door of a house, and in five minutes I counted 45 rats around the house,” he said.. In an effort to combat the damage to coconut crops, the Administration provided shields which wefe erected round the bases of the trees.

Although the main export of the islands was copra, the islanders made remarkably beautiful mats and wooden ornaments, said Father McDonald. These also provided revenue. One of the big problems on the islands was the water supply, he said. On Fakaofa, there were several brackish wells which were used only for bathing purposes. The only other water was what could be gathered in huge tanks from the roofs of the church and hospitals. The annual rainfall was about 100 inches a year, and was usually enough to fill all needs. Last year, however, was a very dry year, and the islanders were given a ration of a quart of water a day.

The first school in the islands was established by Father McDonald upon his arrival there. Everything was supplied by the New £ealand Government, and the school was open to Government inspectors. Father McDonald said he was proud of the accomplishments of some of his pupils. One, a boy with five years’ education, was now in Apia, and his main ambition was to be a doctor. Girls had been given nursing training, and were attached to each of the small hospitals in the islands. Father McDonald, the American nun, and two Samoan nuns teach at the school on Nukunonu. There were many difficulties to be overcome when he first went to the islands, said Father McDonald. Most of the children were given their lessons in Samoan. Their own language had never been committed to writing. He had endeavoured —with a great deal of success—to teach the children English, with the result that many were now tri-lingual. He had also picked up the language of the islands, and believed he was the first white man to do so. Little Crime on Islands “The people of the Tokelau Islands are a very docile race, and it is almost impossible to make them angry,’’ said Father McDonald. “In the six and a half years I have been there, I don’t think I have seen a really good fight.’’ Crime in the islands was almost nonexistent, the only offences committed being petty stealing, such as when a man took his neighbour’s .coconuts, Father McDonald said. If a man was convicted of such an offence, he was liable to either a fine or a “gaol’’ term. This sentence —never more than a few days—was not served in a prison, because there was none. Instead, the offender was put to work on public projects from about 8 a.m. until about 5 p.m. There was, however, very little restraint on personal conduct during the term of the sentence. The diet‘pf the islanders was rather amazing, said Father McDonald. Coconuts, fish, breadfruit in season, and occasionally pork or poultry, formed the diet, and on this the inhabitants kept remarkably good health. The islands were not troubled much with epidemics, unless these were brought in by the boats or aircraft which visited the islands at three-monthly intervals. When there was an epidemic, however, the islanders had very little resistance to it. Although there was no fighting on the islands in the Second World War, Father McDonald said, the islanders suffered nevertheless. Supplies did no; arrive at the islands, and such things as fishing lines—which were a necessity—and clothing could not be obtained. The big problem for the future, said Father McDonald, was the growth of the population. Because of the nature

of the land, the islands could not support a big population. Whereas about 20 years ago the infant mortality rate was about three out of four, with the guidance of the medical authorities in Samoa the mortality rate had dropped considerably, and the population was increasing quickly. Father McDonald will return to the islands about the end of May—the month in which the next boat is due to leave New Zealand for the tiny dependencies.