Immigration cuts a blow to Tonga

Press, 15 September 1976, Page 15

Immigration cuts a blow to Tonga

NZPA staff correspondent Nuku’alofa I New Zealand clamps on) I Polynesian immigration have) been a blow to the shaky I Tongan economy. Remittances from Tongan workers in New Zealand have almost stopped severely affecting many families who depended on remittances to prop up already low standards of living. The New Zealand Immigration Attache (Mr Don Gordon) said in Nuku’alofa that remittances had) dropped from about $250,000) 12 months ago to less than $4OOO last month. The drop in remittances meant to many Tongan families the difference between having meat once a week or no meat at all, and in some cases the difference between! being able to send children) to school or not. A reduction in the number! of Tongans going to New! Zealand to work, along with! the bad exchange rate (one! paanga to 69c) and the gen-1

feral feeling of insecurity! .affecting Tongans in New': Zealand had all contributed' Ito the decline, he said. ij Mr Gordon said New Zea-) ■| land’s immigration image] ihad reached “an all time' low.’’ "You must remember that! I virtually all the top people I) here were educated in New; Zealand.” Many people had the feeling that the New Zealand'! Government was picking on Tongan and other Polynesian!) migrants while ignoring' I British and United States ! overstayers. I Tongans deported from]' iNew Zealand would be hard ; Ito absorb, both economically | ; and socially, he said. , Tonga has a per capita'l gross national product of i only $240 a year, and the return of an overstayer < i would cause problems in the t I income of the Tongan fam- < lily. As well, Tongans who ' ihad lived for some time in I iNew Zealand would find it); lextremely difficult to re.-t : adapt to the generally prim-1 litive life style; many people if

i still live in tiny dirt-floered (and thatch-walled tales. i While Tonga will, in Nr>< ivember. sign a treaty ct (friendship with West GerI many, completely abolishing visa requirements between [the two countries, this is exIpected to have a negligible (effect on the number ot iTongans who want to work in New Zealand. Tongan Government officials say the cost of getting Ito Germany would be a (major prohibiitive factor, (but the overriding consideration is the close family link between New Zealand and Tonga. ( Many Tongans regard New as a second home land observers say every Toingan who goes to New Zealand has some sort of relative there. While some indentured employment scheme like that within New Zealand could be established with West Germany, climatic and language difficulties as well las distance make it unlikely ito replace in any way New : Zealand as the Land of OpI port unity.