Many Problems In Huge Diocese

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30892, 27 October 1965, Page 16

Many Problems In Huge Diocese

Sheer distance is only one of the many problems which concern the Rt. Rev. J. C. Vockler, who. as Bishop in Polynesia, is in charge of the Church of England's largest diocese —ll and a half million square miles. Bishop Vockler is on a fiveday visit to Christchurch, and last evening addressed the annual meeting of the Friends of the Polynesian mission. He will also speak to members of the Fendalton parish “They have done a great deal to help us,” he said. The territories for which Bishop Vockler is responsible include Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Nauru, Gilbert and Ellice Islands, Niue, the Cook Islands, French Polynesia. Pitcairn Island and the Line Islands.

“1 wish I had started at the beginning to add up the miles I have travelled,” he said. In terms of time, the immense size of the diocese meant being away from his home in Suva for six months of the year. Recent expansion of inter-island air services had facilitated travel, but increased its cost.

Bishop Vockler jokingly described the area as “mostly wind and water"—its total land mass was less than that •>f Tasmania—but expressed “very great concern” at the problems among its inhabi tants, who total about one million. Care Of Children At present there were insufficient means for caring for orphans, unwanted children those of incompetent parents or in families which were too large for the parents to support economically. Bishop Vockler said that during his visit he would discuss with

the sisters of the Community of the Sacred Name, in Barbadoes street, plans to establish a multi-racial home for such children in Suva next year.

Social problems, which were a by-product of rapid social change, became more acute in urban areas, and were particularly acute among the Indain people. “In rural districts the island society is so constructed .'S to have its own ways of dealing with these problems, through the whole notion of the ‘extended family,’ ” he said.

Of the Islands’ total population, 62 per cent were under the age of 21, and 47 per cent were under 15. “This raises very serious problems for the future, which, given the fact that the whole area is undeveloped. fill us all with very great concern. “Considering the number of potential parents in this age group, a rapid increase in the population is inevitable,” he said.

Such an increase presented difficulties in terms of land use and occupancy, meaningful employment for those with some education, food production —in terms, in fact, of “the economics of survival.” “How does one, in this situation, provide for the education of all these people?” Bishop Vockler asked. Investment Suggested “In Fiji at the moment education is neither free nor compulsory, and given the economy of the country, it is very difficult to see how primary education could ever be free or compulsory. “Recent budget cuts in Western Samoa, aS they affect the department of education, will almost inevitably mean closing some schools at the very time when the country needs more,” he said. “One of the things which is urgently needed in every one of these areas, and which ought to interest Australians and New Zealanders more than it does, is overseas investment, and the building-up of secondary industry. This would not only provide jobs but boost the economy by increasing the amount of money in circulation."

Bishop Vockler cited the example of the Los Angeles diocese, which, in publicity material circulated to assist Polynesia, pointed to the Pacific Islands as an area for investment. People were invited to see what could be done, in a field wider than a purely religious one, to provide employment for the native people. “1 think this is an extremely imaginative approach,” he said. He considered that it could well be adopted in Australia and New Zealand.