Tuvalu State visit

Press, 10 February 1983, Page 4

Tuvalu State visit

Mr Henry Naisali. the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister Of Finance of Tuvalu, will look in on his old school, St Andrew's College, tomorrow. Mr Naisali is in New Zealand on a week's State visit which will include meetings with the Prime Minister, Mr Muldoon, and several Cabinet Ministers.

As part of his trip he asked for a visit to St Andrew's College where he studied as a senior pupil from 1949 to 1951. Mr Naisali was remembered as a “great sportsman." said the college bursar, Mr E. B. L. Hilson. He had played in the First XI and was' vice-captain of

the First XV. After three years at St Andrew's Mr Naisali attended the University of Canterbury. He subsequently joined the public service of his country, then known as the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. In 1977, before the Pacific Island group's independence. Mr Naisali was elected a member of Parliament. After the 1981 election he was made Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister.

Seven other pupils from the Gilbert and Ellice Islands were at St Andrew's at the same time as Mr Naisali. This year, only one sixth-former. lenimoa Kia-

toa. was at the college, said Mr Hilson. The cost of travelling to New Zealand had reduced the numbers attending.

Mr Hilson said that each year the college offered a scholarship to a boy from Tuvalu, which has a population of about 8000, or the neighbouring nation of Kiribati.

Last year a boy from Tuvalu did “extremely well" to be named the college's top scholar, Mr Hilson said. Mr Naisali would be at the college during the afternoon, said Mr Hilson. He would meet staff and pupils, watch sports matches, and attend a reception.